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.