Solo Skiff – A versatile watercraft

 

The solo skiff was designed for fishing , however,  besides being a fantastic fishing vessel what else can you do with a solo skiff you may ask? 

There are so many things a Solo Skiff can do… The simplest thing to keep in mind is this-  Anything you can do in a  kayak can be done in a Solo skiff, and many things much better. One of my favorite things to do and something the solo skiff totally excels at is using it for snorkeling /freediving. Because of the Solo Skiffs design, getting in and out of it while swimming is a breeze (watch this quick video )

The ease at which you can get in the boat makes it MUCH more enjoyable than ANY kayak due to the nature of the design of the Solo Skiffs sides.

I find myself caring a mask around more and more to jump out and see whats on the bottom. Speaking of the bottom – Solo makes an excellent vehicle for lobster hunting near to shore… it’s the perfect watercraft to jump spot to spot quickly and scout and grab bugs as we call them.

On a recent trip to the Florida Keys I towed my daughter and her friend on a kayak too many places far in the back areas of the Florida Keys near Content, and we all snorkeled together for days and had an absolutely wonderful time!

I will suggest if you are going to tow a kayak use a floating ski rope and take it easy to see how the kayak reacts to being towed.

The ability to tow them and then untie once we got there allowed the two teenagers to do what teenagers do and be little explorers when they wanted and allowed me to tool around the area with my stand up paddle and check out some spots (my never ending scouting)  When we were snorkeling it was nice because we tied the kayak and the Solo Skiff together -then anchor, mainly using the solo as the diving platform as we snorkeled around looking for lobster and anything else we could see . Speaking of towing-It was quite easy to tow them out there I simply put a loop of tow rope around my transom (see pic) and tied to the front of their kayak approximately 30 feet back and it worked wonderfully and it sure beat paddling LOL .  Worth mentioning is the fact that the Solo Skiff has so much inner storage it is easy to find a place to put a dive mask or two, and some dive fins.

You can keep the mask inside the hull or front cooler for protection and tie off the fins on the deck- especially if you have large free dive fins- this is my method.

 Another thing dive related I like to do is bring a hookah rig, and for you that do not know-  is basically I put a SCUBA tank in the cockpit of the Solo Skiff and I put a 40 foot hose to my regulator (the SCUBA piece that goes in your mouth to breath, then jump out of the boat to go down to the bottom and inspect things that I find. Using the Solo Skiff this way is a wonderfully fun thing to do on hot summer days when you don’t feel like fishing or just want a break from the heat which happens to me quite often when it’s really hot ! I plan on writing more about diving in the near future so keep checking back !

One other thing I will mention in this post is, I have not done it yet personally, but in the Solo Skiff owners groups on Facebook a lot of people are going out and getting scallops out of their solo skiff ! Such a cool thing collecting scallops in the shallow bays, filling up your cooler and going home for a feast!  Given that scallops can be found in waters 1-3 miles from shore in the Florida Gulf of Mexico, it is a quick and easy ride from the shore to awesome scallop grounds. The Solo can be paddled around easy to change spots, anchored quickly with a small anchor and is easy to keep in place so it is perfect for quick trips like a scallop collection !

Whether your fishing, snorkeling, or  free diving, the Solo Skiff is an awesome craft to get you out there – tight lines till next time !