What do you guy use? This will be used in marsh with most three guys for now, I will need a bigger more stable duckboat in the future and will get one of the welded ones later when the children become quack addicts. Do you think 10,12,14,16 riveted jon is unsafe, I will be hunting from the boat. The size of the boatdoes depend on the motor and I would like to stay lite on the boat and motor because it will have some applications in the future when I'm hunting the smaller less accessable locations.

I'm getting my dads 12 foot 8 hp evinrude. Thats all i need. The size is a bonus too because i can get into tight spots and drag the entire boat into cover. The downside to that is that it can only handle two people and you might have to pack light, which is kinda hard to do.

I use an 18' x 60" modified v jon boat. I absolutely love it, but there are times I go through fairly big water.

With 3 guys, I would side with a 16' with a minimum beam of 48" (you should be able to find 52" or maybe even 60"). I don't think this would be unsafe, unless your going into really big water. Certainly if you're staying in marshes, it won't be a problem.

If you're going to be in the marshes a lot, either go with a mudbuddy type motor or a two stroke.

Good luck,

Check out the "Duck Hunter". We built the "Big Mamma" this summer.
www.Gatorboats.com

Ron

A 16' 51" boat is the bare minimumI would use with 3 people. And a 40hp would also be a min. too. I have worked in and been around the marine business for 25 years.Two guys can do 12-14' but 3 is asking for trouble. The problem you'll have is the weight you add. 3 grown men with waders, bags of decoys, guns and shells, possibly adog. You're talking close to a 1000lbs or more. If you have a narrow boat, it'll cut itself down through the water and submarine. Seen this with a 14' with 2 divers 1 boat operator and a nav/dive asst. As soon as they tried to power away boat just went down.

Mine is a 16' 48" express and it is very stable for 3 people