I had an older Starcraft 19 1/2′ I/O that I have always believed was the best boat in rough water I ever owned. It was also narrow, not sure exactly how narrow. It seems all of the new stuff has to be about as wide as possible. I understand the stability issue so far as not tipping while fishing, but is it not a better ride if they were narrower ??? Have they gone to far ?? Just wondering what others think.
My boat is deep and narrow compared to many of the newer walleye boats. It rides very nice in rougher waters for a lightweight aluminum boat because it is narrower (at least that’s my line). My boat is a 1995. Alumacraft changed the same model a couple years later making it wider and not nearly as deep. For the type of river fishing that I do I prefer the narrower boat to a wide boat simply because it is easier to fish wingdams from. With wider boats my line is usually hitting the back end of the boat when I sit up front running the trolling motor. Those big super wide walleye boats sure are nice looking and all but they aren’t made for fishing wingdams the way I fish them. My arms get tired from holding my pole out so the line doesn’t hit the side of the boat with the wider boats. If I were out on the pond or out to Erie then I might opt for a big wide boat like a Triton but for river fishing I’ll stick with my narrower boat. It is narrow but still pretty stable. The extra depth helps. Because of the depth and the tons of floatation in the boat I have no problem taking it on a large body of water. It is only 16’9″ long but has a 7 person capacity.
Eyehunter
The width at the gunnels has little to do with the way a boat will ride in rough water. The amount of dead rise, or more accurately, the angle of the dead rise, is key. The steeper the angle from the centerline out to the sides of the boat the better… when it comes to cutting waves allowing for a smooth entry into the water.
Modern “wide” walleyes boats have been improved dramatically over the last 5 years or so.
Mid-sized aluminum boats typically have a deadrise angle in the neighborhood of 10 – 13 degrees. These boats would include Crestliner’s Fishhawks and Lunds Sportsman’s Series. The “top o’ the line” tin boats, the Pro V’s from Lund and the Tournament Series from Crestliner, typically have a deadrise in the 16 – 19 degree range.
The ride in the wider “top of the line” tin boats put the ride you’ll see in the narrower boats to complete and utter shame. 
Now I have something to take to the store when I go shopping. Thanks d.j.
I love the topic of boat design. With fuel prices going sky high, there is a lot of talk about more efficient boats. Boat design is all about tradeoffs. Long narrow boats will give you a better ride in rough conditions and are more economical to run. The downside is that when you stop, their narrower beam will not be as stable.
Along the coasts, Panga style boats are becoming very popular. This style of boats has been very popular around the world for a long time. Do a search in Yahoo or Google for panga. You will see many manufacturers listed. Each has a lot of good info on their site.
I just posted this as an fyi. I find the topic interesting. There is an excellent book by David Gerr called The Nature of Boats. It is very entertaining and provides a lot of great information about the many tradeoffs in boat design.
Here is the basic hull shape:
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