Posts: 433
Location: Cedarburg, Wisconsin | I fished from an Alumacraft 185 Competitor (150HP and 15HP kicker) for 17 years. It was an OK boat for being out in the open water of the Great Lakes or on the big Canadian waters, and was not great but functional on smaller waters too. At the time I bought it, the boat was the best fit for my fishing. Big area in the back for multiple anglers to work riggers and dipseys, fight fish and net them all at the same time. The front deck was smaller and cramped for tryiing to get two musky fishing, but I hardly ever did that so why worry about it. The boat handled 4-5 footers a lot better than I did (at least the boat didn't turn green) and with a 150 on the back it was easy to run in the bigger waves, always had enough to hold the wave crests without sliding back or surging forwards if that's what it took at the time. Also super stable, you could have three on the same side musky fishing and it wouldn't drop too far to that side compared to deeper V's that weren't 96" wide.
I gave up on salmon/trout fishing when the launch fees got stupid and the fish size dimished, so the dream boat wasn't the best fit anymore. I went to a higher performance glass hull (19.5' long and a little narrower),and the benefits were using much less gas at higher speeds, easier boat control with the bow mount, and a dance hall in front for casting. The drawback is that it is a handful in rougher water as it wants to run faster to maintain planing attitude. A four blade prop helped, but still, it takes more work to keep it on the wave crests. So what it boils down to is it needs more HP to keep it riding the waves the way I want it to, unless I want to reprop with a pitch a couple inches lower and give up the top end and economy. Plus it is a lot more sensative to weight distribution. The old aluminum was more bargelike, load here-load there-ehhh... The glass boat starts leaning a bit if you get the load wrong until you get it up on the pad which isn't always what I want in waves towards 4 feet tall. So what I'm trying to say is if you are looking at glass, make sure it is designed for rough water rather than mainly for speed in calmer water like bass boat types. Lots to think about for sure. |
