Would appreciate any information anyone can give me about Alumaweld Sea dorys. With a jet will they run as shallow as a conventional flat bottom sled? Also, how well do they handle with a jet, how well built are they and how well do they run in choppy water ( are they significantly smoother riding than a conventional flat bottom) ? I know no one sled type will do it all but I am looking for a relatively inexpensive boat for mostly river use and a small amount of salt water action. Thanks for any information.

No, it's not going to run as shallow as a flat bottom sled. You'll probably be good down to about 8-10 inches safely. But it will handle better, and handle rough water better. You can run the Sky when Gold bar is over 2500 cfs, check the charts to see if that is good enough.

If you look at a Alumaweld sea dory ... they are a flat bottom....built a lot like a drift boat without the rocker to the bottom .
Ok boat but ride rough in the chop.... more like a flat bottom than a vee hull.

Now if you look at a newer Alumaweld Sea Skiff.....they look close to the same, but have vee hull and are designed for a prop and not a jet.

Look for a Super vee....a much better all around hull.....will run in 6" of water and give a better ride in the chop.....just my .02 cents

I owned an 18' sea dory for quite awhile, 4 years and it did just fine. They draw as much water as a flat bottom and will run in the same.
They are flat bottom and just have a little rocker up front. ( the earler models that is ) The boat handled well.

For the price you will probly be paying for it, I don't think you could go wrong.

The boat would not be as good for the saltwater, but would work, as long as it is not too rough.

I also owned a Sea Dory Alumeweld sled for a while and it worked fine.It was a 15' with a 90 jet on it and it would run in as shallow water as a flatbottom would. I also used it in the sound alot, not real fun it rough water but what sled would be? The best thing about them is they can be bought relatively cheap. Their drawback is they need plenty of power and are slow.


Oh, and another thing, the boat I had was an absolute fish murderer!!

There was a similar post on 'that other board' ..... Ifish.net.
Search under 'sea dory' or 'alumaweld'. It was just posted in the last few weeks. Quite a few replies...good and bad.
Hope that helps.
I think the boat looks like a good design but have no experience with it.