Boats

[def90]

It's probably already been said a dozen times but it's a bad time to buy a boat.

 

[IvarTheBoneless]

The used boat market is insane with sky high prices and the new choices are scarce. It’s a sellers market for sure.

 

[Southern Heritage]

Boats are awesome. They can be frustrating but great family time.
bass boats are good for fishing and thats about it.
Center consoles fish great and handle people well.
i could pull skies with mine and when family was tired id drop them off and go fishing.
Things break on the all the time but its life.
ive been boatless for 3 years of my adult life and it eats at me. However i bought a farm and sold my salt water boat which in all honesty was a stupid money pit. Id do it again but thboat pushed every button i had and wasnt cheap and i bought it very new.

My farm is on a large river so im thinking about buying a pontoon. I just wouldnt want to tow a pontoon every weekend if you have have to drive far though

 

[johnhuts1]

You will surely love boats. I can be sure that you will not regret

 

[Wellsdw]

I’ll sell you a 15’ Boston whaler dauntless today with a 50hp Honda. Trollling
Motor sonar, and all the other boating $h!t today! Where are you located?

B-o-a-t
Buoyant object angering the spouse!

 

[kda082]

Its fun when im on it. I curse it the rest of year.

 

[oldman]

B.O.A.T. = bring on another thousand $. Very much fun, can be expensive, kinda like skiing. You can tell when you are ready for skiing when you flush a $100 and it doesn't make you want to dive in after it.

 

[Fatcamp]

New one for us. 1848 Lowe. Bought a 25hp 2 stroke Mercury for it. Gonna use it for bowfishing primarily.

As soon as hunting season is over I will take it inside and patch/paint, build decks, mount new trolling motor, and my wife will wire it up the way she wants it. Her boat.

 

[Fullfan]

Guess everyone is diff. Have a 215ss Crownline.
Wife and I spend as much time as we can camping and boating. Our kids are grown adults, they still love the time on the water.

 

[loganwayne]

Grew up on the lakes around us. When I moved out I bought a inboard runabout boat, sold it because couldn’t fish from it and it sat to much. Then bought a nice sea nymph for dirt cheap, but it was just to small for us. Ended up with a 01’ 176pro princecraft that had 175 hrs on it then the original owner passed and it sat in his garage for 15 years. Had to go through and replace all the fuel lines and rebuild carbs but it was worth it. We fish year round now, i keep a sleeping bag for the wife to get in if it gets real cold. Hell my boat floated 300 yards down the river when my house flooded before it got hung up in a fence and it’s still good to go.

 

[lane44]

If the ad says as is , be very weary

 

[isu22andy]

Paid 14,000 cash for an 05 Crestliner with 150 hours on the motor. 4 Stroke Yamaha . Few minor hiccups along the way . Owned it for 3 years so far. Pain in the ass some days but I feel like it would be hard to be without one now. You only live once . If you like fishing go for it . I wish I would of done it sooner .

 

[Fatcamp]

 

[Hschweers]

I’m in South Florida so a little different waters, but to me a bay boat is the best of all worlds. You can ski, board, or tube with the appropriately sized engine. Typically always come with live wells. Typically have removable cushions so if you’re fishing you can remove cushions and walk all around the fiberglass deck without damaging or staining the cushions. 21’ with a 150 or 200 (depending on hull weight. Always go for the USCG Max rated HP to avoid frustration).

However, as been said a thousand times above, it’s a bad market to be buying. I’m actually in the process of selling our boat (19’ bay boat) because we can come out at about 50% profit over what we paid for it 2 years ago. Best of luck to ya.

 

[Wyomuleskinner]

I have an older mastercraft I love it. We have had a lot of fun family memories with it. It is by far the most bang for the buck for good family time. I do regular maintenance and it has not been a money pit and I have no regrets about buying it. I realize you are not looking for this type of boat but I see a lot of negative comments about boats.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Love our 17' deep V Lund. Tons of fishing memories with the family and covers 99% of fishing situations for us. Had several different Jons and even a toon before landing on this one. Its been a rock star so far without any significant issues other than replacing the trolling motor batteries this fall. However, they were OEM and I got 8 years out of them.

 

[roosiebull]

All kidding aside what is the used and new market? I know it was crazy last year and assume it will continue unless people dump the boats they purchased last year.

If buying used, the engine will be the focus (cosmetics are pretty straightforward unless you have wood in the equation) you don’t want to buy something for a good deal and have to repower after day 2… a newer outboard (4 stroke) will be the safest bet, if your engine isn’t reliable, the boat will not get used, you won’t want to deal with it, then it will sit and keep depreciating.

Boats don’t like sitting, if a boat sits for years, there will be some bugs to be worked out, just reality with boats.

It’s a tough used market right now, the past couple years the govt have bought a lot of boats (and everything else) for anyone who has ever wanted a boat, and demand is crazy high, and nobody wants to work, and that’s a bad combo for finding a good deal… when you narrow your search, I wouldn’t rule out new, with used prices being so high.

If you are pulling tubes and stuff, with 6 people, make sure the boat has enough power to do what you need, there are a lot of underpowered boats around, just make sure you don’t compromise too much or it will be pointless buying a boat.

 

[Moserkr]

All good advice above. I first posted in the middle of a boat rebuild. With building a lean-to to store it under during the winter, Im under $5k into my 16’ aluminum boat. Best part is I know every single rivet, nut, wire, bolt, and line. Fully rebuilt the trailer too and its a tank. Made sure to do it better than factory and just took me a mild covid winter. Feel even luckier I mostly finished it before the prices of goods and supply lines went haywire. For those on a budget with a little time equity, rebuilding can be a very good way to get into a new - used boat. Even if I bought a brand new motor, which would make my whole boat literally new, Id be under $14k with max power. $10-12k with medium power. No boat payment feels even better and if it breaks its on me for not building it right the first time. But I dont see that happening and its all documented in another forum for me to reference. In the end Id either go full rebuild or brand new, and aluminum will last longer hands down.

 

[WDE91]

It's amazing how many people here in the South East are running around with $90,000 trucks towing $90,000 bass boats working very average jobs...lever up and party on.

 

[Bighorse]

I know I’ve shared this before on the forum. It’s a 1994 Magnum Workskiff. It’s on its third main motor. The entire boat is water resistant designed for non stop water exposure. I use it for hunting applications mostly. It is frequently left high and dry without any issues. It’s a great platform for roaming the rugged coastline of Alaska.