Your Ideal Alaskan Boat

[bigbassfish]

This is going to be a doozy of a question so to keep it simple, if you were moving to Alaska and had ~20k to spend on a boat, what would you be getting and why?

I am not so much concerned with specific models, more so general styles. I know this will be heavily influenced by location, so for a little back story, my gf and I have set our sights on moving to Alaska sometime in the next few years. No kids at the moment, debt free minus the mortgage, and we figure it’ll only become more challenging as life goes on. We have been looking mostly around the Kenai Peninsula, and I’m sure with our limited budget were mostly going to be limited to river boats. We have an 18ft aluminum bass boat that we use the crap out of, but I’m not sure how well it would work for us up north.

Looking forward to hearing some local input!

 

[Rich M]

The AK shows always seem to have Lund SSV 18 or 16 for inland and general use and giant boats for ocean.

I have an SSV 18 w 60 and think a 40 or 50 is plenty. We use it for offshore and flats fishing in FL.

Best wishes on your move!

 

[bigbassfish]

Our current setup has a 75 Opti but it's had some quicks as long as we've owned it. Seems like a big part of this is just going to be wrapping my head around such a bare bones skiff style boat. We have tricked ours out with a spot lock trolling motor, fancy side imaging, and although it's a bass boat, we tend to mostly troll planer boards for striper and walleye. I cant imagine electronics being too handy in AK outside of a simple chartplotter.

For now we're still in the early planning stages of it all, but one thing is for sure, I do not want to live in Alaska without a suitable boat!

 

[thinhorn_AK]

You can’t get the ideal Alaskan boat for 20k.

Heck I got a stripped down sea ark 1660 with a Yamaha 60/40 and a trailer back in 2021 and even then it was 30k.

A buddy of mine priced out lunds and a basic ssv18 with some sort of a 60hp Honda and a trailer is well over 30k now, back in 2017 you could get it for like 17k.

Ideally I’d have 2 boats, my small sea ark works for moose hunting, salmon fishing and general fishing. It would be nice to also have a larger boat with a canopy like a 10+ foot hewes or Wooldridge or something with like a 150hp motor for leaking longer drives. Boats like that are closer to 60k these days though.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Our current setup has a 75 Opti but it's had some quicks as long as we've owned it. Seems like a big part of this is just going to be wrapping my head around such a bare bones skiff style boat. We have tricked ours out with a spot lock trolling motor, fancy side imaging, and although it's a bass boat, we tend to mostly troll planer boards for striper and walleye. I cant imagine electronics being too handy in AK outside of a simple chartplotter.

For now we're still in the early planning stages of it all, but one thing is for sure, I do not want to live in Alaska without a suitable boat!

My boat is a stripped down skiff type boat. It is great for some things, terrible for others. I do t have any electronics on it, just a garmin in my pocket.

 

[bigbassfish]

That's about what I figured, budget is going to be pretty limiting.

Looking at that Sea ark, it really doesn't look like the hull is all that different from my current setup below.

Any reason you could think why I wouldn't want something like this? Is your sea ark tiller steer?

 

[FranklinBluth]

Honestly it almost depends on what rivers you plan to run, how heavy you plan to run, how far you want to travel...etc.

I have a Solar 430 SuperJet (inflatable) that has taken me all over south central AK, along with some fun hunting trips up north. Pro's -it can run in crazy shallow water, I can put it in the back of the truck and drive it across the state on some questionable roads without worrying about a trailer, it goes in the woodshed in the winter and doesn't take up space, easy to maneuver,etc. I can also launch in places a trailered boat could not.

Cons - I can't get much more than a 1000 lbs in it and get on step. When going up river in some of the swifter rivers, I can only run 12-13 mph (can get up to 25-26 mph down tho). Functional range is probably ~100ish miles when hauling another person and gear. For those not from Alaska I know that sounds like a long ways, but when you get out on some of the bigger river systems that will not get you away from other people.

One last thing - there are motor restrictions on some rivers in AK. Read up and know your area before purchasing a boat.

 

[TaperPin]

I have no idea what small boats are what, but Alaska is an interesting collection of fun people doing fun things. Each area seems to have its own flavor of boat. In areas with more trash floating around, aluminum is popular, at least if it’s in the budget. Some places are small boat friendly and some are not.

You will find a lot of value in a friend with as large an aluminum trailerable boat as possible for getting out to some more remote areas or bigger water. Many good boats and good fishing buddies sit home because of fuel cost and are always looking for friends to split fuel costs with. My buddy with the boat went out two weeks after I left and they got into a bunch of big halibut - in 45 minutes all three guys had big fish that weighed as much as they did.

I always get a kick out of watching boats launched at Ninilchik.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

That's about what I figured, budget is going to be pretty limiting.

Looking at that Sea ark, it really doesn't look like the hull is all that different from my current setup below.

Any reason you could think why I wouldn't want something like this? Is your sea ark tiller steer?

yup my sea ark is a tiller. I wanted to most stripped down boat I could get and the tiller lets me really crank the boat around on tight creeks. I wanted to get the lightest welded boat I could find because I use it for moose hunting with another person so weight of gear/meat/people is a consideration. At the time I got the sea ark, boats were scarce, I couldn't find a roughneck or a g3 to compare it to so I got the sea ark, I originally wanted a 40/30 but I'm glad I went a bit bigger since the difference in weight isn't drastic and its nice to have the power.

I've never really seen boats like yours used in AK, not that it couldn't be. Id think all the seats, extra stuff for console steering would make it heavier and create more possible weak links in the chain. I ended up peeling most of the electric system out of my boat, even the bilge pump came out in order to simplify the setup.

All that to say, I bet those 18ft Lund boat with 40hp motors have hauled more game back to towns across the state than all the other types of boats combined. Those things are like the 30-06 of boats. Easy to drive, easy to repair (used to be cheap). There are more of those than anything else where eI love by a long shot.

 

[Abirkle]

This is going to be a doozy of a question so to keep it simple, if you were moving to Alaska and had ~20k to spend on a boat, what would you be getting and why?

I am not so much concerned with specific models, more so general styles. I know this will be heavily influenced by location, so for a little back story, my gf and I have set our sights on moving to Alaska sometime in the next few years. No kids at the moment, debt free minus the mortgage, and we figure it’ll only become more challenging as life goes on. We have been looking mostly around the Kenai Peninsula, and I’m sure with our limited budget were mostly going to be limited to river boats. We have an 18ft aluminum bass boat that we use the crap out of, but I’m not sure how well it would work for us up north.

Looking forward to hearing some local input!

 

[bigbassfish]

Yeah the seats maybe add an extra 40-50lbs? The biggest paid is all of the carpet holding water, mud, blood, you name it. I have never thought to myself hm we're overloading this boat and we do have tons of tackle and crap stuffed in it, but that is a big difference from hauling a moose....

Sounding like my best bet would be utility style jon boat, but if it comes down to it, I could probably make due with this. Most of all we would like to have a means of getting away from the road system, ideally with fly fishing in mind, but the idea of trolling for salmon is intriguing as well, what kind of setups are common for salmon?

That really is quite the variety at Ninichik, is that like a community tractor or something that hooks up to your trailer to launch?

 

[bigbassfish]

This maybe a good point for clarification....
In my limited years of boat ownership, the boat has always been an active fishing tool, as in, we are fishing from the boat, utilizing electronics, spot lock, trolling, etc.
Is it a fair assessment that for freshwater Alaska, a boat is more purely transportational? Run up river, and then wade fish or drift back down. not a lot of use for a fancy/comfortable setup?

 

[FranklinBluth]

I have seen smaller boats used to troll for salmon at the terminal fisheries - Valdez and Seward. That's a short window every year. I have seen people fishing out of kayaks, zodiacs, or other small craft in the salt occasionally, but that is something to be very careful attempting.

Best advice I can give is pick a boat that maximizes your value for the activity you plan to do most often. As far as salt goes, I'd just rent a boat (Homer or Seward) or just pay a charter a couple times a year given your budget.

To answer your other question - I use my boat for transport only because it's inflatable. I see aluminum boats anchored and/or drifting all the time with people fishing out of them. Just depends on the river and situation. If you plan to fish the Kenai mostly, an aluminum jon boat would be perfectly suitable.

 

[yfarm]

When you operate a tiller control you have the option of standing while operating to give you better visibility compared with sitting as in your current boat. Important not just for spotting stuff floating you are about to strike but also anticipating changing sea conditions, not much fun to stuff the bow particularly in cold water. Harder but not impossible to stuff the bow on a vhull in wind driven waves on big water. The big Lund vhulls with tiller control gives you the draft and load carrying of a big jon with more tolerance for big waves.
In the lower 48 you can find deals on older Lund alaskans 18-20 used in fresh water for probably what your current boat is worth. I used to see a guy in a old Grumman 16’ vhull tiller with a 25 Evinrude out trolling in 4-6 ft seas without issues

 

[Snowwolfe]

Move up here before deciding, General purpose boats do nothing great. Alaskans needs a jet river boat, a decent ocean boat, a boat for the Kenai, plus a couple of different inflatables for other duties.
Buying boats for Alaska is an expensive rabbit hole. Make sure you have the cash and a place to store them during the winter.
If I had to pick just one boat it would be a flat bottom or slightly semi V 18 footer with a 50 hp jet. But you are not going to buy that rig for $20K on a trailer.

 

[AKsam]

My suggestion would be to move up here and use a portion of your allotted budget to try as many charters as you can afford. Float the upper Kenai, power the lower Kenai, beach launch out of Deep Creek, chase halibut out of Homer, maybe even rent a packraft and do a hike and float. As mentioned above, there's a lot of water in Alaska, and a lot of ways to play in it. The only "ideal" boat is the one that matches what you're wanting to do. Good luck.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Move up here before deciding, General purpose boats do nothing great. Alaskans needs a jet river boat, a decent ocean boat, a boat for the Kenai, plus a couple of different inflatables for other duties.
Buying boats for Alaska is an expensive rabbit hole. Make sure you have the cash and a place to store them during the winter.
If I had to pick just one boat it would be a flat bottom or slightly semi V 18 footer with a 50 hp jet. But you are not going to buy that rig for $20K on a trailer.

I actually just called in to check what my boat would cost right now, the sears 1660 mid v with a Yamaha 60/40 all set up with an EX loader trailer is getting closer to 35-50k depending if you need it barged. These prices are getting stupid. Im seeing that basic 550 fan snow machines are closer to 11k right now vs the 8k they were 5 years ago.

 

[flathead#2]

Sell the bass boat and buy a 16 or18ft. Lowe Jon Boat / motor with a 25/40 hp tiller.

 

[mtnbiker208]

do you want a river boat or an ocean boat?

 

[bigbassfish]

Thanks for all the input! Lots to think over…

To answer some questions, not really looking for an ocean boat because of the cost, something we could take out crabbing on nice days would be great, but I would probably prioritize inland ability first and foremost.

The wheel on my boat is just tall enough for me to stand and drive, albeit a little hunched over, this is probably my number one complaint, prior to setting our sights on Alaska, we were looking to trade it in for a center console xpress.

My original thought was how much cheaper it would be to find something we like in the lower 48 to bring up than it would be to buy in AK, but it sounds like I may be able to get by with what we have atleast for the time being, and once we’re up there it will become clearer what we really want.

We’ve run our share of tailwaters in it trout fishing, the boat will run shallower than I’ve ever come close to taking it, anything less than 4ft deep starts to make me really nervous so that’s going to take some adjustment running rivers with no depth map…I still consider myself very much a noob when it comes to boating, never grew up around them and this one I purchased is my first real experience as a “captain”