Picking up a Marquesa in the next few weeks that has the lithium setup in the front hatch. My understanding is that most Marquesas post 2004 are 10” draft boats. Have any of you intentionally run lead acid and or full fuel in the front as ballast to lessen rear draft?
I do understand the deepest drafting part of the hull is 1/4-1/3 back from bow at level floatation, however without any ballast and a 115, poling solo, the deepest hull draft would likely be at the rear.
Don’t know specifics but poling solo from the platform you will want all kinds of extra weight in the front. I posted about a helluva time I had poling my Evo with 115 solo was hell with no weight up front. Haven’t had a chance to revisit the solo poling since I e had company last few trips but was clear you need to balance the hull…
Yeah it was a stupid question I already knew the answer to. The question I should’ve asked is what minimum draft can I expect out of a new Marquesa rigged light with a 115 and with some front ballast floating level? 9-10”?
No idea to your question on draft, but after watching Dustin Huff on the Millhouse, he had my wheels spinning for a ballast tank up front.
I can usually get by with moving my cooler all the way up front, if I’ve got a full tank of gas, but it still needs more weight than that to level off. 100lbs giver take would be perfect.
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Every hull reacts to the actual weight on board- and where the humans are will make a noticeable difference in some hulls. For anyone with a “bow light” hull… when poling solo- the easiest fix is simply to pole off the bow - backwards. If you go back to the years when many had a “flamingo skiff” as a second boat, many times it was a simple jonboat - that’s exactly how we poled them. An added benefit when solo is that after hooking a fish you didn’t have to get down off of that poling platform to land it (as well as all the other minor stuff when solo and up on top of that tower when there’s always something you need - down on the deck below…).
File this under simple redneck engineering…
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I typically pole from the bow when solo, but there are times when I need the added height for the visibility, usually when I’m fishing mudflats that are sub 12”. From the rear platform I can see and make the longer shots before the fish get spooked. There are no hard fast rules for me though, on a typical day I’m all over my skiff like a kid on a playground. Conditions dictate where and how I’m fishing, and as you know, that changes rapidly.
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18 Mav so similar issue. Plus fish alone a bunch.
bought a hundred pound weightlifting sandbag. Chuck that sucker in when I know I’ll be poling shallow and put right on the nose when fishing, other wise it gets thrown right back to the garage gym. That plus a decently full fuel tank and I’m good to go.
Speaking of ballasts and chittums, when I fish on my buddies and we hook a tarpon I always tell him we need some ballast to add because it’s too damn easy for the fish to pull That skimboard of a boat around.
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@BK922 Welcome aboard Ben, glad to have you here!
I ran a 2018 Marquesa over 1000 hours in 5 years on the Nature Coast and Louisiana Marsh.
Had three 12V ReLion for TM. I liked that the vee towards the front would hit bottom first because it was easy to stop, and retreat by poling from the bow. Or just spin over the point of contact, and change direction.
My Pro is totally different. It floats evenly and is hard to maneuver when it hits bottom.
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