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Post by steelcitystriper on Jun 5, 2018 9:50:48 GMT -5
I am hoping to be in the market for a boat in the next year or two. My price range will probably be $10000-$15000... I want a boat that I can set up for trolling for stripers at the lake, but will need to be able to ditch the fishing gear and take the family out cruising (potentially up to 10 people or so). Also, I will be hauling it a good bit (we drive 7 hours to sml) so I’m looking at that as a factor too. I typically rent pontoons with trolling motors and they have worked ok for me but I imagine they may be a little tougher to haul over a long distance. Also, being as I will be looking at used boats I was wondering about pros and cons of different types of motors inboards/outboards, 2 stroke/4 stroke, and different brands. I’m sure the “perfect” boat doesn’t exist for me but I am not that familiar with owning a boat and looking to get the most I can for my money. Any suggestions are greatly aprreciated.
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Post by mwardncsu on Jun 5, 2018 10:05:21 GMT -5
By "trolling" - do you mean trolling artificial, or live bait? If artifical, then your options are much more open in my view - and maybe look at a deck-boat style which is a great family platform and you can troll off it easily.
If live-bait, then you need to consider location for the bait tank - the style of deck-boat that is sort of "pontoon on top, fiberglass boat on bottom" can make a very good platform - the ones that are more fiberglass all over are more challeging to have a place for the bait tank - but it can be done.
As you said, there is no "perfect" boat for all uses - just figure out what it will mainly be used for and try to select from there.
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Post by 31Airborne on Jun 5, 2018 10:24:29 GMT -5
I agree w/ Mr Ward. A couple things to keep in mind as you begin your shopping: 1) have a certified technician go over the boat, esp the motor, with a fine tooth comb. compression, filters, lower unit, steering, services records, etc are all things to be reviewed. 2) test drive it. if you ain't happy in it no else will be. 3) 2-stroke vs 4-stroke is a pick'em. lots of pros w/ both. few cons, if any. any motor will be require regular maintenance. no what this is before you make the move. 4) if the boat doesn't come w/ electronix this will be an add-on after the fact. will be hard to do any kind of striper fishing without them. 5) if the boat doesn't come with a trolling motor this would be something else I'd recommend adding. gives you a degree of flexibility when fishing, opens the cone angle of opportunity to target more than just stripers.
the short of it there is a perfect boat for you and your applications. understand up front what you're getting into, esp if you've never owned a boat before. happy hunting!
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Post by steelcitystriper on Jun 5, 2018 11:59:43 GMT -5
Thanks for the info. I do mostly live bait fishing. Right now, I have a home made bait tank that I use on the boats that I have rented. Def a space hog (prob about 30” in diameter and 30” tall. I would probably try to custom fabricate a tank if I bought my own boat. I will probably need to look into a boat with space similar to a pontoon but the deck boats you mentioned would probably be ideal. I would love to find a boat already set up with trolling motor and electronics but at my price point I really want to find a boat that has the right space and a good motor and add on the other stuff over time if I need to. I wasn’t really sure if there were any brands of motors that are more reliable than others or anything in particular that I need to look for when test driving a used boat. I know a couple people who have been burnt pretty bad buying used boats.
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irons
New Member
Posts: 319
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Post by irons on Jun 5, 2018 13:14:59 GMT -5
Not sure where you are wanting to go fish but there are some lakes that don’t allow 2 stroke motors. From what I’ve read this is becoming a common trend in the western states, not sure if it will become to prevalent in the east.
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Post by steelcitystriper on Jun 5, 2018 14:47:52 GMT -5
Hmmm, I haven’t heard that. I just know that a 4 stroke would be nice so that I wouldn’t have to mess around with mixing gas. Also, the two stroke that my brother had was pretty noisy compared to the boats with 4 stroke engines that I have ridden on. However, I have heard people talk about superior performance from 2 strokes so if that were the case I would be willing to mix the gas and deal with the noise. I am a layman when it comes to boat motors.
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Post by coheasion on Jun 5, 2018 16:08:48 GMT -5
What kind of things are you wanting to do when you turn it into a family machine?
Whether you need to pull wake-boarders and tubers or just take evening joy-rides will also play a part in this decision, especially motor selection and tri-toon vs. pontoon if you look to go that route.
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Post by steelcitystriper on Jun 5, 2018 20:46:19 GMT -5
Mostly just joy rides. We don’t wake board or ski. I may pull a tube if the boat had the capability but nothing crazy. I would like the boat to go at least 20mph or so. I have rented boats that can barely break into double digits and I’m not a fan of how long it takes me to get from place to place especially when I want to hit a new fishing spot.
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Post by coheasion on Jun 6, 2018 7:54:00 GMT -5
I would take a lok at something like this personally. i use a tritoon for striper fishing and absolutely love it. With a 115 on this it should have the speed you are looking for and there is room for the bait tank. the only thing Iwouldnt be too sure about for live bait fishing is the carpet on the decks. roanoke.craigslist.org/boa/d/aqua-pation-22-pontoon-2009/6600703905.html |
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Post by steelcitystriper on Jun 6, 2018 8:55:49 GMT -5
That looks like a great boat! My biggest concern about a pontoon is that they seem kind of bulky and does that make them harder to pull over the road? I have a 7 hour drive to sml and I would plan to pull it to and from home. If a pontoon pulls just as easy as some of the deck boats or bow riders, pontoon/tritoon will prob be the route I go. I def need a trailer too. I’m not sure how much one would cost separately. I love the set up on that boat though, and that trolling motor that they have on there is perfect!
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Post by bushwacker on Jun 6, 2018 11:06:40 GMT -5
My parents have a 20' pontoon and I have a 21' CC bay style boat. Our pontoon pulls much easier in my opinion. A deck boat will be heavier do to the fiberglass hull. I also had a 17' fish and ski and our pontoon pulled a good bit easier than that boat of a much smaller size.
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Post by steelcitystriper on Jun 6, 2018 15:46:05 GMT -5
Good to know. Seems like a pontoon will have the best space and is the easiest to pull over the road. Being that maneuverability isn’t at the top of my priority list, it seems as though a pontoon may work best for all the things that I’m really looking for.
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Post by steelcitystriper on Jun 6, 2018 16:04:25 GMT -5
So I was looking through the “post your rig” section and drooling over cohesion’s “reverse mullet.” That boat is awesome! Where did u find a set up like that? Or did you have to do a lot of customization yourself?
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Post by coheasion on Jun 7, 2018 8:27:57 GMT -5
I spent a lot of time in your shoes trying to figure out what boat would best be able to handle all of these things you have mentioned with the addition of being able to pull wakeboards and skiers etc. i looked at the deckboats pretty hard but I wanted to get away from the maintenance of gelcoat.
At some point in my searches I happened upon this company up in the Great Lakes called Angler Qwest that was building center console pontoons for fishing the Great Lakes and the more I thought about it the more sense they seemed to make, but they didnt have exactly what I was looking for due to the unique requirements of live bait fishing.
I ended up making contact with the owner of the company and he worked with me to customize exactly what I wanted. So far i couldn't be more pleased as the boat does everything I need it to do very well.
My only "complaint" is just a complaint that I'm sure most, if not all, pontoons have and that is they are a bit difficult to handle in tight quarters especially if there is any wind. This really only rears its head when trying to dock at marinas and such.
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Post by steelcitystriper on Jun 8, 2018 8:41:40 GMT -5
Yeah I’ve rented pontoons plenty of times and am familiar with that struggle so that shouldn’t really be anything unexpected for me. My real concerns are the maintenance and towing. It sounds like the pontoon is pretty low maintenance and easier to tow so it’s really sounding like the direction I will be looking to go. I appreciate all the input that everybody has given. Being that I’ve never owned a boat before, it has really cleared up some of the questions that I had.
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