October 10, 2019
By Florida Sportsman Editor
The venerable 1720 hull from Action Craft has come to be widely respected across the water in shallow water fishing circles. This is by far the most popular offering from Action Craft and for good reason, it's a solid performer and offers exactly what so many inshore anglers are looking for; a smooth ride, a stable platform for multiple anglers, shallow draft and loads of storage both for dry gear and bait alike. Never content to put their feet up and rest on the acceptance of a solid design, Action Craft wasn't afraid to bring some changes to the table in an effort to improve what is already a successful product. Enter the 1720 Gen III and exactly the changes the Action Craft faithful were looking for by all accounts.
Most noticeably the new helm arrangement offers improvements in both comfort and visibility. A newly designed leaning seat with rod holders offers you the ability to run the boat from a standing position and an elevated helm pod gets the driver in a position to see any oncoming targets whether fish or hazards to navigation. The need for visibility in a fishing venue has really come to the forefront of many inshore boat designs and this layout meets the needs in a way that is both practical and comfortable for anyone who finds it difficult to operate from a traditional flats boat helm deck height vantage point.
In addition, the Gen III offers a newly configured 28-gallon fuel tank design which adds 7-gallons of capacity while relocating the fuel tank below the deck inside of the forward storage compartment. This improvement offers additional storage beneath the foredeck while creating space to accommodate an extra pitch bait/crustacean well in the starboard bow to complement the two available 32-gallon tanks in the cockpit. A fold-up bench seat across the rear deck offers a large dry storage compartment below it and the starboard transom corner provides room for a storage area with access to mechanical systems to run bait pumps, PowerPoles, battery controllers etc.- each being very easy to put your hands on.
The new Gen III design has also been upgraded to handle 140-horsepower on a 6-inch Atlas Jack plate and can be built as a 980-pound glass laminate or a substantially lighter 710-pound Kevlar version. This boat like all offerings from Action Craft was extremely comfortable to spend a day aboard. As a testament to a platform built to ride comfortably, between the Qui-Dry hull design keeping the pounding and spray down to a minimum and the SeaDek trim sparing our legs and back, we all agreed that we should be more fatigued after a long day but were each surprisingly fresh when we wrapped up our testing. At this point I think the decision makers at this company can take a break from trying to improve this boat but if anything comes along to suggest otherwise I'd be surprised if they didn't get right to work.
Action Craft 1720 Gen III Specifications:
Length: 17-feet, 2-inches
Beam: 7-feet, 3-inches
Draft: 7-9-inches
Weight: 910-pounds (710 Kevlar model)
Max Horsepower: 140
Fuel: 28-gallons
Deadrise: 17-degrees
Base price: $45,000 w/o Trailer
The Qui-Dry hull design on this Action Craft provide a comfortable, dry ride across the bay chop that windy inshore days sometimes throw at you.
The classic looks of the 1720 design from Action Craft are unmistakable from the distance.
On those days you need to get shallow and be sneaky, the Gen III will get you there quietly.
On those days you need to get shallow and be sneaky, the Gen III will get you there quietly.
A forward crustacean well is handy for anglers’ sight fishing from the bow deck.
This boat covered in deck mat not only looks stylish, it helps keep footstep noise to a minimum while shallow water stalking.
A newly styled elevated helm position is more comfortable and offers better visibility than the traditional flats boat helm design.
A flip-up hatch across the rear casting deck reveals dual padded jump seats.
The neutral space between the rear jump seats provides a place to rest your lunch or drinks.
A secondary hatch beneath the seats provides access to a very large storage compartment.
A pair of 32-gallon live wells to port and center are adjacent to a starboard side bilge systems access compartment.
