Review of the new 21' tunnel Southern Skimmer

[gottaflylee]

Scott Harris, owner of Southern Skimmer called a couple of weeks ago and wanted to get my feed back on the new 21' tunnel Southern skimmer. Knowing that I push my 21' into the skinny water he thought that I could give him some good feed back on the new all composite tunnel. I was very excited to see the new boat and put it through my paces.

The tunnel raises the motor up about 6" from where it usually sits and allows it to run is about 8" of water with out hitting the bottom and can plane off in about 12 to 14"



As Scott pulled down my road to pick me up, the boat looked fast just sitting on the trailer. It had a 115 four stroke Yamaha on the back that was sitting on a CMS power lift H-S jack plate. The 115 on the back was cleanly sitting there with hydraulic steering.







On this boat, he had installed a back deck with 2 live wells, one on each side, far enough apart that you could put another marine "grab a seat cooler" strapped down to pole from if you wanted. I thought it was cleanly done and saw that some thought had gone into it.



Under the back deck, between the live wells, are the live well valve controls and the stainless steel gas filter, a very nice feature. Beside that is a small tackle center that is large enough for your days trip fishing.





One of the standard features on the Skimmers now are the Pop Up cleats, clean and strong looking...





This model 21' had the wider console installed with a 19 gallon gas tank under the console. Forward of the console is a 72 Qt marine "Grab a seat" cooler with stainless steel latches and heavy duty handles.



The console was cleanly laid out and the helm on this one was a tilt helm that I thought was a nice option. All the gages and other interments were easy to see and get to. On this boat, it had a Garmin color scope (fishfinder 300C) as well as a Fusion MS-IP 600 that you can stick your IPod phone into for tunes and it will ring through the speakers so you know that you have a call coming in. This unit is waterproof and rain or washing the boat will not hurt it. Another cool option.
Just above the shifter sites the switch panel for the running lights, bilge pump, accessories, and jack plate. In the middle of this is a 12 volt plug for other needs of power.


The gas filler cap and the Fusion speakers on the side of the console.



One of the changes in this boat over the older Skimmers that I liked was the grab bar. It now comes back on the console so that it is easer to hold on while running. One of the things that was kept on the new Skimmers are the large gunnels for walking or leaning on. The satiability of the 21 remains unchanged on the tunnel and even with 3 people on the same side, does not make the boat feel tippy.



This boat had 2 large front hatches on each side of the casting deck for ease of storage as well as being able to put a 12 volt trolling battery on each side of the boat. A 24 volt system works well on this boat and with good batteries, it will pull this boat all day fishing. Dry weight on this boat is about 1200 and the new Skimmers are all composite construction now with no wood to warp or rot. Another sweet option is having a rod tube installed on each side forward deck for storage of longer rods or fly rods as seen in picture.



The forward part of the bow, now comes with a very large anchor locker which is large enough to keep the anchor as well as life jackets and other miscellaneous things.



I did like the Stainless Steel hinges on all the hatches.



Water from the anchor and line is drained from the side of the locker to the overboard of the boat on each side of the locker.



We did fish the boat so I could get a feel of how it handled when I polled it as well as how it ran in the shallow water. I really feel that I need more time to push it around to get use to it but in the short few hours that I got to use it I could tell the new composite boat was much lighter than my 21'. The tunnel on this boat, kept the stern from sliding in the breeze which will be nice for those that put trolling motors on them. I could not tell any difference polling the boat getting in shallow water with the tunnel over the standard 21' Skimmer.

Running tha boat and coming into the bay is where the boat shined over the standard 21' Skimmer. The Skimmer Tunnel slid into the 12 inches of water and sat down with out the motor hitting or kicking up sand.

The Skimmer tunnel took off on a very flat plane and quickly got up and was running in the 14" of water with out kicking up mud or having the motor jacked up at a steep angle.

Some tunnels that I have run and owned, tend to want to cavitate or suck air when run in deeper water. This Skimmer Tunnel ran well into the wind as well as down wind. Never did it want to cavitate or grab air. In a turn, it held well for a flat bottom boat and as long as the passengers were balanced in the boat it took the corners of the creeks with out grabbing a rail and dipping the side.

This with out a doubt is one of the finer tunnel boats that I have ever run. I will be at the Skimmer plant this week and will try to get some more pictures of the boats under construction for you all.

Thanks Scott for giving me a sneak peak of the new Southern Skimmer Tunnel.

Here are a few pictures of the fish from the day...

Scott...


8 spotter on this side



the release



Randy

[merry marlin]

If I ever have some spare bucks I will have that boat in green like yours Lee!...
When are you moving to your Fall Headquarters?
Saw 5 good size schools of albies on the eastside saturday with no one bothering them...
MM

[gottaflylee]

If I ever have some spare bucks I will have that boat in green like yours Lee!...
When are you moving to your Fall Headquarters?
Saw 5 good size schools of albies on the eastside saturday with no one bothering them...
MM

Should be up about the first of Nov. if I can find a place to stay...hide the Trout as they are gonna take a hurting...

[merry marlin]

Should be up about the first of Nov. if I can find a place to stay...hide the Trout as they are gonna take a hurting...

If you don't find a place on Harkers we'll work out a place in Marshallberg...
MM

[Greg Manning]

The layout is very similiar to my Intruder. The tunnel will make that boat a lot more versatile. Good report.

[clt_capt]

First rate shallow water platform. Nice review

[Robja]

Great report Lee. I take it you could put a power pole on the transom.

[gottaflylee]

Great report Lee. I take it you could put a power pole on the transom.

Robja, yes you can mount a power pole the transom, even 2 as many boats are doing.
Another cool feature on this boat was the through hull fitting is almost a flush mount that will still pick up water while you are running...

[BYRD]

Great looking boat. I like the live well set up in the stern. Question for you. Is that a purple canary or a morning glory bass assassin on the console?

[WAHOONBOX]

THANKS LEE AND THANKS TO SOUTHERN SKIMMER....

ONE OF THE BEST BOAT REVIEWS I HAVE READ TO DATE! AND I DON'T NORMALLY READ REVIEWS!