Small 12' Sea Nymph fishing boat? Need advice.

bucktaker · Jan 18, 2012

if you are still interested in small boats check out
The Aluminum boat modification site!
Lots of good advice and suggestions here.

I had a 1987 sea nymph 14r that i found too unstable for my bad knees. So i replaced it with a 1996 crestliner kodiak sc and added flat flooring and a bow mount trolling motor. mucho better.

MossRoad · Jan 18, 2012

border said:
My advice is to stay away from aluminium. It is ok for larger boats, but I had bad experience with previous 2 alu boats (both used only on lakes) so now I am considering just other materials pvc,etc.Just my 2 cents.

Aluminum has the advantage of being able to be easily repaired by competent welder. Plastic boat, on the other hand, are very, very difficult to repair well. Fiberglass ain't so easy either.

roygage · Jan 18, 2012

sixdogs said:
Does anyone here know anything about small aluminum fishing boats?
I'm thinking of buying one for fihing the edges of the flat and calm waters around here.
I figured a 14' would be OK since I stay close to shore but a friend has a 12 ft 1979 Sea Nymph "V" with new traler, etc in excellent condition for a few hundred.

My concern is the stability of a 12 ft boat and if anyone has any thoughts about it. This has a fairly flat bottom.
Fot the record, I lived in Maine and was out in big water and winds a lot plus the ocean. Now I stay close to shore in Ohio ponds.
Is 12 ft too short?

Have owned both 12 and 14 vee alum boats. For what you are intending to use it for , quiet ponds and slack water, the 12 will be fine. The big advantage is in it's portability, a 12 is much easier to manhandle in and out of a pickup, down a bank and put into the water.

Doing lakes where a trailer and ramp is used the 14 is much nicer.

Tenn_Blue · Jan 18, 2012

Different type of boat, but I gotta weigh in one this one... After living in Florida on the coast for many years and having all kinds and sizes of boats (mostly bigger..), I am lovin life now in a little 13 ft Boston Whaler. Mostly on inland and Tenn fresh water lakes and streams, where the bigger boats were 20 miles off-shore...

It is nice to have a boat that I can launch, load and manage without a crew or major vehicle. And gas (with a 25 hp 2 stroke) lasts forever.

Now more on-topic - the whaler is very stable for a smaller boat. Heavier than an aluminum but stable. And, while I hope to never prove it, they are supposed to be unsinkable.....

MadJack · Jan 19, 2012

The Sea Nymph R-14 was the NUMBER 1 rental boat in all of New England for MANY, MANY years. Very rugged and stable boat.

Many sporting camps went to the LUND 14' in the early 2000's due to the R-14 no longer being availabe.

At the early age of TEN YEARS OLD I was given a 1960 Sears 12' aluminum with a 9.9 motor, set in the Kennebec River at Bath Maine. I would run North of Bath through the "Chops" and into Merrymeeting Bay. As well, I would run 15 miles downriver to Fort Popham fishing for Mackeral and Stripers.
I never flipped the boat or swamped it.

alchemysa · Jan 19, 2012

Boats shrink dramatically as soon as you put them in the water.

Its doesn't sound like much but its amazing what a difference a foot or two makes. Compared to my 15 footer my mate's 19 footer is absolutely huge, and goes into water that I would never venture into. The extra width in the longer boat is very significant too.

Army grunt · Jan 19, 2012

I have had glass,an aluminum, used on Bantam Ct. lake for years. My best friend had wooden boats.They always sounded better , an I thought rode better. So when we moved to Georgia I got a set of plans from Glen L an built my own, (sweet Caroline), A fellow saw it an hired me to build him one.His is a open 17 ft fishing boat. Wood isnt for everyone, but its another choice.
Army Grunt

kandyman · May 11, 2016

Well if you look at the port side of the transom inside the hull you will see a sticker with the horse power rating and load capacity if it's the boat I think it is it's a model 12 B which was made in 1976 and 1978 it's called a Sea Nymph 12B Super Cartopper made by Sea Nymph boat co. syracuse Ind. They are rated for a 10hp motor with a max load of 570 lbs. including motor and gear. it's a good boat on calm water the transom is a little weak for a 10 hp and should be reinforced with Oak 1"x 12" on both inside and outside of transom. It's a solid little boat but a little tippsy not bad just don't stand up. for fishing small inland lakes with two people it's a great little boat in my opinion well worth a few hundy

Sawyer Rob · May 11, 2016

sixdogs said:
Does anyone here know anything about small aluminum fishing boats?
I'm thinking of buying one for fihing the edges of the flat and calm waters around here.
I figured a 14' would be OK since I stay close to shore but a friend has a 12 ft 1979 Sea Nymph "V" with new traler, etc in excellent condition for a few hundred.

My concern is the stability of a 12 ft boat and if anyone has any thoughts about it. This has a fairly flat bottom.
Fot the record, I lived in Maine and was out in big water and winds a lot plus the ocean. Now I stay close to shore in Ohio ponds.
Is 12 ft too short?

I still have that exact same boat and I never had any problem fishing out of it, with me and one other on board. Even with 3 of us, it was fine.

Caught king salmon out of it, on the Kenai River in Alaska... Also even used it to fish salmon and halibut out of it in Cook Inlet, just only went out when it was calm and stayed reasonable close to the shore so as to come in the minute it started getting rough...

For normal sized lakes, I still think it's just fine...

SR

BTW, I loaned it to a friend, and he shot a big bull moose, loaded it quartered, into the boat and floated the rest of the river, to his pick up spot...