Boats made just for anglers
A labor of love motivated John Thiebaud to expand his marine accessory business to include boat production.
Hoplite Boats, made by Nautical Design of Harmony, manufactures a lightweight fishing boat that fills a distinct need.
"We've spent 23 years building sport fishing accessories for the off-shore market and nothing on the local market," said Thiebaud, Nautical Design's owner. "It's been a passion to build boats appropriate for the local scene."
Nautical Design makes an array of fighting chairs, helm chairs, tackle centers and storage units for big water boats.
The niche Thiebaud speaks of is a lightweight fishing boat — one easy to trailer in today's high fuel-price environment —that performs well on lakes with horsepower restrictions. Some of the area's best fishing occurs on lakes limited to 20 hp or less.
"Being able to use a smaller outboard is a plus in that the motor uses far less gas," said Thiebaud. "But in addition to that, having a small, lightweight boat-motor-trailer package means you can use most any vehicle to tow it."
The development of Hoplite Boats has included research and product testing for the past three years, resulting in a unique 16-foot fiberglass craft that weighs about 500 pounds.
Hoplite describes the hull shape as a "multistep V lift pad." Though the boat is low in profile, the leading edge of the center pad features a chop-cutting V. The trailing edge of the pad tapers down, reducing drag. Bow flair and reverse chines molding into the hull deflect waves for a drier ride.
The result of that design is a boat that quickly gets on plane with a lower-powered outboard. Several interior configurations are built on this basic hull.
Recently on Lake Arthur, I test drove the Predator 16, which features a side console and center seating for the operator and rider. Powered by an 18-hp, four-stroke outboard, the boat quickly jumped on plane, achieving a speed of 21 mph with only the operator on board. Adding a second person decreased the speed only about 1 mph.
The boat handled hard turns well and efficiently turned aside the short waves present that breezy evening. When I dropped the 12-volt trolling motor, which creates 46-pounds of thrust, it seemed adequate for handling boat-positioning chores.
Three different interior configurations are available. In addition to the side console model I tested, there is a center console version and a bare-bones tiller model. The tiller version, the Stealth 16, would likely be a good choice for a bass tournament angler looking to keep as much open floor space available as possible.
Thiebaud, a muskie angler, prefers the layout of the Tournament Pro 16, which features a center-mounted console. This arrangement gives anglers full access to rod holders when trolling.
Besides its light weight and clever hull design, a major distinction of this boat is its witty deck arrangements. Regardless of interior layout, the boat has a huge front casting deck and an impressive rear deck. Two anglers can fish from the bow with about as much freedom as can be expected from a 16-foot boat.
The standard livewell is more than ample for competitive bass fishing, while a 52-inch version is available for muskie anglers. A full livewell doesn't significantly affect the boat's performance.
Rod storage is good, and below-deck storage is provided for a portable fuel tank and batteries.
Hoplite plans to expand its boat building efforts to 18- and 21-foot versions this fall.
