Dose anyone have any opinions on the riverpro boats? We don’t have to many around our area so I’m not able to check them out much except on the internet. I want to hear the pros and the cons on this boat. I have a buddy looking at them and he’s now got me half way interested in them. Great price for the Money too.
Thanks for all the help guys, Jeremy
I’ve been in one with Dennis Steel on the Minnesota river. If you are looking for a boat that will get you where a prop boat can’t they are a great choice. The only thing I didn’t care for was the noise. But I don’t think you can get away from that with a jet boat. They are roomy, built like tanks, and nice to fish out of. Dennis drives like a maniac and he has pictures of himself taking his boat over logs and brush and getting into backwaters you’d have a hard time getting a canoe into.
dd
Thanks for that info. How big was the one you were in and was it a HiPro? How do they handle on the water? Thanks for all the info.
At the time Dennis was using a low pro while he was waiting for his hi pro (If I remember correctly.) They handle real nice. They even handle waves of a moderate nature. I wouldn’t want to be in one on Mille Lacs in a gale….. But Dennis does take his out on the lakes quite a bit.
If Dennis or Kevin Turner (the guy who makes the boats) catches this they could give you a lot more info. Good Luck!
dd
i have had mine for a little better than year and love it, lots of room to move around in, and talk about being stable, you can move around the boat or have two people sitting on the same side of the boat and your not leaning to the side. they are a bit loud, but that is the only negative I have found if you want to call it that. You can go through ankle deep water, or over logs and no worries, I have done both. I have to thank Briank for showing me that it will go over a 18 inch thick log stuck on a sand bar 
In my opinion, its a great boat and well worth the money 
if i ever happen to stumble upon a money bearing tree, i will shake it perfusely until i have enough ching to buy a bigger boat, perhaps a tunnel flat with a jetdrive like JC’s. but for now, i just hold the thoratle WFO….lol.
Hey Mud is that at rat tail or mullet your sporting in that pic?
darouho…….. i could only wish i was fortunate enough to be sportin’ a wicked rat tail! its actually the little tassle thing that keeps me from loosing my sunglasses..lol
Thats to bad you would look like a bad [censored] with a mullett
brian,
is that still the lowe? and the merc 20? i thought you were supposed to have the mud motor on when you were traveling skinny water
Hey Jeremy,
A River Pro is a great boat for what its designed to do. That is travel through some of the shallowest water.
I do use mine on smaller lakes because I have all my best equipment mounted on the RP. I do have a 17ft deep vee for big water like Mille Lacs, Leech, Vermillion, etc. But It does work fine on the smaller to medium sized lakes.
Some of the advantages of the RP is that you can go just about anywhere. They are not indestructable but pretty darn close. I was thrown from my HiPro last year after putting it into a spin (intentially! 
). The boat went up a 45 degree rip rap bank at 30mph and got sutck in some tree’s. I yanked the boat off the rocks with another boat and used it that afternoon. She started right up and only a few smallish dents in the bow where it hit a little more dead on. The bottom had only a few scratches.
I also take my RP over logs, skip sand and gravel bars and take it up small creeks and rivers.
I do on accasion “bump” a rock and it can put a welt in the bottom but I doubt your ever in trouble of puncturing the hull. Just give the bottom a little character. I have yet to hit anything that has affected the performance of the boat.
Should you do what I do??? Probably not! 
But my boat has taken it. If you drive them responsibly you will never have any trouble on any water.
One other advantage is the power it has. This thing will jump on plane in less than 3 boat lengths. I can get into small areas by setting the boat down and hitting reverse, basically putting the breaks on. Then to get out of the hole you just hit it and the thing jumps on plane and off you go.
The baot drafts about 10 to 12 inches when drifting and will run through less than 4″ when on plane…or less!
The boat will also plane at slow speeds so when your navigating shallow narrow channels, its easy to manuever. You don’t have to have the boat screaming up some creek at 30, you can take it nice and slow and have time to react at about 20mph.
There are some disadvantages to the boat. Right now I have the HiPro. When its windy the boat is difficult to control on a drift. Its also difficult to control when slow trolling as it does not have a rudder. I compensate this problem by using a drift sock off, straight off the back of the boat.
If drifting rivers is something you are going to do on a regualr basis, I would take a look at the LowPro’s. Just like a bass boat (it is) it will not catch the wind.
The boats are not comfortable to ride in when you have waves more than a foot and a half. These baots are not designed for larger lakes. I use mine and when there is a fair amount of wave action,I just slow down so that there is more boat in the water. It helps to smooth out the ride.
The jet also does not perform well in weedy situations. It can clog the intake and you will have limited power. Its way better than an outboard jet and clearing the intake is not difficult. I just get the boat on plane and shut it down while still on plane or in the worst cases, spin the boat untill its sliding backwards and shut the engine down. This usually clears the intake. Gotta be carefull you don’t throw yourself out of the boat however!!
There pretty darn amazing boats but they are designed for one purpose. Very shallow water navigation!
Thanks a lot for all the information fishhead. That is what I was looking for.
Quote:
I was thrown from my HiPro last year after putting it into a spin (intentially! ).
Was the spin or being thrown from the boat intentinal? 
Mr. Fishhead has put his boat through he11! I was in it last fall and if I did what he has done to my little lund with a 90 on the back…I would be boatless right now.
If anyone has been to the Ford dam there is two ways to get to the dam. To the right pleanty of water for any boat to go through…to the left…well you could walk across to the island divider…First day FH had his boat on the water…we went to the left. I know there wasn’t 3 inches of water there…for at least 150 feet. If I would have shut my eyes (they were wide open) I wouldn’t have known…
UNLIKE the ride that catten addict gave me…scared the bajibers out of me! But…we motored on home without a worry.
A true…catten boat! 
Hey Fishhead! 
I knew you would eventually see this fishhead! Fishhead in his riverpro is like The Blues Brothers movie on water.
dd
A big HI back “MM”.
I make the rounds to some of the better fishing sites.
Hey that’s “dd” Dennis!
Your buddy Dark hangs out here too. Now that I live by the mighty Mississippi it only makes sense to hang out on IDA. IDA could use some more Minnesota river input, however. Later Sir!
dd (mm, Herb)
I couldn’t of said it better myself, THX Dennis…KT
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