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Are any of you boaters?

I have a 24 ft pontoon boat with a 40hp 2 stroke. It's an old tub, but the wife loves spending the day rafted up with other old tubs. Just another way for her to socialize. The boat ain't that good for fishing, the wind blows it around too much. It does have a bar-b-que grill.

My boat is a McVay Victoria 18 sailboat. I gutted it out down to the hull, and rebuilt it as a daysailer. The original "cabin" was only big enough for midgets. The boat weighs 1200 lbs but 700 of that is in the keel, which is a fixed keel. I HATE swing keels in sailboats. So it will heel over about 24 degrees and stiffen right up, no matter how strong the wind. I love to put on every bit of sail in high winds and enjoy a wet ride !!

I installed a Minnkota 101 thrust 36 volt trolling motor behind the keel. Way more than enough thrust for that size boat. Mainly use it to get in and out of the harbor. The rudder is right behind the trolling motor so it's very responsive at slow speed, like in the harbor.

On the subject of motorcycles, I still ride a 2001 Yamaha VMax. It's still a thrill to ride. But I learned to take it easier, since I got tired of replacing rear tires. :) Installed forward controls, lower rear shocks by 1 inch, and longer forks by 2 inches. And a higher geared Yamaha Venture differential. Made it more of a cruising bike.
 
I have a 24 ft pontoon boat with a 40hp 2 stroke. It's an old tub, but the wife loves spending the day rafted up with other old tubs. Just another way for her to socialize. The boat ain't that good for fishing, the wind blows it around too much. It does have a bar-b-que grill.

My boat is a McVay Victoria 18 sailboat. I gutted it out down to the hull, and rebuilt it as a daysailer. The original "cabin" was only big enough for midgets. The boat weighs 1200 lbs but 700 of that is in the keel, which is a fixed keel. I HATE swing keels in sailboats. So it will heel over about 24 degrees and stiffen right up, no matter how strong the wind. I love to put on every bit of sail in high winds and enjoy a wet ride !!

I installed a Minnkota 101 thrust 36 volt trolling motor behind the keel. Way more than enough thrust for that size boat. Mainly use it to get in and out of the harbor. The rudder is right behind the trolling motor so it's very responsive at slow speed, like in the harbor.

On the subject of motorcycles, I still ride a 2001 Yamaha VMax. It's still a thrill to ride. But I learned to take it easier, since I got tired of replacing rear tires. :) Installed forward controls, lower rear shocks by 1 inch, and longer forks by 2 inches. And a higher geared Yamaha Venture differential. Made it more of a cruising bike.

I thought about a pontoon but my worries about wind effect made up my mind for a Deep V.

A sailboat is an idea I've kicked around on and off, but seems I've never quite been able to fit it into my life. I did learn the very rudiments of sailing on a Hobie cat in the Caribbean long ago. No auxiliary motor on it. You were responsible for taking it out and making it back to the beach all on your own. :)

Yamaha VMax is a cool bike. Much respect to Yamaha for a classic muscle bike when the whole world was tilting crotch rocket.

This is the only bike I have left currently. Not a museum piece but it's a decent rider. Has a 1075 kit in it:

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Yeah, I'll be 62 in a few weeks. I was fishing less often for the past couple years, and I came to the idea that my Tracker was just too uncomfortable to sit in for extended periods and that was subconsciously influencing the time I was spending on the water. I replaced it with a larger, deep V boat in hopes it would light the fishing fire again. So far, it is WAY more comfortable.

My Deep V is actually only 15 feet aluminum but I took the bench seats out and put in a carpeted false floor with three gas lift pedestal seats. And I have portable down riggers. I hear you on comfort and room for fishing! I'm going to upgrade my boat with one of the electric motors that will hold your boat stationary with GPS. And it will be integrated with my fish finder a Hummingbird Helix 7.
 
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My Deep V is actually only 15 feet aluminum but I took the bench seats out and put in a carpeted false floor with three gas lift pedestal seats. And I have portable down riggers. I hear you on comfort and room for fishing! I'm going to upgrade my boat with one of the electric motors that will hold your boat stationary with GPS. And it will be integrated with my fish finder a Hummingbird Helix 7.

Sounds like a sweet rig. Downriggers eh? My boat still has the bases for those on the gunwales. It was originally used on the Great Lakes. What sort of fishing do you usually do?

I had a Helix 5 on my Tracker. I liked it a lot , but I let it go with the Tracker when I sold it. This boat's previous owner installed a Humminbird 998csi. The few times I've had it out, I spent as much time looking at the fish finder as fishing.

Real serious catfishermen are taking good advantage of those trolling motors linked to their fishfinder. They can not only hold you stationary, they can follow a path mapped out on the GPS at a precise speed. Drift fishing without relying on the wind. I don't know if I'm ready to lay out that kind of bucks for one yet. More importantly, I'm pretty sure my wife isn't. :)

I have 3 gas lift pedestals in my boat. The driver seat is a fixed pedestal though, for whatever reason. The pedestals were another big factor in me deciding on this type of boat. I fish out of the back of the boat a lot. I can swivel one of the forward seats around backwards and put my feet up on one of the aft seats while drifting. It's like fishing from a recliner!


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My last boat was a 15 foot traveler aluminum, with a 48 Evinrude.
For the last few years I have been busy with grandchildren, so sold it to a fishing buddy.
My first boat was a 14 foot semi vee sea king, with a 7.5 Merc.
I think I fished more with that boat than any other.
The set up and cleanup on bigger boats seems to be more trouble than it is worth.
Lately I just wade fish, and drive and walk to where I fish.
 
My last boat was a 15 foot traveler aluminum, with a 48 Evinrude.
For the last few years I have been busy with grandchildren, so sold it to a fishing buddy.
My first boat was a 14 foot semi vee sea king, with a 7.5 Merc.
I think I fished more with that boat than any other.
The set up and cleanup on bigger boats seems to be more trouble than it is worth.
Lately I just wade fish, and drive and walk to where I fish.

I've taken a boat camping before and it sat on the campsite all weekend with the boat ramp no more than 1/4 mile away. It just didn't seem worth it to hitch it up, take it to the ramp and unload, park the truck/trailer, retrieve the truck/trailer after fishing, load the boat, return it to the campsite, and finally unhitch it again. So I definitely know where you're coming from.

When I was stationed at Ft. Knox the first time I didn't have a boat. A friend and I did a lot of wading some of the streams on the post. We mostly caught smallmouth bass with the occasional largemouth and sauger. Some of the streams where I live now are a seriously under utilized fishing resource. Problem is most of them aren't good for wading and they mainly run through private property.
 
One of the best vacations we ever had, was when I hitched up the Bayliner I used to own and took it on vacation. I put her over on Lake George, and spent several days touring the Thousand Islands.

I would have put it on Saranac Lake, but we were splurging in a lodge on the lake. They let us use their boat instead.

A 1931 Hacker mahogany triple cockpit runabout. The boating equivlent of a Duesenberg SSJ. And we had the entire lake pretty much to ourselves.
 
One of the best vacations we ever had, was when I hitched up the Bayliner I used to own and took it on vacation. I put her over on Lake George, and spent several days touring the Thousand Islands.

I would have put it on Saranac Lake, but we were splurging in a lodge on the lake. They let us use their boat instead.

A 1931 Hacker mahogany triple cockpit runabout. The boating equivlent of a Duesenberg SSJ. And we had the entire lake pretty much to ourselves.

People threw away most those great mahogany runabouts before they became increasingly valuable. They're beautiful and I suspect ride much smoother than modern boats.
 
My last boat was a 15 foot traveler aluminum, with a 48 Evinrude.
For the last few years I have been busy with grandchildren, so sold it to a fishing buddy.
My first boat was a 14 foot semi vee sea king, with a 7.5 Merc.
I think I fished more with that boat than any other.
The set up and cleanup on bigger boats seems to be more trouble than it is worth.
Lately I just wade fish, and drive and walk to where I fish.

I have big and small boats - and a lot of both I no longer have in the past. Small boats are the way to go unless going offshore. Big boats are perpetual problems, constant clean up and cost piles of fuel costs.
 
Paint is stripped, so ahead is probably 15 to 20 hours of sanding (all but the final 800 grit painting prep) - then on to the terrible sole/floor wood rotten issues.

Have a tentative deal on boat #4 (running - I would count the others). Also a small boat - 15 foot. A Sea Doo Speedster. Originally a 150 horsepower (their smaller motor), but it was removed and the current owner built up a custom motor using their newest 255 hp turbocharged motor (same weight and size). However, he did it almost entirely with performance parts for the motor and jet drive. Racing turbo, intercooler, injectors, cylinder head, valves, ECU, Impeller, jet pump, dual exhaust etc. The boat weighs only 1450 pounds and pumping out over 300 hp. Power to weight is like a Corvette with 800 hp - though it's different on water.

Once a boat is on plane (the motor literally having to lift the weight of the boat to some degree) it takes exponentially more power to go faster. Getting to 20 mph? Easy. From that point, it basically takes a 30 to 50% increase in power for each additional 10 miles per hour. By the time a boat gets to 50 mph it is leaving 95% of boats behind. Because the government pressured small boat and PWC (personal watercraft) manufactures to limit their boats and PWCs to 65 mph or face massive regulations to force it, 65 mph is the limit for 99+% of boats and PWCs. Instead, as the motors get more powerful they are giving the props more bite as speed limiters - meaning the extra horsepower equates to faster acceleration, not higher top speed.

That little 4 seater is a rocket ship, particularly because jet drives have draw backs, but they will out accelerate a traditional prop.

He is willing to sell it for probably less than he just in parts - and it is in very good - but short of perfect - cosmetic condition. But those blems (dock rash on side decals) etc are easy fixes. Why so cheap? Next message.
 
He is selling it for the reason another fella sold me an absolutely gorgeous classic 1960s 17 foot runabout - perfect restoration - that he dropped a race shop build 700 hp big block jet drive into.

For this little crazy-fast Speedster, when he had if all finally together he took his wife and their young children for the sea trial. It is easy for boat drivers to forget they have a good hold on the boat via the steering wheel and know what's coming. Driving a boat fast is fun. Riding in a boat driven fast by someone else isn't.

He hammered. In this boat, that means 0 to 30 mph in under 2 seconds and 60 within about 5 seconds. The young child sitting in the front seat (faces backwards) was thrown violently to the back of the boat. Fortunately the mother caught the child before flying off the back of the boat.

So she gave him a choice: "The children and me, or the boat. Pick which one you want more." Wisely, he chose his family. So he needs to sell it - but also wants a lesser powered small boat more suited for little children and a family. Most people are nervous about buying cars, trucks and boats that have been seriously mechanically messed with. I will always pass up anything they claim has a "rebuilt motor" because maybe 1 in 100 people who think they can rebuild a motor really do it right. But his parts list told me this guy knows his stuff and this was not a compromised build up.

(When the person documents aftermarket superior main and rod cap bolts, forged pistons, and a complete racing head with valves and springs - and lots of other little details it seems more legit and well built - plus he has a video of it doing 74 mph racing a hot turbocharged Yamaha PWC - leaving the Yamaha rapidly vanishing in the past - means it was built right or it wouldn't have held together.)

74 mph in a 15 foot boat with a full tank of fuel and 4 people on board means it will match even most multi-engine big offshore Cigarette/poker run style boats - or basically almost anything but pure racing boats - which I would not want. While I doubt it only rarely see the other side of 50 mph - and probably 40 max offshore (these little boats bounce on waves and that becomes very dangerous and painful), still the greater power means almost instantly getting on plane and running the motor at a much lower RPM - extending motor life.

Ideal for the shallow tidal waters here to avoid getting trapped - needs 1 foot of water. Also eco-friendly - no prop nor anything else extending off the bottom of the boat to hit the manatees. This is the #1 birthing grounds in the world for manatees. Some like to scratch their backs on the bottom of our lower floating dock.

Anyway, we have a tentative deal, so he has until the weekend to figure out how to beg his wife into letting him keep it. His chance is small, but it's possible - or even possibly he'd opt to hide it for a while instead (I knew a guy who did that with his motorcycle the wife demanded he sell).
 
The last person who sold me a radically fast supercharged jet drive drag boat also was because he hit the gas WOT and his wife fell back into the huge supercharger belt - with him having no shield. She was only scuffed up the the edge - fortunately her arm didn't get pulled into the cog gears or she'd lost that arm. She demanded he sell it - but 2 years later begged me to sell it back to him and I did at what I paid for it.

I understand that. I literally gave away (for free) a 32 foot Sea Ray Pachanga with twin Merc 454s with stern drives deciding it far to dangerous to running 50 to 60 mph in waters than can suddenly be inches deep 5 miles offshore (after having a second stern drive replaced) - fearing if I hit a rock or something hard at that speed it literally could kill any of our children, other children and others on-board. I've given away at least a dozen running boats - power boats - from 8 foot to twin 40+ foot diesels for free to get rid of them - and the costs and liabilities of them.

I HATE selling used stuff. 90% of the time I'll just throw it away or give it away. I'd pay $1000 NOT to do a garage sale! Particularly vehicles. I always feel good when I give an old, mostly worn out, but running and not wrecked to a blue collar family person. A couple were dream cars needing cosmetics - a 1973 Mach 1 with 351 Cleveland convertible I had stripped the paint on and painted in pearl with with charcoal boss stripping and a 1967 El Camino I dropped a 454 with a 3 duce 427 carb set up. But not 100% free. $250. LOL!

The look on their faces to getting a running but also fixer upper awesome car/truck they could never hope in their life to own was worth it. Both young family men. One of them cried (the 67 El Camino). For 2 years he had begged me to sell it - any price - and make a payment plan. I could keep the car and title until paid off. One day I told him there was no chance in hell I'd do a payment plan. Either he has the money or not - stop asking.

He asked - fearfully - "how much?" My answer: Either you have $250 by this weekend and the El Camino is yours - or it'll never be yours. I won't do a payment plan." The 3 duce set up worth probably a thousand. I just had so many vehicles piling up. I am a gatherer - but draw a line at being a horder. About every other year I do a big clean up.


Got my fingers crossed. That 150 Speedster is half what an OEM 150hp 150 Speedster sells for in it's vintage and I would never put that kind of build-up parts money into this kind of boat as they're not that expensive a boat. Basically they are a PWC jet drive setup in a small boat, with an impeller to match the doubling of the weight - and generally are about 10 mph slower than the PWC with the identical motor.


3 running boats as I have now is the least I've had for at least a decade and usually had over half a dozen. 4 seems about the correct number, though there's another odd deal I'm trying to put together for a jet drive powered 2 seat kayak - good for about 25 mph. That seller is being stubborn/evasion, bouncing back and forth on whether he'll sell it and for how much. We reached agreement (finally) on price, but now he's making excuses for delay. Probably trying to see if anyone will give him more. I wouldn't. My offer is about what they sell for, only 2 seaters are extremely rare - and jet drive kayaks are rare to begin with.
 
He is selling it for the reason another fella sold me an absolutely gorgeous classic 1960s 17 foot runabout - perfect restoration - that he dropped a race shop build 700 hp big block jet drive into.

For this little crazy-fast Speedster, when he had if all finally together he took his wife and their young children for the sea trial. It is easy for boat drivers to forget they have a good hold on the boat via the steering wheel and know what's coming. Driving a boat fast is fun. Riding in a boat driven fast by someone else isn't.

He hammered. In this boat, that means 0 to 30 mph in under 2 seconds and 60 within about 5 seconds. The young child sitting in the front seat (faces backwards) was thrown violently to the back of the boat. Fortunately the mother caught the child before flying off the back of the boat.

So she gave him a choice: "The children and me, or the boat. Pick which one you want more." Wisely, he chose his family. So he needs to sell it - but also wants a lesser powered small boat more suited for little children and a family. Most people are nervous about buying cars, trucks and boats that have been seriously mechanically messed with. I will always pass up anything they claim has a "rebuilt motor" because maybe 1 in 100 people who think they can rebuild a motor really do it right. But his parts list told me this guy knows his stuff and this was not a compromised build up.

(When the person documents aftermarket superior main and rod cap bolts, forged pistons, and a complete racing head with valves and springs - and lots of other little details it seems more legit and well built - plus he has a video of it doing 74 mph racing a hot turbocharged Yamaha PWC - leaving the Yamaha rapidly vanishing in the past - means it was built right or it wouldn't have held together.)

74 mph in a 15 foot boat with a full tank of fuel and 4 people on board means it will match even most multi-engine big offshore Cigarette/poker run style boats - or basically almost anything but pure racing boats - which I would not want. While I doubt it only rarely see the other side of 50 mph - and probably 40 max offshore (these little boats bounce on waves and that becomes very dangerous and painful), still the greater power means almost instantly getting on plane and running the motor at a much lower RPM - extending motor life.

Ideal for the shallow tidal waters here to avoid getting trapped - needs 1 foot of water. Also eco-friendly - no prop nor anything else extending off the bottom of the boat to hit the manatees. This is the #1 birthing grounds in the world for manatees. Some like to scratch their backs on the bottom of our lower floating dock.

Anyway, we have a tentative deal, so he has until the weekend to figure out how to beg his wife into letting him keep it. His chance is small, but it's possible - or even possibly he'd opt to hide it for a while instead (I knew a guy who did that with his motorcycle the wife demanded he sell).

Back when I had my Larson in my late teens, a good friend of mine had a 18' Beachcomber jet. Something on the order of a Tahiti. Very solid and well built boat with a hand laid hull. Powered by a 455 Oldsmobile motor as a lot of those jets were. It was an amazing blast to drive and could outrun most boats on the lake so long as the water was smooth. Very much chop would have a strong outboard or sterndrive running away though. The jet was so flat bottom it wouldn't handle rough water at high speed very well. Also the water intake wouldn't work very efficiently with the result the engine was bouncing off and over redline if you weren't careful. Used a lot of gas because you just couldn't help yourself from doing dragrace starts, cutting donuts, 180 degree turns...in general, ripping up the lake. Not much fun to slow speed maneuver around the dock either.
 
Sounds like a sweet rig. Downriggers eh? My boat still has the bases for those on the gunwales. It was originally used on the Great Lakes. What sort of fishing do you usually do?

I had a Helix 5 on my Tracker. I liked it a lot , but I let it go with the Tracker when I sold it. This boat's previous owner installed a Humminbird 998csi. The few times I've had it out, I spent as much time looking at the fish finder as fishing.

Real serious catfishermen are taking good advantage of those trolling motors linked to their fishfinder. They can not only hold you stationary, they can follow a path mapped out on the GPS at a precise speed. Drift fishing without relying on the wind. I don't know if I'm ready to lay out that kind of bucks for one yet. More importantly, I'm pretty sure my wife isn't. :)

I have 3 gas lift pedestals in my boat. The driver seat is a fixed pedestal though, for whatever reason. The pedestals were another big factor in me deciding on this type of boat. I fish out of the back of the boat a lot. I can swivel one of the forward seats around backwards and put my feet up on one of the aft seats while drifting. It's like fishing from a recliner!


Here's mine with everything on it. I simply attach a 2 by four with pins in each oar lock for the downrigger bases. When not using the dowriggers I just remove the board. Sorry about the picture quality but the camera was on its way out. Used to troll for inland brown and rainbow trout in a couple of lakes near me with the down riggers. Unfortunately both lakes have gone down hill in water quality, so trout fishing is more put and take now which I find unrewarding. One lake used to produce brown trout up to 13 pounds and the other rainbows up to 18 pounds. No more.

BTW love the 8 horse 4 cycle Yamaha. Will never go back to a 2 cycle! Can hardly hear the motor running and adding oil the gas is a think of the past!

jCabK8Rl.jpg


TqY3fhil.jpg
 
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Sounds like a sweet rig. Downriggers eh? My boat still has the bases for those on the gunwales. It was originally used on the Great Lakes. What sort of fishing do you usually do?

I had a Helix 5 on my Tracker. I liked it a lot , but I let it go with the Tracker when I sold it. This boat's previous owner installed a Humminbird 998csi. The few times I've had it out, I spent as much time looking at the fish finder as fishing.

Real serious catfishermen are taking good advantage of those trolling motors linked to their fishfinder. They can not only hold you stationary, they can follow a path mapped out on the GPS at a precise speed. Drift fishing without relying on the wind. I don't know if I'm ready to lay out that kind of bucks for one yet. More importantly, I'm pretty sure my wife isn't. :)

I have 3 gas lift pedestals in my boat. The driver seat is a fixed pedestal though, for whatever reason. The pedestals were another big factor in me deciding on this type of boat. I fish out of the back of the boat a lot. I can swivel one of the forward seats around backwards and put my feet up on one of the aft seats while drifting. It's like fishing from a recliner!


Here's mine with everything on it. I simply attach a 2 by four with pins in each oar lock for the downrigger bases. When not using the dowriggers I just remove the board. Sorry about the picture quality but the camera was on its way out. Used to troll for inland brown and rainbow trout in a couple of lakes near me with the down riggers. Unfortunately both lakes have gone down hill in water quality, so trout fishing is more put and take now which I find unrewarding. One lake used to produce brown trout up to 13 pounds and the other rainbows up to 18 pounds. No more.

BTW love the 8 horse 4 cycle Yamaha. Will never go back to a 2 cycle! Can hardly hear the motor running and adding oil the gas is a think of the past!

jCabK8Rl.jpg


TqY3fhil.jpg


The kicker on my boat is a 4 stroke Yamaha. I wish the 125 Mercury was as well. Still, they both pull gas from the same tank since the Mercury has its own oil tank.

Pretty good idea on the downrigger mount. I like DIY solutions like that. Here's what I did to more conveniently fish out of the back of my Tracker:

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Back when I had my Larson in my late teens, a good friend of mine had a 18' Beachcomber jet. Something on the order of a Tahiti. Very solid and well built boat with a hand laid hull. Powered by a 455 Oldsmobile motor as a lot of those jets were. It was an amazing blast to drive and could outrun most boats on the lake so long as the water was smooth. Very much chop would have a strong outboard or sterndrive running away though. The jet was so flat bottom it wouldn't handle rough water at high speed very well. Also the water intake wouldn't work very efficiently with the result the engine was bouncing off and over redline if you weren't careful. Used a lot of gas because you just couldn't help yourself from doing dragrace starts, cutting donuts, 180 degree turns...in general, ripping up the lake. Not much fun to slow speed maneuver around the dock either.

When I got my 1970s low slung Sanger Picklefork (tri-hull) jet drive with a built of big block Chevy and updated jet drive, it came with parts, including the original primitive turbocharger setup (complete) from when it had a turbo version with the Olds 455. Didn't add much power and of no use now - so I still have it all in a couple boxes somewhere.
 
We live up an estuary/canal leading to the Gulf of Mexico, with rivers everywhere around here. I have a lot of boats and have had a lot more. I've probably given away at least 10 - all running - for free to get rid of them over the last few years - ranging from 4 personal watercraft (jet bike/boats), two 40+ foot twin diesel cabin cruisers (one a fishing style hull), a 32 foot twin 454 big block Sea Ray speedster, a 32 foot twin 6 cylinder inboards cruiser, a 9 foot little boat with a 5 hp outboard on a trailer with center steering station, and a picklefork trimaran drag boat hull (that I can think of off the top of my head.) All but the 2 big cruisers included the trailer.

I still have a 52 twin turbo cat 1980s diesel Cigarette, my Bass Tracker and am restoring a 1960s 12 foot "Ski Bird" 2 seat little race boat (turning out to be it far worse condition so it is a total strip down to the bare hull, removing half a century of multiple different color paint, and repairing all the hull and floor damage. If any of you are into boating I'll put up pics thru the restoration. I had forgotten I had bought it along the road for a few hundred dollars on the trailer with an old Evinrude and then just parked it in the weeds (becoming invisibly overgrown.) I like how it looks and thought it would be an easy quick clean up - not a total strip down to a completely empty bare hull with virtually nothing reusable.

Surprisingly, the motor runs perfect - though looks like hell. Most people would have considered this a scrape/junk hull. But it is quite unique and rare. When done, it will weigh a total of under 500 pounds running a 2 cylinder 2 stroke 60 hp outboard, which will give it a terrifying top speed of around 60 mph. In a 40 footer on smooth water that isn't that extreme. In a 12 foot 500 pound boat with you inches off the water it is. I figure it a 2 month project - if lucky.

My best boat has been the cheapest. My 17 foot bass tracker. I stripped it totally about 4 years ago. Put in an aluminum floor, a new 30 hp outboard, rewired it all, new seats and buffed out the hull to a mirror finish (that lasted about 3 months). That boat always gets me home - and I've been trapped with a boat full of people many miles offshore out in the Gulf in water so rough there were no other boats out - even the big 30+ footers had headed in. But we were on an island way, way out there and didn't notice the wind really kicking up.

Quite an exciting challenge struggling against the wind and tide with 4 foot white caps coming in at a 45 degree angle - in a boat that has less than 2 feet freeboard in the front - and less than a foot in the rear. No problem. I actually enjoyed the challenge, but I was driving and the others seemed a mix between being miserable and terrified. LOL

Probably going to add a 4th boat for personal boats. Probably have a couple more boats laying around somewhere.

So... are any of you boaters?

I've been eyeballing an allumicraft. I don't have the money now but soon.
 
I've been eyeballing an allumicraft. I don't have the money now but soon.

Nice. Aluminum boats are extremely rugged. The bottom of my old Bass Tracker has dents and deep scratches that would have seriously damaged or even sunk a fiberglass boat. We do a lot of exploring with it.
 
Nice. Aluminum boats are extremely rugged. The bottom of my old Bass Tracker has dents and deep scratches that would have seriously damaged or even sunk a fiberglass boat. We do a lot of exploring with it.

I like that kind because I can repair it and aluminum is resistant to Sea water corrosion
 
I like that kind because I can repair it and aluminum is resistant to Sea water corrosion

I think aluminum is more difficult to repair, but much easier to restore or modify. You are far less likely to need to do a repair on an aluminum hull as they are TOUGH. Just touching the bottom or bumping into anything hard messes up fiberglass. You can run an aluminum boat right onto the shore - even if rocks. With fiberglass you're trying to figure how to tie and anchor it so it doesn't hit bottom, hit the trailer wrong while loading it, dock rash etc.

I stripped my 1980s all beat to hell aluminum Bass Tracker 17 footer to the bare hull. The carpeted wood floor (sole) was totally rotted. I replaced it with a hardened aluminum floor with truck bed liner paint for grip, after cutting holes for more hatches and other customization. I polished the sides to a mirror finish (waste of time, but it cleaned it up.)

The thing's a tank. We explore including shallow waters. We hit rocks at speed, grind it across shells getting stuck in low tide shallow water etc. There are notable dents that would have punched a hole in fiberglass and dozens of deep gouges that would have cut thru the length of the hull (I did that to an old fiberglass boat. Fortunately less than 2 miles from the dock - and it just slide under the water on the boat ramp.)

An aluminum boat lasts a lifetime. The newer ones without rivets are super fine - and costly. They also last forever. Not as sexy as fiberglass of course, but real workhorses - plus good weight to strength ratios.

No reason to buy a new hull as a 20 year old hull is no different in integrity than a new one. Rather, it is about the motor. My suggestions?
1. Don't buy a 2 stroke no matter how clean. They are terrible for slow speed cruising. Get a 4 stroke.

2. You want the biggest motor the boat is rated for. The #1 regret of boat buyers is getting too small a motor.
You don't have to run it WOT. Rather, the bigger the motor the lower the rpms you can run it for economy cruising. This reduces wear-and-tear on the motor, is quieter, less vibration, and you have the power if you ever really want or need it.

It also allows you to carry a lot of weight (like a lot of passengers) more than usual - and the motor won't bog down. Boats are very sensitive to weight because for planing the motor literally has to partially lift the boat out of the water. The more the boat weight, the more power it takes to lift it. If a boat becomes heavier than the motor/prop combination can handle, the motor can't make rpms - meaning the horsepower of the motor no longer applies because it can't make the rpms - so a 90 horsepower motor might only be able to make 20 horsepower because it can't make rpms. More is better for boat motors - but do not exceed transom rating.

STRONGLY recommend power tilt for the motor. If you bottom out without it you got a problem! I also used it to keep a boat from being pushed too far on shore. If a soft bottom (sand, mud etc), I leave the motor DOWN at shore. That way it can't be pushed up to the bottom of the boat - plus scraping up the bottom - meaning a pain to get it off the ground to get back out on the water. If the motor is down and the boat facing bow to the shore, just get everyone in, start the motor, and raise it halfway while backing out. Piece of cake.

If you don't have tilt, aftermarket tilts are over $1000 and even used they're over $500 - if you can find one and IF the motor housing works with it.

Good luck in your search. Ebay. Boat Traders are both great sources. Boat dealers gouge you. If you buy a new boat and motor, you lose at least 40% the moment you take it off the boat dealer lot. Use dealers to figure what you want - then buy it used and save thousands of dollars.

What matters is the motor. Hulls can be easily cleaned up, buffed out, wrapped or painted. Motor problems are the curse of boating. Get everything ready for a great day on the water, launch the boat - and the motor won't start - or worse won't start when you're out there somewhere.

All newer motor's computers record how many hours it has run - and at what speeds. What you do NOT want is a bum motor. So focus on the motor.

The best savings, but new warranty/reliability, is a used hull and new motor - but then you're getting into quite old hulls, gauge issues etc.

One complaint I have about most fishing boats with floors/soles is they still use wood covering it with carpeting. This allows fast, imprecise construction as the carpeting eliminated needing tight fitting. The carpet is always wet. It doesn't rattle. The wood can start to stink (if you are fishing with it) and is a lot of dead weight (plywood floors are heavy - about 50 pounds per 8 X 4 sheet). That said, a wood sole from a manufacturer is going to last a couple of decades and some people like a carpeted boat. I really don't, but that's just personal preference.
 
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More on motor size...

If you ONLY get as much horsepower you think you need, you'll regret it for many reasons.

The motor and prop need to minimally be matched to the weight and wetted surface drag of the boat. Usually it will just be you - or you and one person. But if you figure how much horsepower you need based on that, if you carry more weight you got a problem getting on plane - unless you are willing to do prop swapping. That only takes a few minutes, but is still a pain in the ass.

Aluminum boats are lightweight. Adding 500 extra pounds of passengers and gear changes it almost like a different boat. A motor bogging down or struggling to get on plane is annoying and if used where water can get rough even be dangerous because you can't power up and over waves/wakes.

If the motor is more powerful than you generally need, just run it lower rpms for the same speed goal. Then if you really load down the boat with people the motor/prop combo can still handle it without bogging down. You also will always be able to get on plane faster.

Every car is overpowered - even economy cars. No one wants a car that you have to drive in final gear with the motor continuously at redline to go 70 mph with no more than 2 passengers, even though it holds 4. Yet that tends to be how people think about boats - so run around on redline. Motors, including boat motors, don't then to last long at extended redline operation. Just like a car, extra horsepower because the minimum needed at full power is a very good idea.
 
The kicker on my boat is a 4 stroke Yamaha. I wish the 125 Mercury was as well. Still, they both pull gas from the same tank since the Mercury has its own oil tank.

Pretty good idea on the downrigger mount. I like DIY solutions like that. Here's what I did to more conveniently fish out of the back of my Tracker:

View attachment 67268580


Yep the 4 strokes are great. BTW not sure happened with my post. Didn't seem to quote right.

That's a sweet way to use downrigggers on a boat not designed for them.

One down side I found to not mounting the down riggers close to the transom like you did, is the fish finder doesn't always track the balls. I like to crank my downrigger balls up and down as I mark fish.
 
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Yep the 4 strokes are great. BTW not sure happened with my post. Didn't seem to quote right.

That's a sweet way to use downrigggers on a boat not designed for them.

One down side I found to not mounting the down riggers close to the transom like you did, is the fish finder doesn't always track the balls. I like to crank my downrigger balls up and down as I mark fish.

Nice!
 
Yep the 4 strokes are great. BTW not sure happened with my post. Didn't seem to quote right.

That's a sweet way to use downrigggers on a boat not designed for them.

One down side I found to not mounting the down riggers close to the transom like you did, is the fish finder doesn't always track the balls. I like to crank my downrigger balls up and down as I mark fish.

Those aren't really for downriggers. I just made them to be rod holders. Fishing in current I anchored the bow and fished out the back of the boat.
 
More on motor size...

If you ONLY get as much horsepower you think you need, you'll regret it for many reasons.

The motor and prop need to minimally be matched to the weight and wetted surface drag of the boat. Usually it will just be you - or you and one person. But if you figure how much horsepower you need based on that, if you carry more weight you got a problem getting on plane - unless you are willing to do prop swapping. That only takes a few minutes, but is still a pain in the ass.

Aluminum boats are lightweight. Adding 500 extra pounds of passengers and gear changes it almost like a different boat. A motor bogging down or struggling to get on plane is annoying and if used where water can get rough even be dangerous because you can't power up and over waves/wakes.

If the motor is more powerful than you generally need, just run it lower rpms for the same speed goal. Then if you really load down the boat with people the motor/prop combo can still handle it without bogging down. You also will always be able to get on plane faster.

Every car is overpowered - even economy cars. No one wants a car that you have to drive in final gear with the motor continuously at redline to go 70 mph with no more than 2 passengers, even though it holds 4. Yet that tends to be how people think about boats - so run around on redline. Motors, including boat motors, don't then to last long at extended redline operation. Just like a car, extra horsepower because the minimum needed at full power is a very good idea.

I think there is such a thing as sufficient power though- which might not be the maximum for which the hull is rated. All depends on what you expect out of your boat. My Tracker was rated for 90 or 95 but got by fine with its 50 for my purposes. It planed quickly and hit around 30 or a little better wide open. Throttle back and cruise at 26 or so. Most of my fishing was done where I didn't need to make long runs.
 
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