So I have an opportunity to trade my 2001 TDB 14SC for a 2002 DWrangler 17 with a 40 Yamaha 2 stoke on it. Will it be underpowered? What are common problem areas with these boats? Do they hunt well in marshes or are they too big?
Hunt and fish, fish and hunt,

While I can't specifically comment on the Duck Wrangler 17.... I made a 17' Devlin Scaup.. .and a similar whale back as the TDB 17 or DW17... I use it in the marsh and big water.. I was thought the TDB14SC looked like a GREAT boat if you only hunt with 1 other person and an CBR. Are you looking for more room? Why are you looking for a different boat?




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***Phil (Chesapeake Boy) Nowack***


Nothing like the north wind pushing snow at your back, a bird in your hand, and chessie with ice on his coat at your side.

Birds brought to you courtesy of Nikon, Benelli, Kodi, and Otter

More room so I can hunt three maybe 4 guys and handle bigger water for seaducks
Hunt and fish, fish and hunt,

I have the DW15 and I personally think a 40 is too small for the 17. A 60 or 75 would be better. Once on plane you'd be fine but it's slow to get up. Before I dropped the pitch on my prop with 3 people it was slow to giddy up.

Another item, I believe the 17 is the same as the 15, just slightly larger. The hull isn't designed to cut through wake well. It's more smash and bang when you get 1'+. It's Perfect for bays, rivers, etc, but sea ducking out in wake might be rough. Honestly a Deep V aluminum boat would be better- like a Lund . Someone else can verify. Side note Ken: I think there's a DW17 in CT owned in Haddam. Jim Bucko maybe

Things to check that I had when I got mine:

console status. mine was shot. Had to rebuild.

Floor, since it has the permanent seats. Water intrusion sites. My floor was soft near the seat mounts. Not terrible, but it's there. Might be worth bringing the boat to a scale to see if any foam is wet.

Wires- nothing was wrapped. Top shelf decoys would pull out wires. Easy to fix, just work. Electric panel was junky, I swapped it out. Added master switch, and fuel filter. Nav lights also worth checking.

Blind- my boat is an 04, blind was pretty shot, test it. Put it up and down. See how UV degraded the fabric is. Check the lid too.

Hull- bottom,no issues here unless they beat the crap out of it. Easy to fix. Where the rub rails, handles, steps, etc are, I had water intrusion. Always wondered why there was water every single hunt. Got on my stomach and 5200ed every single bolt. Pita to do, solved problem. Henry is smaller than you, have him do it.


You can hunt 3 in the 15, it's tight. 4 will probably be max in the 17.

All aside, I love the boat. Mine cruises at 33 when it gets up with the 4 stroke 40. Again, I use it sea ducking, but I wouldn't take it out very far unless it was calm. It may be harder to hide, but I can attest it only draws 6" loaded.

You're welcome to crawl inside and out of mine before you go to NJ if you want, not much difference than size. I even have some extra #37 paint if it's the original color and you need some.

I also looked at your photos you sent me. If you upsize that motor, you may want to consider adding a console. I love a tiller but not sure I'd want to muscle more than a 40 with a tiller.

I owned a DW 17 for about 15 years. Dubbed the Ugly Boat, I think I bought it new in 03. They are not lookers. As Nick said, Jim has it now. It had a Johnson 40 2-stroke when I owned it, plenty of power in my book. Sure a bigger motor goes faster, but without a big load it zips right along. With three shooters and a load it will still make low/mid-twenties.

I used the boat offshore in CT, RI and MA. Great for three guys to shoot coots and eiders. Used it a little in marshes but never spent the time to grass it right. Best guess is it can be grassed well enough to fool old Mr. Black Duck. It will get in some skinny water, as 17 foot boats go. It is reasonably seaworthy in big stuff, but you need to keep in mind the hull was always a compromise between a marsh and big water boat. It will pound a bit at speed. Drive with the blind up and it's a super dry duck hunting craft.

The hull is a knockoff of the TDB. When I bought it, the finger pointing had just started because allegedly a TDB was used to make the mold. The only difference I can see in the hull is the walk on bow. Kind of nice but eats up some storage, directs spray into your face and holds a puddle when it rains. The floor always rattled a bit, some on here will recall that the "quality" of the build has been discussed in other threads. The hull stayed solid, but the floor definitely has a finite lifespan.

What did you end up switching to Mr. Fairbank?

SJ, this is great information, thank you! I have a lot of experience with small boats So I?m reasonably confident in being able to stay safe in it. As far as ?knock off? hulls, lol most hull designs are so I?m comfortable with that. The walk on bow sounds rather nice for getting in and out
Hunt and fish, fish and hunt,

I didn't buy another blind boat. The fleet wasn't getting used enough so something had to go. If I buy another similar craft, it would probably be a Bankes. Although the aluminum Duck Water (formerly Duck Wrangler) look nice for areas with lots of rocks.

Oh... I run a Yamaha F50 on my boat. I run with a Chessie and have 12-14 doz decoys.... it will run up to 33 mph. 27-30mph if I add another hunter.

I would not be worried about tiller and hp. I have no issues with the 50... and had a 60 tiller on my Devlin Honker.

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***Phil (Chesapeake Boy) Nowack***


Nothing like the north wind pushing snow at your back, a bird in your hand, and chessie with ice on his coat at your side.

Birds brought to you courtesy of Nikon, Benelli, Kodi, and Otter

Hope it works out for you. With reasonable care and boat handling it should give you good service.

I?m keeping my fingers crossed, it might be an ideal crossover boat for marsh/ seaducks.
What part of Ct are you? I?m up in the Danbury area but get up to South County RI a lot too
Hunt and fish, fish and hunt,

I'm in SE CT, but heading to Newport, RI for my nieces wedding one day soon. I like RI for Sunday hunting, between that and no-Sunday in CT, MA and ME it extends the season quite a bit. Years ago, in the glory days of the points system, we went to RI on Sundays for big broadbill shoots because the limit was 10 @ 10 points apiece. Wish I had the DW back then.

had one for several years heard all the horror stories mine was a absolutely great boat, the step contraption in the bow was a water gathering device but was kinda nice to load guys off the shore with, mine had a 40 etec, plenty of motors, was orginally equipped with mud motor but previous owner switched to outboard. The thing i heard was soem fo the first models had a seam at the floor and side wall, where water intruded, mine was one piece floor and sides, and everything been sealed around seat mounts, very seaworthy would not hesitate to own another one. we hunted 3 full sized guys and a kid many times and dog, and it handled it well. Dog figured out sitting on stern was a great place, the bow ramp was also for dog loading


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