opinons on a boat needed please

[travis swift]

guys,

I need opinons, i've got a good solid older bass boat. 18ft, 150 hp motor. I've been wanting to sell it and buy and older aluminum 16 or 17ft boat, with a smaller motor. my reason for this is, that i own a ford ranger now, and can't pull the big boat anymore, and I also can't keep it at my home, cause it won't fit in my garage. my brother says i'm stupid for wanting to sell a nice bass boat for an aluminum boat, that is smaller and has a smaller motor. He will let me keep it at his home if I pay for a concrete slab to be poured at his house and he will pull the boat for me with his truck or loan me his truck. What would you guys do? He said aluminum really, limits where you can fish because of the wind. I'm at a loss for what to do, what would you guys do? It bothers me not to have a boat at my home though, that i can just hook on to and just take off and go whenever I want to. I hate to rely on someone else all the time but, i hate to be a fool and get rid of a nice older boat to.



thanks,

travis

 

[Bill Hutchison]

I have a friend who pull his 911 for a few years with a Ford Ranger it was a stick. Had to use 4wheel drive to get up steep ramps and kind of slow up big hills but beside that it got us to the tournaments just fine.

 

[travis swift]

wow,

this decision is killing me. i hate to sell the old boat but, i'm dying for an aluminum. any of you guys that have owned both, can you give me any pro's and con's? any help or advise at all would be greatly appreciated guys!!



travis

 

[Bill Hutchison]

I had a lowes 170 Aluminum sold it for a 4 wheeler and got a 911 cdc love it but I'm selling the 4 wheeler to get a aluminum boat cause there are places I don't want to take the bigger boat like trolling motor lakes the 911 is hard to get on the trailer with out Big motor power.

I guess what i'm trying to say if you can have the best of both worlds go for it I am.

 

[david gotham]

I have had both a older fiberglass boat 1984 15.5 foot glasstream and now have a tracker pro 165 ( 2003 model). My S10 strained to pull the glasstream and with the tracker I hardly know its there ( one for aluminium). The tracker has a smaller motor 25 hp verses a 40 on the fiberglass the top speed for the fiberglass was 32 mph the tracker is 22 ( both checked with a gps), also I have better gas milage in the tracker. The wind does blow the tracker around more than the glss but I am used to it and if need can put a sock in the water to slow me down. The water I fish ranges form small to large ( lake wyle, Norman, cane creek) and I don't have any trouble just have to be aware of what is going on around you. I like the tracker better than the glass for all the reasons listed hope this helps you out.

 

[mike chip]

it depends on the type of water you fish, big vs small. do you like to fish shallow? rivers with rocks etc etc

mike

 

[Tim m]

I have both and i use my Tin 90 percent of the time over my glass...the diff is like having a sedan and a corvette....When you want to go with no hassle take the tin,when you want to blow your hat off and do a lot of gear changing then take the glass...Simple as that

 

[travis swift]

Dave,

That was an outstaning reply. I'm hopin to hear from a few more people on the subject. I figure a smaller aluminum will tow so much easier, and will cost alot less in gas for the truck and for the boat itselft. yes the wind will probably blow me around but, if it's to bad on the big lakes, you can always find smaller lakes around that are more protected, and heck most of them are better fishing anyway right? I think you can see which way i'm leaning right now but, i would like to hear some more opions. Owning both isn't an option. It's narrowed down to this.



1)Smaller aluminum boat, kept at my house, and pulled my my truck.



2)Larger fiberglass, kept at someone elses house and pulled by other people.



Anymore opions would be greatly appreictated.



Travis

 

[Max Neathamer2]

I had a Lowe V-1600 with a 60 Evinrude before my Nitro and loved it. Able to put it on some real small bodies of water and was able to get into some real nasty cover with it as well. Then, when I was stationed in Mississippi I bought a Bantam. Able to put that thing on "Any" body of water. I guess what I am saying is that if its possible, I would keep the "Older" boat (Love the Glass) and look for some alum Pontoon style boat (I always see them for sale in someones yard) that you can just put on the side of your house and will be able to load yourself if needed. Just add a Trolling motor and a 5-15 HP motor.



My .02



Max <><

 

[TrepMan]

Travis - I've just gone the otherway, from Jan 2000 - Aug 2005 I ran a PC 175 with a 40 Merc, was (as they USED to call me) King Tin!! Won the Rally in 2004 beating all the big fast fancy GLASS boats with my Tin machine! It was an AMAZING rig, fished Big Sid Lanier with it, never worried about beaching bumpers or stuff like that, fished rivers, lakes and everywhere in between. She ran 31mph on the GPS with me and 28-29 with my family loaded up for summer fun.



I moved to a 700lx Nitro with a 115 merc in Aug, bought Rich's boat. My biggest reason to change was I realy wanted/needed a Dual Console boat as my little guy is my partner most of the time and he was FREEZING in the Nov - March striper/hybrid season down here. I looked and could not find any PT 185 DCs and Rich's boat came along. Yup it's heavier and burns more gas (both the motor running in the mid 50's WOT and the Van towing her) then the Tracker, I DO have to be carefuly beaching it on our home lake where they draw it down 15-20 feet each year (KeelShield is in the budget for later this year). But i've caught more big fish out of the Nitro then I ever did out of the Tracker (except the Rally Fish), but that is more about my focusing on fishing, being comfortable running/gunning around the lake then I did with the Tracker. Luckily my garge is 38ft deep so size is not a problem, but i'm limited by a minivan's 3500 lb towing capacity and $$



Personaly, i'd do ANYTHING to keep my boat at my house. I spend at least 1 night a week or more in the garage tinkering, playing with my tackle, respooling reels, cleaning her up (did the same with the Tracker), so if it was down to changing boats to keep one at the house, i'd do what you are considering.



BUT... As was asked about, if you are or plan to be a weekend tourney fisherman on decent sized lakes where you'll be needing to run far and fast, then the answer is easy - keep it.



Trep

 

[Mark Jaworski]

I just got rid of a 2004 NX750 with a 115 and bought a Tracker Pro Team 175. Its all in the fishing that you do. I am in alot of small lakes and the aluminum is a better fit for me. I will probably go back to fiberglass when I have more time to travel, I have 2 small ones and its hard to get away. I an happy with my decision. This boat will fish the larger lakes also.



JAWS

 

[travis swift]

well,

thanks guys. the biggest possible lake i'm going to be fishing is 8000 acres. Most of the lakes i'll be fishing are smaller than 500 acres. I won't be doing any tourney fishing, atleast not big time tourney's. Maybe a local club circut or something like that is all. I already have alittle 2 man by the way. Use that thing more than you could ever dream of. Use it atleast 3 times a week but, i'm still going to need something to fish other lakes as well. I like all the answers so far. Keep them coming if you can, i enjoy the topic and ideas, i'm pretty sure my fiberglass is going in the paper in the morning though. you guys all seem to have good things to say about aluminum and not alot of bad stuff to say about them. I think that's great!



thanks for all your help, and future help on this topic,

Travis