1992 16L Water Depth

[Atxtoni]

Ahoy whalers! I am about to buy a 1992SL 16foot as my first boat (!) for use at the Texas coast (and maybe on some lakes too) and I am curious about what depth of water is needed for the 16ft SL. From what I have read it seems to have a deeper hull than other models so that makes me think it needs deeper water. The Texas coast around Matagorda island has a lot of hidden sandbars and so I need to make sure the boat I buy can make it across patches of shallow without beaching. Any advice or feedback is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

[Phil T]

The 1992 16SL has a draft of 10". It is slightly more than the 13' and 15' and the same as the Outrage 17,18 and 19.
Your actual draft will be the depth of the engine, rather than the hull.

While some owners who frequent "skinny" water use a jack plate to adjust the engine position, you should be cautious. The 16SL hull is sensitive to engine weight and additional setback. Weight affects the hulls ride characteristics. Added weight hurts.

If the candidate boat has a heavy engine (4 stroke) adding a jack plate will have noticeable detrimental impact.

[biggiefl]

Even a jackplate will only save a couple inches which can help but it won't save you from beaching. Living in FL I basically found out by trial & error where I can go and at what tides. If unsure of an area, do it slowly. Another way is to follow somebody, do so with caution and hang back just in case they did not know where they were going. It is easy to follow a wake from an 1/8 mile back. If you have a chart plotter, you can follow that as well.

[Atxtoni]

Thank you Phil and biggiefl!

[Saukit]

I have a 16SL and they are stern heavy. If you have a heavy engine and full fuel tank the rear end really sits down. Depending on how the engine is mounted you can trim up of course. But with the 16 SL I don't think the draft specs are realistic, particularly for the aft end of the boat.