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Posts: 166
Location: Cedarburg, WI. | Looking to buy a boat. I have never personally owned a boat before, but have borrowed and operated a few. I mainly fish 200 to 600 acre lakes. Manatowish chain would be the biggest body of water I would be on by far. I am currently finding a several boats in my price range. All are 2003-2008 vintage. Assuming all have similar motors/electronics what do you guys think?
Lowe stinger
Alumacraft classic 165cs
Alumacraft fisherman 160cs
Bass tracker 175 pro team tx |
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Posts: 132
| The Classic is probably a better boat than the others by a decent margin. The fisherman second and as long as it has a good motor would be sufficient. I'd stay away from the other 2 brands if it were me. |
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Posts: 8
| thats a pretty big variance in years. I'd eliminate the fisherman right away, it's a very narrow boat to have a side console. are the motors on the others 2 strokes or 4 strokes? I'd eliminate any 2 stokes. If the Classic has a 4 stroke yamaha that would be my first choice. |
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | What's your budget? |
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Posts: 537
Location: Gilberts IL/Rhinelander WI | I've got a stinger, its an alright boat, good amount of deck space.
The biggest con is how it is in the wind and waves. You better have a 24v trolling motor, and it will be running all day in anything over 10mph |
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Posts: 166
Location: Cedarburg, WI. | Thanks for your input guys. Mike - about $8000 on the top end. Most boats I am looking at have a 2 stroke. A few have a 4 stroke but typically those seem to be 40hp or less. Which leads me to another question.. Would a 25hp be way under powered for a 16ft boat?
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Posts: 1716
Location: Mt. Zion, IL | I have an alumacraft lunker 165 magnum with a 25 hp 2 stroke and with me and one other person and full gear we run 27 mph, 25.5 if the live well is full for suckers.
I would not let a 2 stroke scare you. If not maxing out, I would encourage you to buy a 2 stroke for power to weight alone. My 25 hp is 121 lbs and dads 4 stroke is 226. |
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Posts: 1036
| Go check out a Tuffy Esox Magnum boat. They are great musky boats that get you close to the water. Tons of space in those things. Launching and loading would be a breeze and they would be almost ideal for the size lakes you are looking at.
Back in the day, Lakeland made boats similar to them, they are great as well.
There are usually a couple of Tuffy's like that on the boat ads on this site. I think you would like them. They sit lower in the water, are usually heavier and wind doesn't push them around much at all compared to aluminum boats that sit higher in the water.
And yah, I would think that a 25 horse would be underpowered on a 16 foot boat. I had a 30 horse on an old Tuffy Rampage (17 footer) and while she would plane out, it took a while. Upgraded to a 50 horse. Then life was much better. |
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Posts: 859
Location: MN | I have a classic tiller its maxed out with a 60. A 50 would be fine just 3-4 less on the top end. Any thing less then a 50 would be a non starter 30 will move the boat but I'm don't know if you would plane out maybe with a long run. But again that might be ok if your on small lakes. I often times just use my trolling motor. |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | At $8k I'd grow your list out n start over ... short (16') deep v's wouldn't be on my list. |
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Posts: 166
Location: Cedarburg, WI. | You saying at 16' you would go with mod v type hull? |
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Posts: 255
| If you are shopping by price you'll have to pick from what's out there. Motor size will be a big part of that. Should be a lot of boats in the range you want.
Get at least a 50 so you can move. If this is strictly for fishing I agree you can get a lot out of a used Tuffy. I almost think you could spend 2500-4 on a used boat that will do the trick for now. The difference between a few more model years with a 25hp is not worth 4000.
I think most guys on here would agree that if you keep fishing you'll end up with something else in a few years anyway, and likely run a 90 or 115hp, and will spend 12-15k. Then hang on to it for a long time. |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | The short deep boats can be kidney pounders ... and 8k buys a lot of boat.,
Edited by jonnysled 2/18/2016 1:30 PM
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Posts: 166
Location: Cedarburg, WI. | Unfortunately no tiller for me. My wife has zero opinions on boats except she wants it to have a steering wheel because "I wanna drive it once and awhile to." Happy wife happy life! Right fellas?!? At least she signed off on a boat and wants to keep fishing with me! |
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Posts: 4269
Location: Ashland WI | She can drive a tiller too.....
Open layout sure is nice..... |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | great choice pictured above ... i've also seen a lund pro-v tiller on craigslist for $4500 or something. there are some incredible choices to be had on the used market even under a budget, but $8k puts you in a pretty good spot. champions, old ranger C's, T's, esox ltd's and magnums, lund and maybe even the fishhawk series Crestliners which are great musky layouts.
good luck ... we have a fb group that focuses purely on looking for old Rangers and one guy from the group Mr. Steve Jones just recently got a steal of a deal on a honda powered Ranger C model with newer Honda power for around $6k i think.
network network network!! and think big expectations ... you'll find it if you are patient and especially if you can strike fast!! |
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Posts: 275
| More than likely driving or not, the wife will want to be behind a windshield.....no tillers for me. JMO
Jaimy |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | never give them a windshield option and they won't know what they're missing ... |
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Location: Eastern Ontario | Nothing like a windshield stand up top and propane heater in December even on a Ranger |
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Posts: 275
| jonnysled - 2/18/2016 7:46 PM
never give them a windshield option and they won't know what they're missing ...
My wife is much smarter than that........
Jaimy |
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Posts: 97
| Sled,
Do you have a link to that facebook group? I am probably about a year out from pulling the trigger and am in information gathering mode.
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Posts: 1937
Location: Black Creek, WI | jonnysled - 2/18/2016 7:46 PM
never give them a windshield option and they won't know what they're missing ...
This is NOT true. It why I now drive a Ranger 620... with Dual Consoles. Thanks Honey!!!  |
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Posts: 109
| I have an alumacraft 165 classic and it is a great boat. I have had a lot of big glass boat guys fish with me and each one has said " this is a heck of a boat". I am not saying it can do everything a 20 foot glass boat can do, but for your needs it would be excellent. I would not recommend it though if you are going to fish 3 casting a lot of the time. Especially if they are not experienced casters. You will want 50 to 60 hp.
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