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Looking for some input from Aluminum boat anglers. I have been doing a lot of research on Aluminum Boats for my first purchase this winter (Year End Models :D). I will be fishing tournaments single and with a non-boater. I have decided I want at least an 18/19 footer. My biggest concern with aluminum is ride quality and hold up to wind. A lot of the lakes here in the plains of Nebraska and Iowa tend to get a little windy. I have mainly been looking at the beautiful new Vexus AVX1880. Also priced out the Alumacraft Pro185, Ranger RT198, and a Tracker 195 TXW. I have also just ran across a Crestliner Bass Hawk but I am not sure about the Deep-V hull. What are you fishing out of? What are some of the pro's/con's of your rig? Thanks in advance and Tight Lines!!

Hi all! Just wanted to share a few pictures and talk about a 4 month "first boat" restoration project that is finally coming to a close. Back in May, my dad and my brother and I came across an old walleye/bass boat that was in ROUGH shape. It is a 1994 Stratos 217F, 17.5 ft glass boat with a 1993 60 horse Evinrude. Being that we primarily fish small electric only lakes, the underpowered outboard was not a concern to us. We would be putting on an 80 pound thrust Minn Kota Terrova trolling motor that we picked up for a great deal. The boat had been rear ended in travel both bending the motor out of it's bracket and busting the winch post on the trailer. The entire finish was completely oxidized to the point where it looked like it could be impossible to bring back the shine (spoiler: we did). A portion of the casting deck was clearly rotting and needed to be rebuilt. On top of all that, the carpet was torn throughout the boat and smelled as if animals had been living in it for quite some time. That, plus it was just generally filthy throughout. Consequently, this thing was priced to get it off the lot. Looking through all the flaws, the boat seemed to have good bones and the electricals were all in good working condition (it did end up needing some light rewiring). My uncle is a boat mechanic and part owner of the shop and vouched for the boats structural integrity. The three of us are quite handy and knew it would be a lot of work, but we knew we could make this boat nice again. So we decided to chip in to buy the boat and get our restoration project underway. This is a picture of the boat the day we took it off the lot: Shortly after we got it home we started stripping it down to the bones and got to work: One of the many tedious tasks of removing the old carpet glue: Lucky for us, my brother is a welder so he was able to weld a new winch post back on to the trailer (the shop gave us a new winch post with the sale). The second issue caused by the accident we also got lucky in that we were able to bend the motor back into place. We were able to brace the motor bracket against a telephone pole with a steal beam to keep the whole trailer from sliding across the road (learned the hard way that is what would happen). Then we used tie down straps wrapped from the telephone pole to a farm jack to the boat motor. It took both my brother and I winching the jack but the motor bend back into place and moves perfectly within its bracket when trimming up and down. Wet sanding, compounding, polishing, and waxing proved to be the most tedious part of the project as it took 3 full weekends to do the entire boat. Before and after pics on a small section below: The next cosmetic upgrade was painting the motor cover since the sun had taken its toll over the years: My brother made a custom dash in order to reposition the gauges and fit our fish finder mount conveniently: This weekend we just finished glueing in the new carpet, installing the new seats, and buttoning back up all the odds and ends we had to remove over the course of the project. As she sits now, ready to fish!

It's a 1996 Fifteen Foot Fiberglass Jon Boat and came with trailer for $250. As somebody who mainly fishes from the bank or stream it's very exciting. But before we take it out on the water i have to make sure it's all legal and fallow the rules and regulations. I don't want to get into trouble. Makes sense no?, Right so i'm now looking for some input on where i go from here and where i can take it and use it around me as i'm totally new to this boat owner stuff. I did plan on getting some kind of motor like a trolling motor for it but wasn't sure if it's powerful enough to get us around. I really don't want to have to use telescopic paddles unless i have to.

I have a 36v MinnKota Maxxum. 3 12v batteries ran in a series being charged by a MinnKota MK3150D. My first issue began when I noticed a drastic loss of power in the trolling motor. I traced it back to one of the batteries. Found out it had a NEGATIVE charge. The previous owner was actually charging the battery that ended up reversing polarity on a separate single bank charger and had the cranking battery in a series with 2 of the TM batteries. I thought the single bank charger went bad(I was told by the guy at the battery store) and fried my battery. I replaced the battery and was fine for a couple months(probably one or two outings) until the battery I just replaced reversed polarity like the last one and also fried another battery in the series(it's reading 170v.) PLEASE HELP! I can't afford to pay for diagnostics. I'm thinking that I had a bad connection between these two batteries in the series. Would that cause them to do this? Does how I have them hooked up to the charger interfere with them running in a series? Also found this junk wired between the 2 batteries in question under shrink wrap. My current plan is to replace all 3 batteries and all cables/connections but my boat is basically useless until I can afford to do this. Thank you for your help.

I am dialing in on one of these 3 I believe for my first Aluminum. Lund 1875 Renegade Ranger RT198P Xpress X19/18 Also may consider the Alumacraft Pro 185 or XB 200 Is it best to go with highest rated HP just to have it? Id like to fish bigger bodies of water Table Rock for instance. I could get away with smaller for the local tournaments I run. Anybody run any of these specific models? Anything you would change after utilizing for some time? This decision is more stressful than picking out a baby name!! Tight Lines. BBB

So for a while I was looking into buying a kayak to start fishing from, but since I'm getting more interested in trying tournament fishing, I threw that idea out the window and started looking at boats. I'll be fishing mostly as a co-angler on the bigger tournament trails, but I'd like to start fishing as a boater on the smaller local trails as well. Plus having a boat would be great for practicing in the tournaments I'm going to be a co-angler in. So here's what I'm looking for... Definitely fiberglass between 17 and 20ft. I'd like to buy something new just because of the warranty, plus I've had bad luck with used boats in the past when I was a saltwater guide down here in south Louisiana. What size would you guys recommend? because I know some tournaments will be held on bigger lakes where a shorter boat will not be able to handle waves. And what are some brands I should look at first. My budget for this is about $35K Thanks

I've already starting browsing very lightly, but I'm definitely going to be buying a bass boat at the end of this fishing season. I'm looking in the 18-20' range and probably early 2000's. I'm leaning towards Ranger because that's what I've fished out of (my dad's) for the last 5+ years and have really enjoyed it. If not that maybe Bass Cat or even Nitro seeing as I have a Bass Pro minutes away. Anyway, what are some of the things you have learned over the years that would be useful for me to make sure to look for when I start to go out and physically look at boats? I thought maybe there would be a sticky thread or one saved somewhere, because it seems like it would be a common question, but didn't really find anything. Thanks!

Hey Bass Resource, So I just moved down to the Metro Detroit area (Novi/Farmington Hills). I used to live a few hours north and fished team bass tournaments with my Dad and we used his boat. I also had access to it pretty much whenever I wanted to borrow it (hooray!). I can't afford a nice Ranger 185VS which I'm accustomed to fishing in the last 5 years or so with him, but I'd like to look into getting a small boat for the mass amount of smaller lakes that are down here. I guess I'm looking for opinions on what would be a better investment. Should I look into some of the smaller aluminum boats that I could pull with a crossover/suv that would be easy to take around to all the little lakes around here? Or should I look for an older fiberglass boat? I don't have a truck, or really want to get one anytime soon, so a full sized boat seems to be pretty much out of the question for now. I have nothing against Bass Trackers or other similar style aluminum boats especially seeing as I don't expect to be doing any tournament fishing in this, just fun fishing. I would like something I can stand up in, so I think I'm looking at the Bass Tracker "style" boats or smaller fiber boats only. So I'm staying clear of tiny john boats and canoe/kayaks. Are they any brands or models that I should steer clear of to avoid getting a boat and having to work on it constantly or having constant problems? Thanks!

I think I am sold on the new Stratos 186 VLO it has just about everything I am looking for. It's a 19' boat which will handle well on the bigger waters and rivers I will be fishing, Mercury 115ELPT Optimax engine (was wondering what the diff. was b.t this one and the Pro XS model and if it's worth the extra $500), fiberglass, looks great and best of all with the trailer and all the accessories I need to start out will only be $22,195. I think I have found my boat but would like to hear any feedback on either the model and or company. Heres a link to the page http://www.stratosboats.com/model.cfm?name=186VLO

Hey everyone! I'm finally taking the plunge and making an investment in a boat! I have a couple of questions and maybe you all could help me out with suggestions? I am limiting my budget to $23,000. I would like to do FLW tournaments but their minimum motor requirement is 150hp and I am having trouble finding something in my price range with a 150. So far I've looked at and like these boats Nitro z-6 Stratos 186xt Lowe 18 hp So far I like the Nitro and Stratos purely because of their contingency programs. I like that the lowe is aluminum. Is the FLW very strict on the 150 hp rule? If you know of any other boats I should check out please let me know! Also FLW tournaments aren't a must but I thought it would be cool and fun.

Hi Everyone, I'm finally ready to buy my first bass boat and upgrade from my modified Valco i've been fishing for the past few years. I was going to go with a brand new Tracker aluminum, but i've seen some really good prices on used fiberglass boats. My budget is around 16-17k, can anyone give me any advice on these boats. I like the looks of both the basscat and triton here, but i'm not sure on the motor on the triton. The basscat looks nice but ive never fished from one, do they have enough storage and length for fishing with a few friends/? What do you guys think of these boats. Would it be better for me than buying a new Tracker aluminum?? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks Alot!! http://sacramento.craigslist.org/boa/2881800910.html http://losangeles.craigslist.org/ant/boa/2874439348.html