MCF

If they are going to be in the water all season just like a fiberglass boat the bottom will become fouled. So you are faced with painting it with anti-fouling paint, there are only certain types of anti-fouling paint that can be used on an aluminum boat.

And as long as we can start going away from nights with temps 20 degrees or less.

You have a tongue weight issue, you can correct it by moving the winch stand forward or the axles back.

It is part of the American Angler series, Smokercraft's west coast line of boats which has been around since at least 2003, that is when I first learned of them. Those boats appear to be a little more heavily construction and are more utilitarian in design. Our regional dealer had the 19 and 22 from the line on display at a recent boat show.

Have the boat surveyed if you are at the purchase stage, stringers and transom are the things to look at.

I purchased a 5 gal container of 80/90 oil from the local Pennzoil distributor(who was big into boating at the time) a long time ago, just about getting to the end of that container, have used it in various outboard and I/o lower units over the years, no issues. Now that synthetic has become available, I just that in my four stroke outboard.

If it is set up like my Sea Nymph and other boats I have seen, there is a block under the dash or near the dash that all the toggle switches run to. This happened to me during a tournament a couple years ago. Gauges worked, toggles didn't. To save time, ran a temp wire from the switches back to the battery, that isolated the issue with the block under the dash. Again, sounds like something simple that might be being overlooked in the frustration/heat of the moment.

Field and Stream Store off the Peach Street Exit in Erie.

You need to determine where that swim platform is in respect to the waterline in the stern. Many times it is a foot or more above the waterline which is going to cause cavitation problems with a short shaft kicker.

12/30/14 Bow and Stern Marine in North Tonawanda is carrying the west coast American Angler series by Smokercraft as I mentioned above in this post.

I had a 22 sylvan for 7 years, excellent Great Lakes boat. The 3.7 Mercruiser has its own issues which you should investigate before you take the plunge. Price is right on that boat.

I have a 1956 Crestliner and a 1986 Sea Nymph-both riveted -no leaks.

Smokercraft has for a number of years had the welded west coast line of boats, the American Angler boats: www.americananglerboats.com/ Any brand new boat is going to be expensive, that is a given. I agree that winter is the best time to buy that new boat, leftovers, dealers going out of business etc.

They were state of the art downriggers back in the seventies and eighties. I don't think anyone was running over 10 lb balls back then. I think Offshore bought them in the late eighties and tried to revive the brand.