Ok, sold the Willie Drifter. Toying with the idea of a lake/salt boat that the whole family may enjoy. Definately thinking lower priced tiller model welded aluminum. BayRunner by Valco, Gregor, ???? Please share your experience.

Is this the posterboy formally known as "Cracker". Identity crises seems to be the epidemic, eh. Puff no mo call me P Diddy baby yo yo mama.

Koho (hockey stick) a.k.a Coho (fish)
either way Im a HO

P diddy, yo how'd you mess up a g thang like J'Lo???? You bess go back to puffin!

Now I feel like the other lame ass joker poster's. But hey, I'm postin instead O Lurkin! That's what counts right! Keep it low Puff.

Of course when you start comparing specs et all you will come full circle and get another not so low priced boat.After running an Alumaweld then a Wooldridge I decided to get something small (cheap)I ended up with another Alumaweld.Works good lasts a long time. :p

I have been eyeing the Smokercraft 16' Lodge Series. It is really wide and deep. I have a 14' Northwood right now and have been thinking about upgrading. Not that my Northwood is not a great boat, it is perfect for just me. Throw in a couple more butts in the boat and it is nice to have a little more space. I have been through hell and high water, salt and fresh warer, with my Northwood and it has performed flawlessly. Definately check out the above mentioned Smoker.

slugfish, you found an Alumaweld cheap? what year and what model is it?

My first boat for all round fishing was(and still is) a 16' crestliner open...all-welded,40hp suzuki tiller(all day on less than 5 gal-try that with your 502/3stage pump!),34 kts with two adults, dual batts, fish finder, much more complete interior than the more aggressive and expensive aluminum boats. Great room for 2 trolling with downriggers, lots of storage room, fish box, locking rod locker, tow it with a 6 cyl Jeep, been out is sca when I was too stupid to know and the boat did great. I would like to move up but why?

Rapid Rob.I didn't mean that I bought an Alumaweld cheap.Although an open 15-7 is about as low-end as you can go.I have a 40 Yamaha Jet and with two it works great.I did look at a lot of "lake boats" and the Lunds seemed the best to me.You get what you pay for...well most of the time

I bought my 15' smokercraft alaskan 4 yrs ago I looked at the lund which I thought was my 1st choice before I started looking, but found the smokercraft was usually a deeper boat when length was the same. The depth was an issue for me since I fish the sound alot for salmon and crab. I've been very happy with my boat, it rides dry and is very stable also ( it's almost 6' wide ),I probably would have bought a crestliner since it's all welded, but I got a great deal on my boat so that swayed me a little. With a 25 yamaha it's all the boat I need for the sound and straits.

Good feedback, thanks to all. I went down to tease myself and looked at Wooldrige today. They are some bad mama jamma's. I want to spend about 1/4 of that though!