I like to do nature photography I see the possible pertential using one of these. However for taking my camera gear with me I fearful of this boat tipping and mt gear going over board. Even while traveling to a destination and placing my camera and lens int a dry bag. It seems to be lacking enough dry storage to place my gear into. Question if the boat flips how difficult is it to right side this water craft. How difficult it to get back up onto these watercrafts?
The important thing to keep in mind is these boats are extremely stable. Now standing up, they will slide side to side, but they will not rock without waves. Even in a lot of chop, they are very stable. That said, as mentioned in the video, standing on the back is a bad idea. They are balanced for the weight of the motor at the back and the riders in the middle. If you step on the back, it will flip. If that happens, you will very likely need to get the boat to the shore to right it. We have run these in a boat club for years. One only flipped once, and it was a very specific case where someone stepped on the back in very choppy conditions. That was totally user error. In that case, it was a matter of getting it to land to right it.
At 13k and up can't stand on the back way to short for fishing with the wife i pass. I can buy a panfish or Bass Tracker for about the same price, i would way more comfortable and use them in just about any weather.
Boating in the mythical world of calm waters.short trips. Never white caps, strong winds or big~wakes. God help the Craig Cat captain when mother nature rolls the weather.
i see 2 major things need to be done with these to make them miles better. first would be to have the two main sponsons have the fronts of them upturned to stop any water over flowing on these and allow to travel in rougher water at slow speeds much better. the second major improvement and can be made for this so simple is to have the sponsons so just before launch you simple pull these out each side an extra 1 foot. this would give the boat much more stability at rest and by doing this you could have wider sponsons or pontoons or whatever you want to call them, this would give more flotation too... it only needs to be on simple rails to do this. by adding just 6 inches more width to each sponson would almost double the flotation. now i dont know if these sponson things are foam filled or air filled, but like they are they are too close. neat idea but having the back of the sponsons have water go over it with 2 people on board is telling me you do NOT have anywhere near enough flotation.. people will buy these things and fill up their storage boxes and simply sink the boat/craft. would be much better to just have long surfboards or inflatable paddle boards that give a lot more bouyancy...
I have own a 2004 since it was new and nothing u state is true I have been in rough seas also in monsoon storms with waves hitting wife at head high running full speed never felt in danger I have walked all around stern and motor and I weigh 180lbs and water only came to my ankles. The boat will not sink even if it split into pieces the motor probably would sink or be lost.
Wrong. Get both. I have both a 26' bow rider and a Craigcat. It is SOOOOO much more versatile than the bigger boat. Instant launch and docking, I can go into 2 feet of water for fishing nooks and crannies etc. It is a head turner and I get more "can I get a ride?" shout outs than my bigger boat (which costs 7x as much). 14 years + with my Craigcat and I still love it.
