After rolling my kayak on a ice covers lake and loosing my rifle( recovered 2weeks later with salvage magnet) I posted asking about a light stable boat recommendation. I was thinking about a beaver tail stealth 2000 or nu canoe 1200.
After post an pms I decided they were probably not going to be a good fit and wrote them off.

Well about a month ago my cousin traded a custom built 300 PRC rifle for a Beaver tail with duck blind, extra seat, side troll motor mount, paddle, rear out board mount, and a new small boat trailer. He since bought a center console salt water trolling boat and is selling off a few other boats and jeep among other things to reduce debt.

He wanted 2 k for the Beaver rig came down to 1700 but that's still more than I want to spend on a small 2 person water craft I will not use much. But I'm going to take it out in the next few days and see what I think about it. If I think I may actually like it I will see how much less he will take.

Primary use goals are a small stable craft I can get anywhere hall equipment/deer on, trap, fish, access unaccessible hunting spots safely even in icy winter conditions with kids 9and up. And of course playing on the water in summer when the kids are kayaking. But I don't think I will come close to keeping up with them.

I have had it for two weeks and have yet to have time to try it out. I haven't got the kids out on their kayaks all year either. That tells me it's probably going to be a wast of money I won't end up using like my canoe.(it's To heavy long 17'and dose not respond well. ) Yet I am still entertaining the idea if it does what I want it would be nice to have on hand if I do need it.

I will let you know what I think about it.

If money's not tight sometimes You got to live for today a little. Buy it and you and the kids can both enjoy through the years.

pictures ?

The other thing to consider is that if it doesn't do what you want, if you get it for a decent price, you can just sell the beaver tail to someone else, with no real loss.

Keith

https://www.explorebeavertail.com/product/stealth-2000-sneakboat-kayak/

I don't have a picture hosting sight but this is what it is.

That is a pretty cool rig. I've been looking for something to trap a small river near my house with a 3-4 dozen size trapline and that might be the ticket. I've looked at a bunch of canoes but I can't carry or maneuver a 16 or 17 footer in this particular body of water. Only issue with that beavertail boat is that its also super heavy...130 lbs.

It all depends on your purposes, for me that is too heavy, but I want to be able to carry/drag it easily by myself with my gear. It would be nice if they had something about 75 pounds!

If that price includes a gas engine, maybe

I use a 13 foot canoe and in my area with cattail bogs that float I paddle and push the canoe up onto the bogs a lot to set feed beds. I do a lot of that by leaning over the back or front of the canoe as typically can't set from either side. To me that rig would make it really hard to set over either end ( am short that may not be your problem). Also I would not use the seat on top of the platform, to me the center of gravity gets pretty high and whenever one leans over in a smaller craft one takes the major part of the bottom and keel off the water making flipping much more likely to happen. I lot of where I set has no real bottom in our kettle bogs and flipping a boat is not an oh crap deal it is a life or death deal.

Bryce

the 460 pound max weight limit would give me Pause it is going to be very easy to get to 460 and I haven't found those numbers to be overly forgiving

I have a sit on top kayak/paddle board that I think should have been rated for 275 not a cheap one by any mean but it says 400 I had to look hard to find one that was rated to 400

400 till what the deck is 100% underwater

I fish from it on small ponds and the wife likes to put on a swim suit and go for a paddle with it , technically it is hers


I would load up what you plan to haul with it and weight it all then load up the boat with that much weight in sand bags or water jugs and you and go for a paddle how does it work with a 200 pound buck in it and you

I took it out and played with it. It's a stable as you could ask for for something it's size. I would have no problems standing to fish and I would have to really try hard to get it to flip. I stood on the side rail and it would not flip even rocked it a little while on the rail.. It paddles better than I thought it would with the recommended extra long kayak paddle but not as nice as our kayaks do. But the kayaks sure are easy to flip so good trade off?

That said with the side troll motor mount the motor needs set deep enough it can't hit the side of the boat when turning, and then it dose not track as nice as mounted on the center motor mount. THE REAR MOTOR MOUNT is directly behind you and the seat swivels yes but the floor is cut so your feet can't sit side ways but have to remain in front of you. This becomes uncomfortable quickly.

When it had 500 lbs in it it naturally sat lower, was a little less responsive, and a little more tippy but still more stable than my canoe and kayaks. It's also foam filled so filled with water it will not sink.

Conclusion is its a good stable small boat. It's a bit heavy but the Handel on the front makes it easy to pick up and drag quite a ways if needed. It would make a good trapping and hunting boat for one man or 2 on occasion and the trailer makes it so convenient 75mph no problem and unhook it and wheel it around the yard with one hand.

But I decided I'm not going to buy it. 10 years ago it would have been the ultimate for me. But now I have 2 growing boys and they both won't fit. Yes they could take their kayak and that fine for summer but I don't want them in them in winter with cold water and thick clothes. I would be better served with a super wide deep sided open floor boat on a trailer if I'm going to trailer something. One I can put 3 people in comfortably and 4 if the wife wants to go. But then she would be OK in a kayak because she is a fare weather only boater.

I think if spending money on a boat it would be better spent on something to accommodate the family better.

Explained this to my cousin then he said I should buy his 17' aluminum bass boat. It's nice big outboard, remote control troll, raised front deck, motor the works. It's a older but probably 7 -10 k and bigger/heavier than I want. Honestly a pontoon would suit family and friends summer fun more. But honestly for the once or twice IA year I would maybe use a pontoon I just assume rent one.