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Posts: 116
Location: Roscoe IL | Hi guys, this will be my first of many posts, Im originally from Wisconsin but live in northern illinois where my wife and I both work. Ive caught exactly 2 muskies in my life, both in hayward on round lake as a teenager, maybe a 30" and the "big one" was a 41" fish, I pretty much stopped doing any serious fishing around then as I had 2 other major hobbies (drag racing and chasing west central wisconsin whitetails, it would have been cheaper to have a drug addiction lol) .
Things are coming full circle in life, im 35 and have a young daughter, and i know that doing the kind of hunting I do, shes not going to be able to do it for another 12-15 years if shes ever interested in it, which brings me to fishing. Im not looking to drop a ton of cash in something, and I enjoy a project, I have zero issues building a motor, fabricating etc. Im thinking something in the 16-18' range would be a good all around boat for our garbage illinois lakes/rivers as well as trips up north. I believe i want a counsel boat, not a tiller, unless someone can tell me why a tiller is better (i realize much more casting space) Im feel like im looking towards something like a 60-90hp motor for the amount of money im looking to invest (say 5K not including any repairs or upgrades) Fitting those rough (and i realize vague) thoughts im open to suggestions. Im fully willing to have boat envy as I have a good friend with a place up by eagle river with a monster Recon with whatever the biggest E-rude they put on them is haha, but i have too many spendy hobbies to jump that far in on a boat, I still need to retool my my Rod and reel arsenal! But thats another post entirely.
Glad to be hear
-Adam. |
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Posts: 3469
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Hiya,
Welcome to the boards!! Sounds like you would be looking for something in a 16 to 17 foot range. Boats such as the Alumacraft Navigator 165 CS, Lund Explorer 1675, or Crestliner fishhawk to name a few would fit your bill fairly well. All good solid boats, and I am sure there will be rigs out there that have seen their better days...
Lots of good opinions here that can help you through the process, so please do not hesitate to ask.
Steve |
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Posts: 116
Location: Roscoe IL | VMS - 6/23/2019 9:41 AM
Hiya,
Welcome to the boards!! Sounds like you would be looking for something in a 16 to 17 foot range. Boats such as the Alumacraft Navigator 165 CS, Lund Explorer 1675, or Crestliner fishhawk to name a few would fit your bill fairly well. All good solid boats, and I am sure there will be rigs out there that have seen their better days...
Lots of good opinions here that can help you through the process, so please do not hesitate to ask.
Steve
Hi Steve,
Thanks for your insight, it is much appreciated. Those are the class of boats that i have been looking at. Are there any motor manufacturers to stay away from in that class (i know this is like ford/chevy debate) i see the majority have evinrudes or johnsons on them.
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Posts: 4269
Location: Ashland WI | Take a look at the Tuffy esox mag. Amazingly stable casting platform. |
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Posts: 116
Location: Roscoe IL | im finding a lot of 16-17' sylvans forsale in my area for decent prices that look like fairly clean boats. Are they junk? they're aluminum boats. |
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Posts: 1668
| If they float and will work for your style of fishing and budget they aren't junk. You can always upgrade in a few years but it's hard to get the bad taste out of your mouth if you over-spend and it hurts your family financially. |
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Posts: 116
Location: Roscoe IL | Brian Hoffies - 6/23/2019 11:59 AM
If they float and will work for your style of fishing and budget they aren't junk. You can always upgrade in a few years but it's hard to get the bad taste out of your mouth if you over-spend and it hurts your family financially.
Money isnt the issue, its more of an "is this something im going to really get into" Ill be the guy yanking a 5K boat with a 70K duramax lol. I probably dont know enough to realize that i dont know anything (can ya follow that? haha) but to me if a boat is big enough to do the kind of fishing you want at 5K a 30K boat is probably more of an ego thing than a necessity. I realize you gain a lot more speed when getting into the big boy boats, but im not sure a guy would need it on a 1k-3k Acre lake would he?
I appreciate your insight Brian, thanks!! |
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Posts: 426
| I fish lakes the size you mentioned from a Lund 1750 Rebel 90 hp merc in great comfort casting or trolling. The boat is also big enough to tackle fishing on Lake Erie Walleye and Bass as long as you use common sense. Great on gas both towing and running. The boat will work well for you. |
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Posts: 3469
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | ILESOX - 6/23/2019 9:58 AM
VMS - 6/23/2019 9:41 AM
Hiya,
Welcome to the boards!! Sounds like you would be looking for something in a 16 to 17 foot range. Boats such as the Alumacraft Navigator 165 CS, Lund Explorer 1675, or Crestliner fishhawk to name a few would fit your bill fairly well. All good solid boats, and I am sure there will be rigs out there that have seen their better days...
Lots of good opinions here that can help you through the process, so please do not hesitate to ask.
Steve
Hi Steve,
Thanks for your insight, it is much appreciated. Those are the class of boats that i have been looking at. Are there any motor manufacturers to stay away from in that class (i know this is like ford/chevy debate ) i see the majority have evinrudes or johnsons on them.
Hiya,
To be honest, the engines of today, or even up to 20 years old if taken care of will be solid. The only thing I would consider when purchasing would be the first year or two a model has been made, as there always seems to be some sort of issue that shows up. Those kinds of issues are not brand specific either...they all have had something needing tweaking.
Biggest thing is to have the engine tested for compression, but even better would be a leak-down test as well. Boats may have issues with bilge or live well pumps, carpet that can be worn, dirty, etc. but those are minor as compared to a failing engine.
Steve |
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Posts: 116
Location: Roscoe IL | VMS - 6/23/2019 9:35 PM
ILESOX - 6/23/2019 9:58 AM
VMS - 6/23/2019 9:41 AM
Hiya,
Welcome to the boards!! Sounds like you would be looking for something in a 16 to 17 foot range. Boats such as the Alumacraft Navigator 165 CS, Lund Explorer 1675, or Crestliner fishhawk to name a few would fit your bill fairly well. All good solid boats, and I am sure there will be rigs out there that have seen their better days...
Lots of good opinions here that can help you through the process, so please do not hesitate to ask.
Steve
Hi Steve,
Thanks for your insight, it is much appreciated. Those are the class of boats that i have been looking at. Are there any motor manufacturers to stay away from in that class (i know this is like ford/chevy debate ) i see the majority have evinrudes or johnsons on them.
Hiya,
To be honest, the engines of today, or even up to 20 years old if taken care of will be solid. The only thing I would consider when purchasing would be the first year or two a model has been made, as there always seems to be some sort of issue that shows up. Those kinds of issues are not brand specific either...they all have had something needing tweaking.
Biggest thing is to have the engine tested for compression, but even better would be a leak-down test as well. Boats may have issues with bilge or live well pumps, carpet that can be worn, dirty, etc. but those are minor as compared to a failing engine.
Steve
Thanks again Steve, I have compression and leak down gauges (used to build my own drag motors) so I have no problem doing either test on a potential boat. My goal is to find a slightly older hull that is in good shape with a solid transom anthat was perhaps re powered say early 2000s |
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Posts: 833
| I run a 17.5' Fish Hawk. The advice I'd give is to pay attention to how far forward the console is. (Disregard if opting for a Tiller.) I ended up in the Crestliner because the console was further back resulting in a much fuller casting deck up front. Most boats in this class tend to place the console farther forward since they cater more to the walleye angling community. This results in a boat that does better at trolling and drifting, but the casting deck is quite small. Just my opinion, but I think this wastes the design space. The extra foot or two of "trolling space" really doesn't add up to much at the expense of the versatility the larger casting platform offers.
Also, if Musky fishing, you can pretty much ignore the rod locker in this size of boat. Most will be capped at 7 to 7.5', far too short for anything but an old school jerkbait rod. |
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Posts: 426
| My 1750 Lund Rebel holds rods up tp 8ft 6in. I store 3 that size with no problem |
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Posts: 50
| Brad makes a great point above about the layout of the Fish Hawk. With a side console, the front deck is huge which would be great for your family. Easy to fish three.
The 1750 model in my opinion is the 'just right' size. Easy to launch, easy to trailer, and can handle big water if the wind isn't too wild.
Note, too, that some of these older Fish Hawks have a four stroke Johnson on them and that's really a Suzuki painted white. They come in 90hp and 115hp options. A great motor. |
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Posts: 155
Location: Cedarburg, WI. | I grabbed my 1750 fish hawk for the same reason. Front deck is awesome. I fish everything from LoTW to 100 acre lakes in the middle of nowhere with barely a boat launch. Rod storage for musky sticks does suck though, but that would be my only complaint. |
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Posts: 116
Location: Roscoe IL | Thanks a ton guys, I’m on a lot of forums, seldom is the reception this warm and advice this genuine |
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Posts: 315
| Welcome to the site! I’m from IL too with a cabin in WI Tomahawk. My boat up there is also a 1750 Fish Hawk and it’s been a great boat. Wide, stable and lots of room in the bow for casting. I also have an old Tuffy Maurauder in IL that I completely gutted and rebuilt to use for the smaller lake around my home. It is a nice boat too and if you want a project those old Tuffys can be found cheap and you can rebuild them back how you want them. My restored Tuffy now has a rod locker that will hold rods up to 9-6. As mentioned the Esox Mags are great boats for fishing the waters that you described. If you could find one in your price range I would consider it too. Best of luck in your search! |
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Posts: 1828
| Adam,
Looks like no shortage of good advice above. My tip would be to think a bit about comfort and convenience concerning the layout. Sounds like you plan to bring your daughter fishing / boating (maybe wife / girlfriend too?). When the girls stay dry and have room to play on their breaks from fishing, they're going to enjoy the boat a lot more. You sacrifice better fishing arrangements for comfort, so you just have to think through it.
If I was fishing alone most of the time I'd have a tiller. But I have my wife and kids with me >50% of the time, so it's windshield boats for me.
Your comment on boat price and ego is a bit off. It's kind of like saying the difference between a 5k beater pickup and a 70k 1-ton diesel is just an ego thing. While ego might be part of it, the pricey rigs are definitely better tools for the jobs at hand. (No offence taken probably by anyone here though)
I had an older Crestliner for a while and I'm a big fan. They run cheaper than Lunds for similar size / style, but you've probably noticed that already. |
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Posts: 116
Location: Roscoe IL | I found a good deal on a 2001 alumacraft phantom v170, any of you gentlemen familiar with it ? Has a 90hp Merc on it looks like it’s in decent shape for 4K |
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Posts: 315
| Never had one but if the motor is good I would think that is a very good buy. They build good boats. I wouldn’t think you would lose any money if u fished out of it for a few years and then sold it. Just price a new one! |
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Posts: 479
Location: Northern Illinois | Check the transom or have it checked by reputable dealer. Boats that age or older can have transom problems that aren't obvious. |
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Posts: 116
Location: Roscoe IL | well fellas, im going to buy a boat tomorrow, 1996 Stratos 219F with a 150 intruder on it. 2 owner boat ,extremly clean. Hopefully it will be a good first fishing boat for me! let me know what you guys think. Picking it up for 5750$ i feel like thats a really fair price |
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