| All information, images and content contained within this page is the sole property of Terrapin Skiff Boat Company Inc. The copying or other use of this page in whole or in any part without express written consent from Terrapin Skiff's is forbidden. Copyright 2007 |
| About our Company Well I guess it all started back in 2002 when Capt. Rob Fordyce, one of the best guides we have here in So. Florida brought home a new skiff from Hell’s Bay Boatworks. It was called the Glades Skiff and it was sweet. So I made plans to get one the very next year. Fourteen months rolled around and the price of the skiff had almost doubled which made the purchase impossible for me. So being a finish woodworker and having over twenty years experience in building handmade strip wood canoes, I started the daunting task of designing a new skiff. I wanted a skiff that would perform flawlessly in Biscayne Bay running in a two foot chop. I wanted a skiff that after fishing the whole day would make the run out of East Cape Canal into a twenty knot east wind back to Flamingo not a painful experience. But, I also wanted a skiff that would sit in three and a half inches of water with a full load, pole effortlessly and be absolutely silent. Well the first one was, well, pretty nice I guess, but not up to par with my original needs so it was back to the drawing board. Three years flew by while a wood plug sat in my workshop in an everlasting state of change. I had many co-designers involved in this project like Ashley Cornelius, owner of Don’s Bait & Tackle in Homestead. A GS owner for a few years he had a lot of input on some of the changes I made to my design. Ron Hill, one of my steady anglers that fishes me over forty days a year also had some very helpful “user friendly” additions he offered to the design like the positioning and location of the front hatch. Wider, longer, bigger built-in spray rails, a huge forward casting deck. The list went on and on when looking back at my original design. Holding a corner was a true concern while the process continued. I needed to hold sharp turns while going through the creeks of Hell’s, Lane and Pearl Bays and all the creeks I fish west to the Shark River. There could be no sliding around those corners. At one point I even had a little vee in the hull, while running fantastic in a chop it compromised my draft so out it went. Sneaking her out for a few water tests over those years I finally found a design I liked in January of 2007. I felt I had it all. So it was off to the mold makers and here you see the fruits of our labors. The next set of trials and tribulations I went through was the building process. Should I go Hi-Tec? Kevlar, Carbon/Kevlar, Divinycell and Klegecell foams, vacuum bagging, the list is endless and all of the processes were very expensive. Hi-Tec equals hi-dollars in the boat building business. I was stead fast in the idea to build a top quality, long lasting bulletproof skiff that I didn't need to pay an arm and a leg for. This sentiment was echoed by every shallow water angler I spoke to. Your skiff will only be built using high quality polyester resigns and polyester closed cell foam for the vastly superior bonding qualities. Your hull and liner will be made up of four separate layers of glass/resin, two separate layers of half inch foam and then the two pieces will be fully bonded together using Core-Bond for superior strength and a one-piece feel when running a rough chop. Your hull will be heavier than most of the rest of the published hull weights in the industry due to our lay-up process. Maybe it’s due to our honest disclosure of the ACTUAL WEIGHT of our finished boat!!!! I just feel that the weight of a boat should be the weight of the boat before you put your cooler and gear in it. Our weight is an honest 605 pounds. This includes the finished ready-to-fish boat, the motor (25 HP Yamaha two-stroke) and a full seven gallon fuel tank. Your DragonFly will draft three and a half inches with the above mentioned 605 pounds and with the addition of two average 170 pound anglers, a small cooler and their fishing gear. I feel it is necessary to list this stuff because it is the truth. Take a sea-trial and you will be convinced of our skiff’s quality, performance and capabilities. Capt. Dave Sutton |