I am thinking of upgrading to a new 16' aluminum fishing boat. I would like to hear your opinions/suggestions on what brand to buy (Smokercraft, Lund, Fisher, etc.). I have dedided on a motor already, a Yamaha 4 stroke. I am looking to spend about 10K.

Thanks in advance!

i just purchased a 16 ft north river revenge i paid $6100 with 14 gal. tank and three north river seats with ez loader trailer. its all welded with an 82 in. beam two seat boxes and a bow step with storage. also has full length trays on each side.dry weight is 800# and rated to 45hp.i ordered a 40hp honda that im still impatiently waiting for.the quality of boat for the money is amazing when compared to the smokercraft lodge i upgraded from.you can see pictures at the north river site.hope that helps.

Hi Easy,
Have you looked at the duroboats? I am really impressed with mine and I get alot of compliments on it. Mine is 15' with a 25hp. I really like that it doesnt have a riveted hull. And it has a 10 year warrenty. It handles rough water real well to.Check out there web site www.duroboat.com . If you want to check on out Ill show you mine Im not to far from you. Also they are built locally.

Hey, Easy-- I can't speak for the other boats already mentioned, but I've run several that I think you might like. I think the Crestliner brand boat, especially the Angler and Fish Hawk series are about the best out there for ride and performance.

I don't like the Smokercraft boats for a lot of reasons, but the largest is that they, like the Lund, are riveted, and rivets will eventually leak. For aluminum, I believe that welded boats are the way to go. G3 has some decent vee-hull boats that you can buy as a package with a Yamaha. I currently run an Alumaweld Stryker (now I think it's the Super Vee LS or something) but that boat will be beyond your price range unless you can find one used. I really do like the simplicity of a boat built by a NW sled maker because they tend to be strong and pretty basic. You won't find livewells or baitwells, and you won't find carpet on the deck as standard.

If I were looking for a 16 aluminum to do double duty on the Sound as well as lakes my list would look like this: Crestliner, G3, Alumaweld, North River, Lee Shore Marine (out of Port Townsend) Work Skiff, and Alumacraft.

Good luck and have fun shopping,

Keith

Cant go wrong with NorthRiver

Fool

I have a 2001 Lund 17ft prosport witha 115 Yamaha 4 stroke, trailer,Minnkota, charger, rod holders, canvas, Lowrance gps map....the works. I am in this boat 24,000, and am willing to sell it for $15,000. It is in primo condition, except for a few barnacle marks on the outboard lower when I left it in the Marina for a week! I estimate 30 hours on the boat.

Thanks

I will second the vote for Crestliner.
All welded, features that you just don't find in this size boat like rod locker, livewell/fishbox, two concealed storage lockers, dual batteries with perko switch, really wide beam (87"), bilge, running lights and gunnels wide enough for Penn dr mounts.
I have mine with a Suzuki 40 4stroke, fish for 2 days on 6 gal gas and top out at 32mph(gps) .
Rides great on the sound in reasonable weather and fishes 3 with no prob and plenty of room.
If it sounds like an ad, maybe it is.....

Easy Limits

First, you need to tell the board what you intend to use your boat for (like river fishing, ocean fishing, bay fishing, lake fishing, etc. Second, you need to tell us what type of fish you intend to use it for. Then and only then can boat users tell you what may work best for you.

Cowlitzfisherman
Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????

I have been pretty happy with the Bayrunner BR15 I bought in 1982. It's not a river boat, though, it has a full length extruded keel that keeps it from going sideways in a turn or sliding sideways down the face of a swell. Mine has a 25hp tiller, full railing and floorboards.

Bayrunner

Cowlitzfisherman, after 1200 posts by EL you need to have him tell you what he plans on using it for?

I fish every body of water (lakes, reservoirs, duck ponds, kitty pools, the Sound, the Strait, my bathtub, the Green River) except for fast moving rivers, like the Cowlitz. So, I don't need a river boat (sled) with a pump. I do need a boat that can take some wave action and carry a few butts, beer, and tackle.

Easy you need a safe place to keep whatever you get first of all. Then you should think about getting a new boat....just my 2 cents worth though.

I love the Smokercrafts, I cant help it. Must just be a bug.

The slightly bigger ones (17 foot i believe) have that bow mount motor, so you can get the foot pedal thingy goin. I just love playing with those.

Not to helpful, but gotta but in my...well... 1 cents worth

If you are looking for a skiff, I suggest the 15 '6" Klamath. It is wide and dry, welded construction and has a .080 bottom as opposed to Gregor's .063. My old one flew with a 25 hp prop motor and was very seaworthy. I used to trailer it to Port Hardy and fish halibut and salmon out of it - on good days. It kept its value well, I sold it for a few dollars more than I paid for it.

Thanks Goose. I do have the security thing wrapped up.

Keep those boat suggestions/opinions comin'.

Easy,
Did you get a chance to look at the duroboat web site? I think the crestliners are also a very fine boat to as stated by others. But the 16' duro has 3" more depth and has a wider beam (more stable) than the crestliner and is also about 300lbs lighter.(go faster with less hp.) My 15' duro is great for fishing 3 people. I have a 94 qt. cooler for a fish box mounted up in front of the walk thru along with 2 six gal.ga tanks.With the 25 hp I can make it from des moines marina to the mouth of the puyalup in 25 to 30 min. But the 16' duro would be awsume with a 35hp or a 40hp.The duros are also easy to keep clean no carpet (like crestliners do) just floor boards with vinyl.just hose off the fish blood and crab pot goop. Check um out before you buy. By reading your posts at the kinda fishing you do sounds like you would be happy with one. And you could get one for less than 10000$$

Duro, I did check out there web site. Pretty nice configurations. Who sells Duroboats around here?

Hi Easy,
Im at work and the computer here wont let me into the duroboat site. But there is a dealer list on the site. I think there are dealers in everett,olympia,belfar, and afew others. Auburn sports marine was a dealer but not sence they brought in the strippers.

I will check their site again for dealers.

i can give a little input on three of the boats mentioned so far.
1st the duroboat...a great boat in my opinion. my uncle bought one of the first ones that came out (14 footer)and still has it to this day. very seaworthy and handels the water really well.
2nd the smokercraft...also a good boat, my father currently has one now and i've fished out of it many times (15 footer with 25 yami. 4 stroke) has a split set config. really a great boat to fish out of. i am totaly impressed on the way it handels sloppy water.
3rd the klamath...as a kid growing up we had a 14 footer with a 20 merc. on it. was also a great boat. that boat would really go! but, alas we literally wore that boat out! so many days of being on the lower columbia in windy chop put a bunch of hairline cracks around all the seat ribs in the bottom of the boat. can't complaine to much we used that boat every weekend for ten years or more.

any of these three boats would be a great choice. all of them will handel fairly rough conditions and all are great to fish out of. but, if i had my choice i would go with the smokercraft...i know it's a rivited boat but, it's so nice to fish out of and handels the water really well, and i love the high sides.

hope this helps

Easy,
These are the boats I looked at before I bought mine. I decided on a slightly heavier guage aluminum hull (welded). I ended up with an open 16 foot Harbercraft. Its a solid boat and handles the rough water well. I looked hard at the Valco's and Klamath's as well, but wanted thicker guage metal all the way around.
JMS

Crestliner

http://www.crestliner.com/

Valco

http://www.valcoboats.com/main.htm

Silverstreak

http://www.silverstreakboats.com

Klamath

http://www.boats.com/builder/builder_boats_handler.jsp?mid=1755

Harbercraft

http://www.harbercrafteagle.com/

I just bought the Lund 1650 Laker model this last year. I use it mainly for mooching. I plan to mount a few Scotty electrics on it soon though. It also doubles as a nice duck boat. It fit what I was looking for. I put a 50 elhpto Mercury on it. The boat only weights about 660 pounds, so it really moves with the 50 on it. I also put a 6 h.p. Evinrude on it for a kicker. The boat basically comes stripped down. I put most all of the accessories on it.

The 1650 is actually 16 foot 9 inches long. It was designed by one of Lunds Northwest reps. He told Lund that he wanted a boat that could be used for Puget Sound fishing, so they designed this one. It is new this year in 2002.

Feel free to ask me any ?'s about the boat. I put about 40 days on it since last June, so I know what it can take and how it handles.

Chad [img]http://www.piscatorialpursuits.com/uploads/UP1471.[/img]

I just bought the Lund 1650 Laker model this last year. I use it mainly for mooching. I plan to mount a few Scotty electrics on it soon though. It also doubles as a nice duck boat. It fit what I was looking for. I put a 50 elhpto Mercury on it. The boat only weights about 660 pounds, so it really moves with the 50 on it. I also put a 6 h.p. Evinrude on it for a kicker. The boat basically comes stripped down. I put most all of the accessories on it.

The 1650 is actually 16 foot 9 inches long. It was designed by one of Lunds Northwest reps. He told Lund that he wanted a boat that could be used for Puget Sound fishing, so they designed this one. It is new this year in 2002.

Feel free to ask me any ?'s about the boat. I put about 40 days on it since last June, so I know what it can take and how it handles.

Chad

Yes, BD has also been thinking about buying a new 16-foot aluminum for mainly Puget Sound & the Columbia.

I really like the looks of the 16' Hughes Craft Sea Runners. Deep sides and a canvas top to get out of the rain. I have a 50 horse Johnson just sitting in the garage looking for a boat to be hooked up on. Hope this isn't too much power for a 16-footer?

Does anyone have anything to share about the Hughes Craft Searunners? Price (boat only)? Does the Crestliner have a canopy option?

BD

Also, forgot to mention that with everything on this boat the price was right about at $10,000. This includes the ez loader galvanized trailer, the boat, 2 scotty rod holders, 3 swivel seats, 6 h.p. kicker motor (older 1977 motor, but like new), 200 dx Hummingbird Fish Finder, GPS, rod holders (run up side of boat, 2 on each side)

Compare that to your Alumaweld, Hughes Craft and other boats and they don't come near that price.

My goal was to find a boat that could do duck hunting, salmon fishing in the sound/Columbia, and was easy to trailer. Also, I decided to put on my own components rather than buying it all set up from a dealer. I saved a lot of money by finding a good used kicker motor rather than buying another new one for it.

Chad

Thanks Misty. I saw a boat like yours over at Hanford a couple of weekends ago. I really like the set up. The boat at Hanford had a pair of Yamahas set up on the back, 40 Hp 4 stroke and a 8 Hp 4 stroke kicker. They had three big guys in it and it flew with that 40 Hp on the back.

The boat and trailer priced out at 5,650 with tax. The motor was 4,000 brand new. I have a guy who is a dealer here in Washington that will sell you brand new Mercury's with Oregon's price tag. He doesn't charge any tax because he gets them shipped directly from the factory in Oregon.

The motors actual price was $3750, then add a $100 for shipping and about a $100 for a prop. I actually got my prop used, looked new, from him for forty-five bucks. So, my actual price was under $4,000. The motor I got was a 50 elhpto Merc.

May not apply to you thought, since it sounds like you have your motor picked out already.

If you or anyone is interested in information regarding the purchase of a Mercury from this dealer just contact me by email, or I will post this information on the site when I get his phone number.

Bobber down,

the hewescaft boats are great! the see runner is a little mor than the 10,000 mentioned earlier but this boat is great even in fairly big water. I f you are looking for a very nice aluminum for deep water take a look at tuff boat. My buddy has a tuff boat center console and it is a great boat. tuff boat

I personally would take a look at the size gas tank of the boat you are looking at. That is why I would go with the Smokercraft. The 17ft Pro-Alaskan has a 40 gallon tank. I cannot say for sure what the other boats have, but when I was looking at boats, most of the 16-17ft boats had a 10-15 gallon fuel tank. I never thought much of it until I was up in Canada where gas stations are few and far between on the west coast (nootka sound, etc.) Guys would be bringing 8-10 cans of gas with them. That's a lot of gas cans...I would rather have that space for a cooler of fish.

Just my 2 cents worth. But I will say that all the boats listed above are great well made boats. It all depends on how much flexibility you want.

Thanks guys! You guys have given me a good list of things to consider.

I had found that with my 14' Northwood storage was very important. One whole seat was a giant storage box. The other seat was a huge live well, big enough to hold a 27lb King....almost. My Northwood is a walk-through configuration which is very nice in a small boat.

The Bayrunner BR18 is probably about 16' at the waterline - it has a high, raked bow. You see a lot of the BR18 Bayrunners in Alaska. I would put it up against any boat in it's class for seaworthyness.

It's interesting, I noticed Yamaha OBs in great numbers all over Alaska back when they were uncommon around here.

That's probably were my motor ran off to, Alaska.

A couple of closing thoughts: if money is an issue, anything that will run well with a 4 stroke of 30 hp or less will troll without adding $2000 and 100 pounds of trolling motor to the transom. A 4 stroke will also save lots in gas and run more quietly. The Hewscraft boats are great, as are Harbercraft. The Bayrunner BR-15 is another very high quality welded boat I have run and liked.

Got to say I still like my Smokercraft, but the one they exchanged for the original one I got that leaked - you guessed it - leaks This is after only a year and about 100 trips. Not just rivet leaks either, the hull cracked under the middle seat bulkhead They have a lifetime hull warranty and I believe them as they already exchanged one and said they would exchange this one too, but what a pain swapping over all the rod holders, anchor release, downrigger mounts, booger ball holders, sounder, lights, wiring, yeesh I'm afraid I'm about to try to talk them into refunding my money so I can get a 3/16 inch hull welded boat

I really like the layout of the smokercraft lodge series. But after looking at the at the sportsmans show last year I was not impressed with there quality at all. Looks like there quality has really sliped in the last few years. And after reading spawnedouts post I am glad I didnt buy one.

Hey Misty, I just happened to see one of those Lund 1650 Lakers at West Marine when I was picking up a oil filter for my Yami, and I've got to say that I was impressed - hell of a deep, wide boat , the basic stuff in the right place, looks hell for stout, and real nice quality workmanship compared to the Smokercraft Lodge I was looking at, except the plywood on the seats was becoming delaminated out in the weather. Can you tell me how much the basic boat weighs? Couldn't find out on their web site. I've got a 25 4 stroke Yamaha, and wonder if this would be too much boat for it.