Micro Skiffs: Are These the Coolest Little Boats on the Water
Recently I have been enamored with small fishing skiffs and some are what I would call tiny boats. One of the coolest I’ve seen is the Solo Skiff, which is made in Florida. There are a number of small skiffs and little boats but I think the extremely low cost of some of these solo boats make them really interesting. Is the Solo Skiff the coolest tiny boat?
The funny thing about fishing skiffs is that some small ones are outrageously expensive, and I know they are laborious to make and use high end materials, so I’m not begrudging the builders that have $80k 14’ skiffs, just that most people aren’t able to buy those. However, there are several companies building tiny, affordable fishing machines that only need 5-20 HP, making them equally affordable to operate.
The Glasser Boats 12 is a tiny skiff that has a great build quality and only needs a 15 HP to get going. That’s flat.
I love small boats for this reason. Affordability is something that plagues the marine industry, especially in high performance stuff. That said, going smaller is one of the solutions. Many of the most fabled high performance brands started when outboards only went up to 60 HP, so being able to run a little boat with a 60 or 90 is economical. Allison, Hydrostream, Donzi, Checkmate, and many others started with really small boats. Now we have outboards with more power than we know what to do with but I still love the efficiency of a little boat with modest power.
The Tuff 16 is probably the greatest little boat ever made, performance and design.
Because of the cost, Solo Skiff of Florida uses a molded polyethylene construction for a tough reasonably light hull. The company itself refers to it as a “motorized kayak” and they are right, you can paddle it easily or run it with a 5 or 6 hp engine to cruise up to 18 MPH. The 14.5” skiff, with a 41” beam, will carry one fisherman and some gear. Ample storage and the ability to run in the shallowest water, I love this thing. On a budget, you can fish in many areas. A cooler, livewell, and some dry storage, you’re a solo fishing machine. At around $2,300, the Solo Skiff could get you on the water without a trailer, as it can fit in a truck bed.
Everything you need and nothing you don’t. 18 MPH with 6 HP is really good.
Obviously the Solo Skiff is strictly for solo fishing, but there are some really cool tiny skiffs that can hold two and fish really well. Biscayne Boatworks makes a neat little 17’ skiff for a 25 HP. NewWater Boatworks out of Texas makes a tiny 18’ skiff for a 30 HP, and it looks really cool, super narrow and flat. Another one is the Glasser Boats Wrightwater 12’ which is more of a pure flat bottom skiff that can run a 20 HP.
Long, lean, and mean. 17’ overall but narrow and light for shallow water. Modest power is all you need.
On the higher end, Dragonfly Boatworks makes a couple 15’ models that are really sharp looking with attention to detail that is really nice. These are all custom boats that will be more money, although all are available as tillers without too many accessories could be reasonably affordable. There’s more well known brands that make great little skiffs, too many to list actually, and some get very expensive to me. That’s why the Solo Skiff is so cool, these glass boats can get really up there in price yet the Solo Skiff can do almost as much. And, most people fish alone 75% of the time.
At 12’ it’s shorter than the Solo Skiff, but it’s pretty fishable for two in a pinch. The Glasser 12.
I love the idea of a little 14-16’ two seater sport boat. Really simple, that can run a 40-60 HP. The Tuff 16 is basically that and it is one of the few available. Persuader Boats in Ohio makes a couple little boats, a 110 and a 130 two seater. Most people overlook these little boats and I think they’re missing out. Of course, you could find an old Hydrostream Vixen, An old MX 14 Checkmate, or 14’ Baja, but those are getting tougher to find. Any of those would rip with a new 60 HP or any 50-90 HP.
What is interesting is that because the fishing market is so big, fishing boats set trends and can entertain many different creative designs. Fishing is a great excuse to go out in a boat, people can then justify the spend no matter the budget. I don’t fish much anymore but I used to be an avid fisherman. I wish we saw the kind of creativity that we see in fishing boats in the small sport boat market. Would a solo sport boat, ultra light, with a 30 HP that could do over 50 MPH be insane?
Even in micro boats you can go pretty high end. Very cool looking boat from Dragonfly.