Fly-Casters and Families Will Like This Skinny-Water Skiff

I back the boat off the trailer, wait for the truck and trailer to get out of my way, then shift the Yamaha F-75 four-stroke into forward and take it up to 2000 rpm. The ramp gets closer, closer, and CRUNCH! The bow grinds against concrete. I shift into reverse, back away, turn, nail the throttle, and BAM! The rubrail slams into the pier. Later I drop a lead weight on the deck, swing a hammer at the hull and whack the console with a wrench. Yet when I load the Triumph 1700 Skiff back onto the trailer, it's in perfect condition. What gives?

This boat is built with Roplene, a proprietary polymer material that can survive the harshest boating torture tests you can come up with. But don't just take my word for it. Go to www.toughboats.com and watch videos of a Triumph get towed down the road without a trailer, dropped from a crane and hit with a sledgehammer.

This unconventional boat-building material is nothing like fiberglass; Triumphs are actually molded in a 500-degree oven. Polymer beads are fed into the mold, melted and baked, then a computer-controlled system rotates the mold so the Roplene distributes and cools evenly. Next, foam is injected into the voids between the hull and deck, and stringers are filled with polyurethane foam. Since the foam and the Roplene are similar substances – essentially the foam is simply aerated polyurethane – they bond much better than foam and fiberglass do. That means saturation and water migration (problems common to foam-filled fiberglass boats) won't be issues as the boat ages.

Screws used in the 1700 Skiff are serrated, and when being driven, they build enough heat to actually melt the plastic around the threads, ensuring a good bite. This process results in a boat that's nearly indestructible. Added bonus: They're also less expensive than most comparable fiberglass boats. In fact, you can get a fully rigged 1700 Skiff with a 50-horsepower Yamaha outboard and an EZ Loader trailer for $15,330, a solid 25 percent less than most fully rigged center consoles in this size range.

Naturally there are some downsides to this construction technique, the first being that Roplene hulls are slightly heavier than fiberglass ones of the same size. The 1700 Skiff I tested, for example, has a hull weight of 1,400 pounds, compared to 800 pounds for a Carolina Skiff 1780 DLX, 1,050 pounds for a Scout 175 Sportfish, and 1,250 pounds for a Key Largo 168. Though that extra beef helps the 1700 Skiff bull through seas, it also means less efficiency and speed than some of these competitors might provide. Roplene also doesn't have the glossy shine of gelcoat, so these boats don't look as sporty as some others. (Note, however, that it also eliminates the chore of waxing your boat.) Finally, small hatches and parts made of Roplene tend to have more variation and don't always fit as well as molded fiberglass parts, which have much lower tolerances.

SUPER SEA TRIAL

Once I was satisfied I couldn't damage the 1700 Skiff by running into things, I needed to see how the boat handled a chop. The Triumph factory rep claimed the slightly flexible Roplene hull would partially absorb the blows when we hit waves, and after scooting through one-foot seas plus a few two-foot wakes, I think he was right. It's not a huge difference, but the 1700 Skiff definitely comes down softer then you'd expect from a 17-feet, 4-inches-long, 8 feet-wide boat with a mere seven degrees of transom deadrise. Not only is the bottom relatively flat, but also the entry isn't sharp. In fact, this boat carries its beam all the way forward to a blunt, rounded bow. Though these factors normally lower a boat's ability to handle a head sea without thumping and bumping, the impact absorption more or less makes up for it.

The lack of a sharp entry also has two distinct advantages. First, it boosts the 1700 Skiff's usable space. The forward casting deck is the size of those found on boats several feet longer, and the stowage area beneath it is larger than you'd expect to find on a boat of this size. Second, that bow greatly increases forward buoyancy, allowing Triumph to crown the deck and make this boat self-bailing. As anyone owning a self-bailing boat less than 20 feet can tell you, deck elevation over the waterline is usually so minimal that when people stand in the stern, water runs in from the scuppers and wets their feet. No such problem on the 1700 Skiff. In fact, we had three full-grown men onboard, and even with all of us aft of the helm, water didn't run in. The Triumph rep onboard noted that this boat has so much flotation in it that during testing, they were unable to intentionally sink one. Even with 1,800 pounds on deck, the rated capacity of the 1700 Skiff, the scuppers still remained above the waterline. Think that'll raise the center of gravity too much, making it tender? Nope – don't forget, the bottom only has seven degrees of V in it.

Yet another bonus of that relatively flat bottom and the large amount of planning surface: The boat planes incredibly quickly and easily. At 12 mph, the hull rises up and breaks over the hump. This means that on rough, snotty days, you'll have good slow-speed planing abilities; no need to either crawl along at idle or batter yourself at high speed to get home. The hull also shows strong efficiency both on and off plane. Trolling in this boat will be incredibly economical, since it burns just seven-tenths of a gallon per hour at 4.5 mph. Running at a 4500-rpm cruise, the 1700 Skiff hit 25.6 mph, according to the GPS. (This was with the F-75 Yamaha spinning a 13 ¾ inches x 17 inches aluminum prop; going to stainless steel should boost speed by 2 or 3 mph.) At this speed, the outboard sips just 4.5 gph, which means the boat gets about 5.8 mpg. At wide-open throttle (5900 rpm), we touched a top end of 36.5 mph, and the Yahama was consuming 7.5 gph. The resulting 4.8 mpg is great economy, even if the top-end speed is not impressive by today's standards. Still, this rig's no slouch. But bear these numbers in mind if you're considering the "standard" 50-hp powerplant, because you won't ever see 30 mph with it.

SMART SPACE UTILIZATION

Triumph's designers made great use of space in the 1700 Skiff, particularly in the aft deck. Some aft decks eat into the cockpit and make small center consoles feel cramped, but Triumph kept it svelte enough to allow pass-through room between the swing-back cooler seat and the raised decking. On the other hand, that also means it's only large enough for a single angler to stand on and cast from an elevated position. The front and back of the deck have openings that provide access to the small bilge, the bilge pump, and the battery. A 25-gallon livewell is also housed in the deck; to either side, you can have stowage or twin fuel tanks that carry a total of 13.2 gallons. Opt for stowage, and fuel gets housed in an 18-gallon tank that takes up the interior of the console. Request the aft fuel tanks, and the console has a stowage compartment inside.

Speaking of the console, one of its shortcomings is a lack of space for mounting electronics; you'll be hard-pressed to find room for more than a fishfinder and a chartplotter with four-inch-diagonal screens. Flush mounting is essentially out of the question. Of course, these problems are common to all boats this small. The console does have some pluses, however. There's a seat up front and a sturdy grabrail ringing the windshield. Due to the Roplene construction method, the console is molded in one piece that includes a bottom, instead of being open on the bottom and bolted to the deck. That means it'll always be dry inside, since water running down the deck can't migrate into a seam.

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More wise planning lies forward, where two access hatches, both hinged at the bottom, are on the foredeck. That makes its easy to stow and retrieve gear – no fighting to hold the hatches up while reaching inside. But it also means the hinges are vulnerable if your 250-pound brother-in-law Bubba steps on an open hatch by mistake.

KEEPING IT SIMPLE

Since this is such a small, utilitarian boat, there are few options, and going from the showroom floor to the boat ramp is a simple transition. A bimini top ($400), a foredeck seat ($340), side rails ($253), a swim platform and ladder ($400) and a trolling motor plug ($143) are the only add-ons you'll have to consider. Well, not the only ones – read the small print, and you'll note that rigging is also considered an option. Unless you plan to mount and run cables for the Yamaha all by your lonesome, that'll add $459 to the boat's base cost. Hrumph.

Customizing options include rail-mounted rod holders (as is usually true on boats this small, since the gunwales aren't wide enough for flush-mounts), vertical rod racks on either side of the console, a raw-water washdown (split off the livewell seacock) and additional aft seating. Parents and kids who are into watersports will have to be happy with the pair of tow-eyes on either side of the transom, because there's no reinforced area for mounting a tow pylon.

But bay and river anglers will be quite satisfied with the 1700 Skiff. The two elevated casting platforms, great rough-water performance and large (for this size boat) livewell mean light-tackle or fly casters, jiggers and live-baiters get what they need. Considering that the hull draws a mere six inches, add shallow-water coastal, flats, and back-country anglers to the list. Snorkelers and divers will also be interested, since the roomy cockpit and foredeck stowage area provide plenty of places to put dive tanks, BCs, and other gear. And the 1700 Skiff will also make a great family boat for folks who like to do all of the above plus tow a toy or water skier from time to time.

But the number-one reason people will buy this boat is the construction material. You have wild teenage kids? No big deal, you can give them the keys without worrying about it. Your buddy wants to take a try at docking? Sure, no problem – he can't hurt the darn thing. You want to haul rocks by the ton? Beach the boat and drag it up the shore? Leave it tied up in a slip that's dry at low tide? Fine, okay, and go right ahead. Just remember to tilt the outboard up before you try towing this boat down the highway without a trailer.

Lenny Rudow was senior technical editor for Boating magazine for more than 10 years, and is currently the electronics editor for Marlin and GoBoating magazines.

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