need small fishing boat

I'm looking for a small aluminum boat for my son and I to go fishing at a nearby lake. I'd like to be able to hold at least 4 adults on the boat from time to time. I was also thinking of buying a used one with just a trolling motor on it.

What brand/model would you recommend? How much do you think it will cost?

I've never owned a boat before so I don't know what things I should look out for when buying one.

Thanks.

Buy a boat for what you will be doing with it 80% of the time.

For you and one other on small water this could be a 14' open aluminum boat with a 15-25hp tiller out board. Small simple fishing boats can be $5000 to $10,000 new. They are wonderful.

A boat that will comfortable fish 4 adults is going to be a 16' simple aluminum open tiller boat but you will need 40hp to get that all up on plane. With accessories can be $15,000.

Now if the "gals" want nice seats, cold weather top and a wind sheild you are looking at around $30,000 for an 18' with a 150hp outboard.

Wow.....it can get out of hand fast.

PS: Buy somehting used to save money and also have somehting to work on. Not a good idea for most.

We all have different criteria for these decisions. Mine was a boat that was capable of handling nasty wave conditions, maybe not smoothly, but safely, which this boat does. Click the bottom picture at this link, which also shows other boats in their "Adventure" series. They also make a 16 ft boat in the WC series: http://www.lundboats.com/adventureseries_2007.html

You mentioned 4 adults, though, and for more than one reason, that raises issues. First of all, all boats have a limit to how much passenger & gear weight they are designed to carry safely. You'll have to check the specs on these boats, vs. what kind of weight you expect to carry. You also need to take into account "luggage", and the types of people you will take on the boat.

Luggage: With 3 people in my boat, an ice chest, and multiple tackle boxes, things are crowded, especially if any of the people are clueless about keeping their stuff out from underfoot. Two hours of fishing and this gets tedious & cramped. So, for the typical 8 to 10 hour fishing marathon, I'll only take one passenger, unless I know I'm dealing with wide awake people. Take a really close look at the floor & storage space in whatever boat you find interesting. Don't estimate ANYTHING. If you intend to have 4 people in the boat, bring the family when you're shopping. Get volunteers from the store's staff to climb in the boat and see what things are really like with that many people, in terms of space.

Types of people: Just once, the wind caught the side of my boat at the exact moment that a large teenager decided he wanted to lean over the low side of the boat to look at the water, or something. Scary moment! I leaned into the wind and corrected the boat's angle. These small boats are sensitive to shifting weight, especially with enough wind or interesting wave patterns. If you can foresee having passengers who are totally blind to the world around them, you should be thinking about a bigger boat that's less sensitive to surprises.

I am genuinely impressed! Nice post! On Topic, no politics, no cynical observations, no quizzes.

You *do* have a life. <g>

Eisboch

Two additional brands you might want to look at. Princecraft - in terms of manufacturing quality, they are even steven with Lund and make a great boat.

This is the one I have (mine's a 2004) and I like it. I knock mine around a lot - it visits small, back tree lot ponds and water that have unimproved ramps

http://www.princecraft.com/Content/en-US/fiche_produit.aspx?ProductID=319

I owned it's Lund equivilent years ago and the guy I sold it to is still using it - at 30 years old, it still looks in mint condition. I've seen some older Princecraft's in similar condition.

The other is Polarkraft boats.

http://tinyurl.com/2o6cqu

Godfrey Marine has been making aluminum boats for a long time and they are another manufacturer that build a high quality, no nonsense boat at the base model. I had the opportunity to mess around with their 15 footer in this model last year and was suitably impressed. Very sound boat, excellant fit and finish - I don't think Godgrey is capable of building a crappy boat - it's just not in them. I know a few guys who have the bigger Polarkrafts and they wouldn't trade them for love or money.

New /w trailer for a boat in the 14/15' class is going to be around $5/$6000, 25 horse engine $3,000 to $3700. These are general figures and don't take into account left overs or demo boats.

Used (two to four years old) - $4/$4500 w/trailer and engine.

http://www.sylvanmarine.com/utility/index.htm

Whatever you do, skip the jon boats if you won't have a gas motor. You'll need something with a keel or you will have a tough time pointing the boat where you want it to go.

Dan