will sponsons add stability?, or just need a wider boat. Vertigo’s been kicking my butt lately, about went over the side yesterday.
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Vertigo, no fun. The following has nothing to do with your question. Not sure if this will help you but when I know it’s coming on or when I know I’m going offshore I take 1/2 extra strength Bonine with Meclizine. It works👍
I lost a crystal in my ear or something like that so I’m familiar with vertigo. It almost as bad as getting seasick 
I pole both sponson and no sponson, they feel about the same to me. No sponsons are easier to push back, but I don’t think they are big differences in stability.
thanks for suggestion on meds, my cause is much deeper in the ear canal though i have the crystal problem too, meclizine , an antihistamine does not help me, always in a low level constant state. once my balance is off and I start going down there’s no correcting
@arace
I’m sorry to hear that, I wish you well!
Don’t know your age, but I have balance problems, probably due to old age. At 60, I could ride a skateboard, motorcycle, bicycle. I’ll be 80 tomorrow, and in the past twenty years, my balance and stability have just about gone away. I get out of bed to go take a leak and have to hold on to the wall to stay upright. I fall in my skiff a lot. It’s only 14 feet, but not terribly tippy. Just me. Needless to say, my skiff has no poling platform. Not a physical malady. Just old age. But, I don’t let it keep me from fishing the flats! TJ
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Adding sponsons will help stability by adding floatation but a wider hull is a much more drastic difference i see people adding these huge sponsons to boats but they must not realize that if the sponson is not in the water (wetted area) it adds no floatation and actually just adds more weight. A keyslot transom is a little different but still basically makes it a sponson hull and they are usually for negating the weight of the outboard. Boats in general are moving away from sponsons and just going flat or radiused transoms.
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i’m 78, my problem started 60 years ago, we had no hearing protection in south east Asia back then, toss in some agent orange exposure and after coming home had to fall asleep with he TV on to block the roar, the battle has just gotten worse with age, it was livable until I hit about 65. my present skiff is 16ft, 45in wide at floor level at widest point. my last boat was very good as it was 67in wide, floor level, very stable, my son quit fishing with me due to work and it became a little too much to handle solo so I down sized, wished I hadn’t now.
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Sorry to hear that, but I doubt sponsons would accomplish what you are after. I added almost 3’ of length to my skiff, which like yours is 46” at the chines, and while the stability did increase it’s not drastically different.
Thanks for sponson input, my thought was to make them the same shape and height as the hull and extend back about 18in, not looking for perfection on stability, if I could just dampen or slow down the movement I’d be happy. Just don’t want to go through all that work and accomplish nothing
At what point does waterline beam width start to impede poling efficiency? There must be a point at which beam width vs floatation is optimal. Seems like a wider beam at waterline will increase stability more than sponsons would, and support the outboard and a person standing above it to pole the boat. Or maybe not. CMJ could probably provide some good info on this. Personally I would prefer a wider beam waterline to sponsons.
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You have to think about deadrise as well when you start thinking about poling. beam will definitely be the biggest factor when thinking about static stability.
my BT Mosquito feels like a feather compared to my BT Air. while I consider both very poleable. I’m not sure I’d recommend either as I have them to someone with a lot of balance issues.
mosquito - 70” beam at 18’2” sponson boat, 3-4 degrees deadrise
air - 77” beam at 18’3 no sponsons, 14 degree deadrise.
The air is much more stable but I’d tell you it’s heavier on the pole more because of the extra deadrise and not so much the 7” of beam. There’s significantly more boat under the water line to push.
The right boat for you would really depend on your area and how skinny you need to draft and be able to run.
Significantly less deadrise should be lighter on the pole. But you’re also going to get beat up a bit if you’re running big water.
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There was a fellow on the other forum that had his Spear Jireh all rigged out with several strategically placed grab bars. If you like the boat, I’d make it look like a bathroom in a senior citizen home and not care what anyone thinks about it.
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can’t remember the last time I was on a poling platform, any poling now is done from the rear deck. Use a trolling motor most of the time, just have to ready before i hit spot lock
some grab rails may not be a bad idea
Yeah, arace! I think my next skiff project(after I repair some things on my rusty trailer) is a grab bar just in front of where I sit to steer my tiller skiff. It might be something I can grab, before my next fall. A company called Marine Fiberglass has a slew of pre-fabbed aluminum pipe u-bend railings I can kluge into something. Stay upright! TJ