Hyde Or Stealth Craft ?

[brokentippet]

I'm in the market for my first drift boat. I have come to the point were I am on the fence about which boat to buy. I am looking at either a 16' hyde pro series or a 15' stealth craft aftermath. I have had alot of experience with the hyde boats as my brother has owned one for years. I am familiar with the hyde and how it rows, there duability as well as how well they hold there re sale value, but more I research the stealth craft the more I like it. I was wondering if anyone has had experience with these boats ? any advice would be greatly appreciated. I will mainly be floating the Bow, Crowsnest, and the Elk

 

thanks in advance for the advice.

[bcubed]

Floating the crow (in any watercraft) will get you quite a few looks and likely no tires at the takeout.

[Jayhad]

Personally I'd get a stealth craft. I m a big fan of honeycomb foam/plastic core boats, a honeycomb core boat will have buoyancy as well as displacement and that can save you if you take the wrong drop and take on water.

[Tungsten]

It doesn't say on there web site what resin they use.So we have to assume its polyester like all the other boats.This means gel coat and as soon as you ding it the poly resin underneath starts to absorb water.

 

If it was epoxy construction then I would go with them.They also say Kevlar in the hull,I've done allot of reading about the use of Kevlar in boat hulls and it seems its more gimmick then useful .

 

Honeycomb cores need thick skins to be able to take the abuse,it also has to be applied properly.It doesn't say on the web site but it should be vacuum bagged on.

[Vitalshok]

Not to derail this thread but is there any dealers in Calgary for drift boats or do they all come out of the states sorry just trying dig up some info as well.

[brokentippet]

vatalkeith,

 

i heard rumours that the marine dealer in Nanton deals with them but that might be false. to me it seemed easier to order out of the states and just pay the delivery fees and have them deliver the boat to the Sweetgrass boarder crossing. rates are fairly reasonable as far as i could see. (hyde had the cheapest delivery fee, but stealth craft delivers right to your door......for twice the price)