Any Bankes Freedom owners?

mlbgary

mlbgary

Member
Any Freedom owners out there?

I mainly hunt eastern Lake Ontario, with the occasional trip to Long Point and focus divers and would like move up from my 16ft Lund. Any issues with quality of the boat? Worth the price? Can you tend a layout?

How about fishing from it, we have a great walleye fishery on Quinte and would need to put downriggers on the boat as well.

Thanks in advance.

Gary
 
Gary

I have owned Freedom Hull #1 since 2005. Luv the boat. I waited almost 10 yrs for Ron to make it. The Chesapeake was just not big enough to tend a layout or carry enough decoys.

Quality....first rate...

Ease of tending. The grass rail makes a great holding area for the person in the box. The gunnel height is just right to step in and out of. The 19....21...and 25 ft Bankes boats the height is unconfortably high.

The boat has handled conditions that I can only tell most others they should not be out in. We have tested the boat with almost a ton in it in a 5ft swell. One of the LP Co guys has a 175hp e-tec on his.... 60 hp is plenty for Me.

Fish quite often from mine...Bass...Walleye...Rainbow including down rigging. I use a clamp on board for the riggers.

Drop Me a line...or better yet stop in the next time your at the Point.

Gar
 
Hey mlbgary,

I own a Crusader and couldn't be more happier with it.

As far as fishing out of it the sides run high but using connector boards for downriggers is the way to go.

Quality? Unparralled. Micheal makes a solid boat with anything u want in a hunting boat and more.

Worth the price? Absolutely. The hull will never rot and he stands by his boats.

As far as Bankes boats go the whole package has preformed well. Lots of room for everything. The first weekend i had it the weather was perfect to test her in tp, 45km East wind with 5ft'ers and she took it like a champ. Honestly i haven't hunted in it yet but i'll let u know after the weekend.

Pintail
 
Are there any problems with these boats when it comes to breaking ice in the late season hunting for divers .I know they are reinforced with kevlar but will that keep the ice from wrecking the hull?
 
I'm torn between the Freedom and an 18 ft Alaskan, different boats for sure but both have their adv & dis. Love the boat blind and sea-worthiness aspects of the Bankes, but I think the Alaskan makes a better tender and fishing boat but others seem to do well with the Bankes in these roles. We hunt a lot of rocky shores out here and I think the aluminum might be a bit more forgiving as well.

Pintail, I'd love to hear any feedback on how you like the huntability of the Crusader.

I guess I have the winter to decide and the old Lund will have to serve me well for the rest of the season.

On a seperate note, we had an initial wave of bluebills a couple of weeks ago, but still not huge numbers of divers at all.
 
Ice, they are like an Ice breaker, use to own bankes dominator, guys would wait for me at the ramp in the park, when there was thick ice conditions, no problem at all breaking through, and no damage to the hull at all, Gar you probably have a story about some ice.

Bankes #1 on the water.
 
Mlbgary, how much pounding do you do with your Lund?? you won't get any loose rivets on a bankes boats, but like you said there are pros and cons, to everything.

Good Luck
 
Yup....Breaks Ice like an Icebreaker as you said Hunter21. I have broken 3" white ice and a full 1.5" of blue on plane. Makes them into a billion ice cubes.

Fiberglass gets harder the colder it gets. Kinda approaches steel like toughness at bellow Zero C...and....Ice doesn't really stick to it like a metal boat. I have some bad tails of hunting a aluminum at -17C one day.

I think my Freedom has been the last boat on the bay the last 5 seasons.

Gar
 
Hello Guys,I really liked the Bankes Boats and I almost bought a Dominator duck boat in January of 2008 ... "almost".I then reviewed the data on the aluminum Duck Water Boats built in Ohio ... www.duckwaterboats.com ... the "Ocean Boats" (sizes range from 15 to 28 feet) are solid floating "tanks".

Their hulls are made from 1/4 inch plate aluminum with another 1/4 inch "V-Shaped" aluminum "ice-breaking" piece welded to the bow. Their sides and decks are made from 3/16 inch plate aluminum with an additional aluminum "bumper belt" on both sides. Their hulls also have an additional 1/2 by 1/2 inch aluminum piece running along either side of the keel for additional stability and ice-breaking capabilities.

The boats are completed with a tough boat blind painted to match the camo pattern on the boat ... mine was finished in a two tone "battleship grey" camo pattern.

I have a Kohler 40 HP Mud Buddy surface drive motor mounted on my Ocean 15 duck boat.

I am waiting to add an aluminum "layout" boat by Duck Water Boats to my "fleet" as soon as they become available.

Jerome

PS Note for "mlbgary" ... you will have to decide upon either aluminum or fibreglass. If you decide upon fibreglass then get a duck boat from Bankes Boats ... no question!
 
quote:
Originally posted by Buddy BoyHello Guys,

I really liked the Bankes Boats and I almost bought a Dominator duck boat in January of 2008 ... "almost".

I then reviewed the data on the aluminum Duck Water Boats built in Ohio ... www.duckwaterboats.com ... the "Ocean Boats" (sizes range from 15 to 28 feet) are solid floating "tanks".



I have hunted a few times in an older model Duck Water boat that is a tank. It is very heavy and under powered and takes about a mile to get up on plane and that same motor would be fine on a Bankes boat of the same length. The fit and finish of the Duck Water I have hunted is a little rough for my taste. (It is an older model and I hear they have improved.) You won't beat the quality of a Bankes boat and they are locally made.
 
Jerome

Comparing a Bankes to a Duckwater is like comparing Apples to Oranges. They both float on water....and that is where the similarity ends.

I could not immagine hunting out of an aluminum layout....Not enough closed cell foam in Canada to make that thing warm enough. Come test out my Hercules before making any buying decision on that one.

JMHO

Gar
 
Hello Guys,

I just noticed some typo errors in my last post that I have corrected ... "craps" ... hard to see without my glasses. I am having new lenses installed in my frames so I am without any reading glasses at the present time.

Gar ... I might just take you up on your offer. Is that your "Hercules" that I have seen tied up down at the Old Cut Marina (not sue of the name) boat houses? Send me an e-mail at thebuddyboy@hotmail.com if you get a chance.

Jerome
 
I've never been in the Bankes, but I have been in the Duckwater. The reason some of them take so long to get on plane is the set up. Like a lot of duck boats, when sold new, they get set up with a load of a couple guys and some gas. Throw in a wet blind/grass/canvas, a dog, 90 dekes, 4 shell bags etc. and they turn into a pig, like ANY boat will. Whatever you buy, get with someone who knows boat performance and set up your rig LOADED. In regards to hunting in the cold...I hunted in a larger Duckwater on St. Clair in Mid Dec. ...beyond freeze up. 4 of us stayed plenty warm even after wading to retrieve birds. If all I did with a boat was hunt, I'd buy a duckwater. If you want a crossover boat, in my opinion, you won't beat an Alaskan.
 
Hi Gary. I also own a Freedom & have been very pleased with its performance, quality of manufacture, and the service from Mike & Ron.
It isn't a perfect fishing boat, but I fished it roughly 20 times (incl. a trip to Nipigon) this summer & I had no issues at all. Mounting downriggers was a bit tricky, but I fabricated a support that clamps onto the grass rail to mount the riggers from. I'm running a 60hp Merc. that gets the boat on plane easily with 2 fat guys, decoys, dog, etc. Just loaded with 2 guys & fishing gear, it'll comfortably do about 27 mph, topping out around 33 mph.

regards,

Dan
 
Have to agree with tinboat, the duckwaters are built like a tank but they are not as professionally laid up and clean looking nor do they perform like a Bankes...I owned a Chesapeake back in the early 90's and that hull with a 30 hp yamaha rode like a mini offshore racer and broke ice like a champ, and looking back, can't beleive the abuse that boat took over the years.... If I was in the market for another big water hunting boat, there would be no question that it would be a Bankes..and I would never put that kinda money into a dinky little 15' toy...18' Minimum...good luck in your decision

Men are from mars, women from Visa
 
Hello Icenut,

Like I previously have said ... I like both boats for different reasons.

The reason that I decided to stay within 16 feet with either boat (Bankes Dominator or Duck Water Ocean 15) was due to my desire to store the new boat inside my garage. Even my Ocean 15 duck boat with motor and trailer takes up a lot of space inside my new larger garage which is 24 deep x 18 wide.

Michael at Bankes also agreed that the Dominator at 15 feet is all that I would ever need for the Inner Bay.

Jerome
 
If you don't take it out of the garage a 10' boat is fine. No wind or waves will harm you if you don't go out.
 
Finally got out on the Bay Sat Morn with my Crusader.

The performance was exceptional. The huntability, room and overall performance of the rig was everything i'd hoped it would be.

Smooth and percise handling in the deeks, more storage and sitting space than i know what to do with, blind set-up and take down worked well.

Had 3 guys, a lab, 120 deeks, and a propane grill and had room for more. I could still put 3 more lines of 12 on the floor without being cramed.

The weather was mild at the worst so I'm hoping to see some bad weather with some rain/snow and gustin' winds.

These boats are the real deal gentleman, made for smashin faces in rough conditions. I have no prob gettin on plane while overloaded. When i first got the rig I picked my 3 friends who are brothers two of them being over 280lbs, and the other my size around 180 and I had her doin almost 70 clicks in a 1ft chop with tonnes of hole shot.

I'm not selling boats for Micheal but I've hunted in and owned Lunds, Starcrafts, Jons, and now bankes since my early teens. There is no comparison (In my opinion).

I don't know much about the Duck water boats but i'd be curious to compare the specs like weight to power ratios and over all weight compared to Lunds/Bankes.

Not knockin anybody's rig, too each his own lads. Everyone likes what they like.

Hope you got my email Gary, look forward to hearing from you.

Pintail
 
Hello Pintail,

The Bankes' Crusader is 19 feet if I remember correctly.

Like I have previously stated ... I really liked the Bankes' Dominator at 14 feet just for myself but I decided upon aluminum.

The Bankes' fibreglass constuction quality is second to none and quite frankly ... Steve Hoover at Duck Water Boats has told me the same thing.

I am not up on the technical specs that you have referred to so I cannot comment on that.

Thanks for your comments.

Jerome
 
Hey Jerome,

Yes the crusader is 19'8". I know Gary was asking about the freedom which is 17ft but I was more or less giving him an idea about Bankes Boats in general.

I've never seen a Duck Water Boat up close. How do you like the your Ocean 15? I'd like to take a look at it if your down at the unit sometime. I always enjoy talk'in rigs with anybody and seeing they're set-ups.

I'm down at the park every weekend. My trailer is beside Les Eves and behind Adrians.

Andrew
 
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