What kind of jack plate do you run?
I'm thinking of adding one.
The cheapest one!
But seriously, the guys who developed the skull island built it with a single purpose. SKINNY. No jackplate, but 15in shortshaft motor mounted 4in high on the transom. It's set so high you don't want to run the motor while not in the boat unless the motor is trimmed ALL the way down. Water intake on the shaft is basically out of the water without the weight of a human on the boat. That's how I smoked my last impeller
The boat was built with a reputation of floating in 4 inches of water with motor trimmed out of the water. (I need 5 inches to float since I added a 100ah lead acid battery and trolling motor). I've run it on plane in less than 8in water, not sure how much less, but I've skidded across soft mud flats slinging pudding out the back when I got caught in some extreme negative winter tides that fell more than forecast and refused to wait 12 hours for tide change. But I wouldn't dream of running in less than 8in if there was any hard bottom underneath me. The hull is a legit 390lbs (carbon kevlar). Add another 153bs for the motor, another 100lbs of total gear, 40lbs fuel (it has 11g tank, but I never launch with more than 5 or 6 gallons... just extra weight not needed where I fish) plus me.
But that singular purpose (going skinny) comes with a tradeoff. The boat is tippy. You aren't walking the gunnels when fishing solo, and when I fish two, you must coordinate any big movements between the front and back angler. I fished with a 72yo guy yesterday, and he was fine standing on the back deck using the poling platform as a brace. To be honest, I won't climb up on the back poling platform until I get a sissy bar installed. I have no reservations about sight fishing on top of a cooler on the front deck, but the poling platform is just too high for me to feel comfortable on.
Being able to access fish that 99% of boats can't reach is a double edged sword. I know I'm throwing to fish that aren't pressured and haven't seen a lure in a while. But when I don't catch fish, I can't use pressure as an excuse for my failure!
BUT as far as jackplates, from my research you can't go wrong with either Bob's or Atlas.
