What to Buy

[thenewf]

Good Day,

New guy here. This looks as good a place as any to ask, I have been trolling this site for a couple of weeks now looking for a boat, a few have caught me eye, but I am having a hard time deciding on the hull. Looking for the pros and cons. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

To answer a few questions; my tow vehicle is a 05 Chevy 1/2 ton, I live about 3 hours away from Lake O

but I do have a place to store it there. My main goal is salmon and trout, and maybe eventually start in on tournaments.

I have seen some that I like but, the price is way out of the norm, both high and low, compared to others. Everybody likes a good deal, but what is the catch on the super low ones.

Thanks again for your responses and keep your lines tight.

Pat

[spoonfed-1]

Nobody can tell you why a boat is priced low on the internet that they have never seen.

There are hundreds of reasons a boat could be priced low.

Only advice I can give you is before you buy a boat, have a survey done form a reputable party.

It's not hard to have to drop 10 g's into a boat you paid 3 or 4 g's for.

A survey is a few hundred.

Be careful and save yourself a lot of grief.

Good luck.

Glen

[lakebound88]

Nobody can tell you why a boat is priced low on the internet that they have never seen.

There are hundreds of reasons a boat could be priced low.

Only advice I can give you is before you buy a boat, have a survey done form a reputable party.

It's not hard to have to drop 10 g's into a boat you paid 3 or 4 g's for.

A survey is a few hundred.

Be careful and save yourself a lot of grief.

Good luck.

Glen

[ Post made via Android ]

[G-Daddy]

Second on the survey. The best advice I can give is to look long and hard. My son and I looked at hundreds of boats on the Internet, stopped and looked at every boat yard we passed, looked at private deals, and made five hour drives to look at boats that interested us. We finally bought a Sportcraft 252 and we are on our third season with her. My point is there are lots of boats out there and you should be in no hurry. You will know the right boat for you when you found her.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[charlie464]

hello i love my boat ,but be careful they can be money pits.i just nad my in the shop for no spark,the bill came to 1100.00 noy cheap.my boat is a 16 foot with a 40 horse power merc.they do cost alot but very good to help with,me losing my mind love to fish. good luck charlie

[LongLine]

I wouldn't pull anything over 3K Lbs. Aluminum is obviously light. As for the boat, look for a deep vee type hull. Something pretty deep and wide. As you're standing in boat, side of gunnel (side wall) should come up well past your knee. Side wall should be minimum 6" wide to mount rigg'rs on & solid. Look at transome - Does it have room to put a kicker? Look at the room you'll have for fighting a fish - is there a lot of room or are you going to trip over something?

Get a survey & insist on a test ride, even if you have to pay for the launch. You might want to offeer to tow it to the launch for the test ride, just to see how it trailers.

Tom B.

(LongLine)

[thenewf]

I would like to thank everybody for there responses.

So with everything thats been said and all my research I am leaning towards a 22ft sabre. Can anybody tell me the differance between a G/L and a D/C?

Pat

[HONDAM]

If your looking at aluminum make sure you take a good look at hewescraft. They are the best built aluminum boats out there right now. Strictly fishing boats but really heavy duty all welded and lightweight.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[bobgky]

I would like to thank everybody for there responses.

So with everything thats been said and all my research I am leaning towards a 22ft sabre. Can anybody tell me the differance between a G/L and a D/C?

Pat

Pat, the G/L (Great Lakes) is mainly set up for Great Lakes fishing, whereas the D/C (Day Cruiser) is more for recreation. Either can be used, however, I think you might end up having to do more work to "undo" the pleasurecraft amenities of the D/C. Check out their website, under the "owner's " section. They have an archive of the sales brochures from the early 80's on up. Hope this helps.

[IRon]

On the Sabre's you want to pay special attention to the transom area. Mine developed a crack on the bottom weld. It was there when I bought it so I don't know if the crack caused water to leak into the transom and soften the wood or if the bolt holes for the outboard leaked and let water in. Which in turn caused the inner wood to rot which caused the crack. Dunno. But either way I had to pull the outboard remove/replace/seal wood core, get re-welded......

My Cresties's a '95 and I had to replace the entire fuel system, too. New fuel tank, lines, ball, fuel/water separator, everything..... So if you do take it out for a test cruise, put it through a thorough long distance run, not just a hook it up to a hose in the driveway and let it idle thing. That doesn't tell you anything, just it will start and idle.

So on your test run check very carefully in the bilge area for ANY leaks, and make sure the motor performs flawlessly. And if there is something wrong assume the worst and figure that into your "cheap" price. Good luck

[ac holmes]

My 2 cents based on 50 years of fixing up old boats.

There are so many things to consider that the very best $500 you will ever spend on a used boat is a reputable survey. Even the best survey must make some judgements that may or may not be totally correct, regarding water intrusion and rot in transom, stringers and deck core.

I have a fairly new Eastern 27 inboard and it is cored with "bida core" plastic honeycomb so rot in the transom and hull is a non-event, but the stringers are high quality doug fir and water will get into the wood sooner or later, no matter what. Those stringers will eventually rot. It may take 20 years before the stringer rot situation will compromise motor mounts and hull integrity and by then I will no longer care.

There are some builders who are using composite stringers instead of wood these days, but wooden stringers will rot for sure, and replacement is a half-assed procedure at best and costs big bucks. If the stringers are bad the rot will migrate into the transom at the juncture. The only real sure way of knowing is to drill tiny holes through the glass into the wood and have the shavings checked for rot. Those tiny holes can be sealed up easily if the seller will allow the survey to be that invasive. If it is real bad you will see wet brown shavings and it will smell mildew. You can usually tell the progress of the rot by examining the color of shavings...from dry solid wood (light color) to darker and darker wet samples, all the way to black powder. I have drilled holes where the stringer box meets the hull and have had water and black shavings stream out of the tiny hole...big problem for sure. It is hard to find a used boat without stringer/transom problems.

Aluminum boats are easier to examine and often do not have wooden stringers, but the transom core is always a problem. On an I/O that becomes a structual concern and also a challanging project to fix. An aluminum outboard transom is easier to fix usually, and can be made as good as new.

To sum it up...I have seen some older boats that were repaired (both stringers and transom replaced) to as good as new, but they were done by skilled professionals who had all of the resources to do the work. Those projects usually cost from 8-10K on a 25-30 foot boat. Those repairs will start to rot as soon as some water gets in. I have often wondered why builders do not use pressure treated wood for stringers.