Fishing Back When - Written by past contributor Charles Piatt from the May 1989 National Fisherman.

At Chiefland, Fla., Ron Tremblay manages Tremblay Net Boats, a boatyard started by his father, Leo, in 1945. The company specializes in mullet skiffs. 

Leo Tremblay says, "A lot of people call our boats 'bird dogs' because when you steer a boat with the motor in the bow, you point the tiller in the direction you want to turn. When steering with a transom-mounted outboard, you push the tiller to port when you want to turn to starboard."

Tremblay's current boats range in size from 20' to 28'. They all incorporate a 22"-wide, 3" deep tunnel that extends from the forward motor well aft to the transom.

Construction of a Tremblay well boat starts with the 40'' x 22 motor well and the fir 2 x 4s that edge the tunnel. When a motor-mount bulkhead is added at the front of the well and a transom installed at its rear, the result is an "I-beam" frame around which the rest of the boat is built.

Tremblay well boats get 1/2' marine plywood bottoms and 3/8" marine ply sides. Depending on location, fastenings are either galvanized nails or staples. The chine blocks are fir 2 x 4s rounded inside to accept glass from a chopper gun.

Since 1985, all of Tremblay's well boats have had self-bailing cockpits. To raise the deck to the necessary height, 1"' x 6" fir planks are nailed to the outside of the boat's two 2" x 4” stringers. Next, light, transverse deck beams of 2"' x 3" fir are laid between the 6" fir "risers" and the sides of the boat.

Finally, 1/2" marine ply deck is nailed to the deck beams, creating a void that becomes watertight when the boat is glassed.

Tremblay's well skiffs have 9'-wide washboards of glassed-over 1/2" plywood. The transom and motor-mount bulkheads are of 3/4"' marine plywood.

Ron Tremblay says most of his well boats go to mullet fishermen in the northern portion of Florida's west coast, with some sold to crabbers and shrimpers. He says there even are a few Tremblays in Texas and North Carolina.

Located in downtown Chiefland, the one-acre, five-employee yard builds about 100 boats yearly, of which 75 are well skiffs. Ron Tremblay says his 24-footer has been the most popular model and reports he might use one as a plug for production of a fiberglass well boat.

"Our 28' x 9'4" skiff can be powered with up to 225 h.p., which makes it a 35-knot-plus boat," says Tremblay. "Our 22' x 8'" model is a 20-knot boat with 50 h.p. and a 30-knot boat with 100 h.p."

Tremblay offers two load ratings for his boats. He says his 24-footer will carry about 6,000 lbs. of fish or gear with the scuppers plugged, or about 3,500 lbs. with them open. He rates the 28-footer at a maximum load of about 10,000 lbs. but says, "4,500 lbs. would let you keep the scuppers open."

Tremblay's price for a basic 20' x 8'4" well skiff is $2,940. He sells a 24' x 9'4" well boat for $3,765 and a 28' x 9'4" skiff, his biggest boat, for $4,870.