Let's talk small fishing boats

I want to buy a cheap boat to go fishing on small lakes. I've fished my whole life but I've never owned a boat, and neither has my parents, so I know nothing about boat ownership. 

So let's say I'm putting a budget of $1500 on myself. I'm looking at either a V-bottom aluminum boat with a tiller motor or a dated bass boat. I've fished from both types.

I feel like aluminum is the safe bet, nice and simple, if it floats then the motor is all I need to worry about, and it's easy enough to get another motor if need be. Also it should handle bumping off rocks better. It should also hold its value. But like any do-it-all tool, it can do anything but it doesn't anything all that well.

I know bass boats are much nicer to fish from. They have two nice flat platforms to sit at, rod holders, and live wells. They are faster and more comfortable. It seems silly to spend $1000 on a simple jon boat when for just a little  more I can have a dated but supposedly functional bass boat. But my fear is with my lack of knowledge that I will buy a lemon. Imagine someone who doesn't know cars being excited about the $1000 Mercedes they just bought. That's what scares me. 

So what is the hives mindset on this? Simple aluminum boat or cheap bass boat?

What issue should I be watching out for when shopping? 

Got a boat in your yard you're dying to get rid of?

Thanks

For your first adventure in boat ownership, keep it simple.  If you find that you like it and use it a lot then you can always sell a decent aluminum boat for near what you paid and get something bigger/nicer/faster/more work.  

Unless you are dealing with a lot of wave action, I'd lean toward a flat bottom aluminum. They are a lot more stable than V-bottom boat. Especially when standing and casting. 

From 11 to 16, I lived in a 12' boat with a 5 hp engine and one of the most used boats in the family fleet now is a 14' boat with a 25 hp. 

You should be able to pick up something fairly cheaply that will do what you want. 

Something like this would be fairly bulletproof for $1500. 

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/647395304215138/

A little more money will get you a little more boat and a 4-stroke motor so you don't have to mix the oil and gas. 

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/3296506103983855/

I would do a Jon boat.  Only draws a few inches, cover the front with plywood(sealed of course) and cut in places for a bait bucket, a cooler etc. and also a nice chair.

I think simpler is better, go with a plain old aluminum fishing boat.  If you need something to put bait in, go to the nearest big box store and get a cheap Coleman cooler.  In my part of the country, Alumicraft is the most common brand - they're built like tanks and last forever.

Looking at local want ads it seems like it's often cheaper to buy a whole setup with boat, motor and trailer as a package, than it is to buy any one of those things.  Here's a 14 foot Alumicraft with a trailer and a 25hp Johnson for $1,000.  https://lacrosse.craigslist.org/boa/d/la-crosse-14-boat-25-johnson-trailer/7743420369.html

Or, if you don't mind a project and want something with a little style, 1950s and 1960s fiberglass runabouts often turn up as barn finds - typically it's grandpa's old boat that he parked 20 or 30 years ago and now his descendants are cleaning out the estate.  Some years back my next door neighbor bought a 1959 Luger with a 50hp Scott-Atwater motor and trailer for a couple hundred bucks; he spent a few weekends getting it back in shape and then he had something that worked well and also looked really cool.

I don't think you want any part of the average $1500 bass boat, unless you like boat-fixing more than fishing.  That's generally the terrortory of rotten, non-running, might-float infection incubators.  You see plenty listed for $5k that are just as bad, but occasionally a runner in that range.

Doubtless there are exceptions, I eagerly await rebuttal from teh Hive. 

You never know what you'll find.  I asked my neighbor about his 15' Ouachita (they stopped making boats in the mid-1970's), with a 90HP Johnson V4 outboard, sitting on a trailer in his yard.  He said, "give me a thousand, and it's yours."  How could I pass that up?

I still have the boat and use it a few times a year.  Needed to sort out the engine (he had put new coils on it, but wired them incorrectly).  Put in a new floor (that was quite an adventure).  The boat's been a barrel of fun, and I've not been able to kill it yet (knocks on wood).

But yeah, Jonboat makes a good first boat.  We got our SmokerCraft from Wal-Mart around 2001, sold it 12 years later for a little more than we paid for it.

What you guys are saying makes a lot of sense. I will stick with buying a jon boat or v bottom aluminum. Thanks for the input.

Aluminum jon boat. Riveted, not welded.

A Jon boat has a lot of advantages.  The flat bottom takes less power to plane and also makes is much more stable in the water for when you're fighting a fish near the gunwales or entering/exiting from a dock.  The downside is a punishing ride if things get bumpy on the water.  Having said that, a lightweight vee isn't that much better.  Where a vee really shines on choppy water is when it has some heft to it, or you can shift some weight forward to get the vee to cut instead of ride on top.  Truth be told, many of the aluminum vees you'll find are only a vee in the very front and taper to a mostly-flat bottom at the back.

Another Jon boat advantage is that it tends to be slightly less picky about where the weight is in the boat.  I have a 12' vee and a 14' vee, both with a 9.9.  With my fat butt in the back and the motor trimmed fully down, they both still bounce (porpoising) if I'm alone in it, and a good gust of wind sends the bow in another direction.

Yet another Jon boat advantage is that the floor inside is flat.  You can stand 6" from the gunwales.  In a vee, you can't really do that unless you construct a floating flat floor in it... which further amplifies how much the boat rocks when you shift your weight.

A small vee is a sit-down boat.  You can stand up, but you're standing on a crooked floor and it's less stable.

Another downside to a Jon boat is that they tend to be a bit heavier than a same-length vee, but not by much.

Brands I like:  Lowe, Alumacraft, Tracker, SeaArk, Crestliner, Princecraft, Lund, SmokerCraft.  There really isn't much to screw up on a small aluminum craft, so it's not like other brands are "bad," but those are plentiful, quality, and should be easy to find.

Another thought... if you're handy at tinkering, don't shy away from a bargain if it has an old motor.  Old 2-strokes tend to be bulletproof.  I currently have in my arsenal two 30hp Evinrudes from the early 80s, a couple 9.9 Johnsons from the 90s, an 88 Mercury 70hp, a 20hp Johnson from 76, an Evinrude 6hp from 1968, and an Evinrude 10hp from (gasp) 1961, and they all get used.  I mean USED for three months a year several times a day.  I estimate that the Mercury 70 is well over 10,000 hours.  Just keep in mind an important thing...  Before 1981, all hp ratings on outboards were rated at the flywheel.  81-84, they started rating some outboards at the prop.  By 1985, the BIA required them all to be rated at the prop, so a 1975 20-hp motor is actually putting about 15-17 hp to the prop, while a later 20hp motor is actually putting 20 to the blades.

Can you tell us more about the water you'll be on?  How far is it to the fishing spots?  River or lake?  Restrictions on hp?  The reason I ask is because if you'll be on a 1-mile lake, you could get away with a 2hp motor and putter along, but if you're on a river with a current, it might be more appropriate to...  you know, go faster than the current?  :)

Another vote for a simple aluminum tiller steered john boat/v bottom. They require very little care and feeding and last forever. 

My father bought a 1984 Bass Tracker 14' john boat in 1986. We fished on it whenever I'd visit and it sat in a nearby storage yard when not in use. He gave it to me around 20 years ago and it mostly sits out in the woods in my back yard. Stored upside down on the trailer with the motor in my garage, trailer tires are really the only issue after a multi-year sit. If I'm going to use it I drag it out, pressure wash it, and go. 

I loaned it to a buddy once for two or three years until he upgraded to a bigger boat. I haven't used it myself in years and will eventually give it away. Perhaps one of my future sons-in-law will be interested. 

Consider a fishing kayak. 

I did this for years.  You have more options to launch in remote places. Paddling a few miles over a few  hours of fishing is really nothing.

I'm not sure how close this is to you, but if you can stretch your budget, it's a hell of a deal. That boat is going to have a wider beam than other 14' boats, so it'll be stable. I had one similar to that that was great.




Also consider that many inexpensive bass boats are made out of aluminum, and based on a jon boat chassis, but they're set up for fishing. Small Bass Trackers are a great example. They are also much lighter, so you don't need a whole ass truck to move them around. I had a boat similar to the one above, and I could easily lift the tongue of the trailer and move it around without having to strain at all. 


There are *many* videos on Youtube and elsewhere about converting a jonboat into a capable fishing rig.



 

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Curtis, the lakes I'm my area aren't that big, one is 5000 acres, one is 21 sq miles, but due to the surrounding area being flat and kind of wide open they can get a bit choppy. I had read other places that V boats are better than jon boats, but I dont know how much actual difference there is, I've never actually been in a jon boat. I do love the idea of a flat bottom. I guess my biggest concern is I'm taking my kids with me and I don't want them to feel like they are going to get tossed overboard in rough water.

In reply to gearheadmb :

I snooped and looked at the lakes in your area.  I'm sure they do get some good chop on them, but I would venture to say that the benefits of a flat/jon outweigh the poor ride.  Just go slower.  I think you'll find that a super-light vee will only be marginally better and you'll have to go slow in chop anyway.

If I were buying you a boat (sorry... love you, but not that much) and wanted to get something that would make you happy, I would find a 14' jon boat with a 15hp Johnson/Evinrude.  A 9.9 would do it as well, but the 15 is the same motor.  The way they make it a 9.9 is to put a restrictive carb on it, so no reason not to get more go for the same weight.  (this also means that converting a 9.9 to a 15 is pretty easy.)  That should get you 18-20mph on the water, a good plane, and won't be like putting a 16-year-old in a 2000-hp funny car.  It will be a nice, stable, safe thing.  The 9.9/15s also sip gas, bulletproof design, parts are plentiful and cheap.  With any outboard, make sure you see/hear it run, and make sure it "pees."  (indicating that the water pump works.)  Don't be shocked if you find one that pees for a while and then stops, especially some Mercurys.  They put the "pee" hose after the thermostat on some motors, so it will look like it has an intermittent prostate problem.  As long as you see it put out a good stream for part of the time, it's good.

Lean on us/me.  I have been an all-summer boater since I was in diapers because I live on a lake in the summer, and spent plenty of time in FL in the winters and boated there too.  Salt, fresh, brackish, fishing, hooning, skiing, nearly dying, you name it.  I used to work at the marina, and bought my first boat when I was 8.  It was a little 12' vee with a 6hp Johnson.  I'm not saying that I'm the sanest, wisest, or even best person to talk boats, but I'm now on my 13th boat ranging from an 8' hydro to a 23' cuddy.  I can convince you to spend all of your money on that hole in the water.

Also, I'm incredibly disappointed in you GRM folks.  No one has posted this yet?

Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) said:

I'm not sure how close this is to you, but if you can stretch your budget, it's a hell of a deal. That boat is going to have a wider beam than other 14' boats, so it'll be stable. I had one similar to that that was great.




Also consider that many inexpensive bass boats are made out of aluminum, and based on a jon boat chassis, but they're set up for fishing. Small Bass Trackers are a great example. They are also much lighter, so you don't need a whole ass truck to move them around. I had a boat similar to the one above, and I could easily lift the tongue of the trailer and move it around without having to strain at all. 


There are *many* videos on Youtube and elsewhere about converting a jonboat into a capable fishing rig.



 

I love the boat you listed.  That is a Starcraft Super Sport hull design from the early 60s and they were more or less a Starmist hull from 1958 with revisions to the gunwales for easier bow entry.  The vee is a fast taper to a flat bottom, so they're not the smoothest on the water, but MY DOG they're bulletproof.  They were so successful for Starcraft that they kept building them forever.  I think they were still making them in the 90s, and since Starcraft got into bed with several other manufacturers, they made them in runabouts, bow-riders, open-deck fishing, etc.  My grandparents had a 67, and it's still on the water, now owned by my cousin.  Pair it with something in the 50-75hp range, and it's a super capable boat.  That will also pull the kids if they want to ski.

dculberson (I think) has a supersport that he loves.  Maybe he'll offer a take on it.

You rang?

my StarCraft had been solid. I messed up the first winter and the cover leaked into the boat and froze about 12" of water in it (like, seriously over the floor!) and once defrosted and dried out there were no leaks or other issues. Really well built boats.

 I got tired of the 2-smoke and splurged on a brand new 4-stroke motor and have been very happy with it. I paid more for the motor than I did for the boat but it's been worth it to me. 
 

Now I'm drooling over trolling motors with spot lock (gps based virtual anchor) and have a pretty good idea that I'm going to end up buying one. So a boat really is a good hole to throw money into. 
 

I have a 16' dual console and I think it's pretty tight to fish from. A modern fishing boat has tons of storage for rods and tackle and bait wells and all that. These boats have none of that so all your gear is out in the open. Kind of a pain. I'm working on rod holders and such but since it's a combo cruising and fishing boat  I don't want to switch to a different more specialized boat.

In reply to dculberson :

I agree... the 16' split console likely has less room for fishing than a 14' jon boat, but those consoles sure are nice when you get caught in a downpour and are trying to make it back before becoming a lightning rod.  The dual console is good for two casting or maybe 3 trolling, but fine for 5 lounging.  The jon boat is good for 3 or 4 casting and 3 trolling, but good for zero lounging

Boat layouts and designs are more of a trade-off thing compared to cars.  You can get a car that handles well, goes fast, hauls 5 people, and rides well.  Boats are a bit more absolute.  Comfort, or space?  Fishing or cruising?  Speed or ride?

I'll just add that outboard motors are no longer cheap.  You might have a harder time finding a good motor than you will have finding a good boat.  All the new stuff is 4 stroke and $$$ so it has made good (and even bad) ole 2 strokes worth an increasing price.  

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

A 9.9 would do it as well, but the 15 is the same motor.  The way they make it a 9.9 is to put a restrictive carb on it, so no reason not to get more go for the same weight.  (this also means that converting a 9.9 to a 15 is pretty easy.) 

This is handy info, because in ohio boat motors 10hp and over require a title. Most for sale ads say they dont have a title, so it's nice to know how easily a used 9.9 can be souped up.

How is parts availability on older motors?

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

I had a little Starcraft before I got my big-boy, and it was FANTASTIC. As I said, if that boat was remotely close to me, I'd buy it. 

What are you fishing for, and what style do you like to fish? Is your budget all in, or do you have extra for mods? Do you want something ready to go, or do you want a little project?

That Sylvan/StarCraft is a great deal. I may be mistaken, but I think that Johnson is actually a Suzuki. Some OMC specific controls, but internals are all Suzuki. 
 

For anyone considering spotlock... it is a serious gamechanger. Basically never use the anchor anymore, so it is stored out of the way. And, having the remote instead of the damn trolling motor pedals is a gigantic plus - it works better, you don't have to have someone on the pedal, and the pedal isn't taking up any real estate. It makes fishing that much easier.

And for folks looking for rod storage in this type of boat, store them vertically. DIY with some PVC or buy it, but I've found these to be the least annoying compromise to not having the storage of modern boats. Incidentally, I personally would not buy a bigger boat without a bow or center rod locker. Under 16 feet or at the lower budget, that does get hard, and I've come to that position after 4 boats without it so I've certainly been there and understand not prioritizing it. But at this point for me it is a requirement.

How old are your kids?

mtn said:

What are you fishing for, and what style do you like to fish? Is your budget all in, or do you have extra for mods? Do you want something ready to go, or do you want a little project?

I fish mostly for bass and panfish. On smallish lakes around here. I would like to be able to take it on some farther away trips so the trailer would have to be or become suitable for long spans at highway speeds. But that would be other small lakes, not the great lakes or that kind of big water with big waves.

I want to at least start with a pretty basic un modded setup. When I was a kid I used to fish with an old guy that just had an aluminum boat with some swivel seats and a small outboard. Instead of a trolling motor he used the oars to keep the boat in the position. I like that for simplicity sake, and I can figure out as I use it what changes I want to make beyond that.

As far as projects go, like I said get the trailer road trip ready and make sure the motor is reliable.