New style Otter boats vs the older style

[CaptSpike]

Question on new style Otter boats. My buddy just bought a set with the extra half keel. He gave them to me to set up as I had done the upgrade to my older Otter Boats before. When I opened the boats the keel was what I had on my boats as a half keel (short weight). The extra half keel he was shipped had no weight at all on it. I called the company but never got a call back. The boats look like a new design compared to the old ones I had. So I'm wondering if the new boat design doesn't need all the weight on the keels any more??

Anyone running the new style with the dual keels? If so is the weight reduced compared to the full length weight and half length weight I had on the older, rounder style boats?

Thanks,

[CaptSpike]

Just found this on a site: Note: Big Jon has made some improvements to the Otter Boat's Half Keel. They are now made out of Stainless Steel instead of Aluminum. The half keel no longer needs a weight attached to it. It will look just like the picture.

I guess I'll assume the initial keel also changed to stainless thus the less weight on that keel as well.

Anyone have first hand experience with these?

Do they run the same as the original aluminum mods?

I guess we'll find out.

 

[NETBOY101]

I also had the newer otter boards last year they pulled okay but with dipsy's on them they pulled far back I went to Caledonia to a machine shop and had them make me those keels and yes the keels do not have a weight they're essentially just the same height width length. They pull a lot better now with dipsy's on and they still float, if you get a second keel just be careful how much weight because it could sink the otter boat when it's still

Sent from my SM-A102U using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Houndog]

Went through this a couple years ago,would be interesting to run them with the older style and compare the two.Also adjusting the rope length makes a big difference in how they track.

[CaptSpike]

Update: ran them yesterday and I dare say they pulled better than my old style otter boats. We had the upgrade dual keel. So happy. I used the same length on the leads as the older boats too. 9” and 11”. I got those numbers off this site way back when and they worked fine for what we do. Our biggest problem was trolling slow at 1.5mph. The Amish boards just didn’t like the slower speed. Anything 1.8 and above they were fine. Since we do troll live smelt slow early spring we just couldn’t use the Amish boards. Very happy with the performance of the New style Otter boats.