I'm Buying A New Bass Boat What Brands Are Best?

[Brent Christian]

They are very nice boats and not as expensive as you would think.

[hootersdoug]

I would argue on the side of buying a used boat as mentioned above.  You can get a LOT more boat for the money which means that if you want to upgrade, downgrade or just change the style of the boat you buy, you wont be upside down as much as you would had you bought brand new.  I spent $10K on my Skeeter ZX150 ten years ago, have put a good number of hours on her, and have only stuck about $1200 bucks into her over the years on maintaining her over the years (with the exception of @ $100 per year for winterization).  I found mine through a local pro who fished in a local tourney trail.  He pointed me to a well maintained boat that fit my needs and my budget.  Since the owner knew the pro and was buying his two year old boat, i also got a break on the price by $2K.  If i was going to sell my boat today, i would probably ask about $5-6K for it, so my loss on investment is low, but since it is paid off, not gonna sell it till it sinks!!

[champ184]

you can get a great used boat off of graiges list in your areas

[RyneB]

I would definately go used. I got my 2000 Ranger for 10 grand. 18 foot boat with a 150, 2 Down imaging units. All the storage,space,speed i will ever need. Like many of us, i would love a brand new 21 foot bass boat with a 300, but that wasnt in my budget. I had a 10 grand max spending cap. I found this Ranger at my local marina and knew i wanted it but wanted to price new tins. I realized quickly that not a single brand new tin under 10 grand was going to give me the things i was looking for that the Ranger fulfilled.

 

I also have a kayak and i LOVE it.  It seems i focus on everything more when im in my kayak. I dont have distractions like electronics,a deck full of rods, thinking i have to move. I fish the moment and focus on thing a lot more. I will have 2 rods rigged, usually one with a swimbait and the other a finesse setup. I will only carry a small bag with me with the essentials. 3 of my biggest 5 bass have been caught while i was in my kayak.

[OkeechobeeAngler]

If you got big $$$ 

 

Big O Boats custom

 

Or a Storm

[BrettD]

I would concentrate on looking for a 1-2 year old 17-18' aluminum boat with a 90-115 fourstroke. For what you want to do it will be plenty. We have a 18' express with a 115 yamaha 4 stroke and we can fish months on a tank of gas. New they run around 25k used under 20k. We fish Lake Okeechobee every weekend with ours. I will say this though at the end of the year it will be for sale and 21' bullet will be taking its spot. Dad wants to go fast now that motocross isnt an option for either one of us he needs to find the adreneline rush else where.

[salmicropterus]

If you want to go new, most of the manufacturers are offering an 18-6 with a 150 motor priced in the high $20s. These boats fish bigger than their same sized counterparts of years gone by. Wider beams and optimized storage give the boat a tournament-size (20- 21') feel

The bargains are in the used market where a very good 20-21' with a relatively new (maybe a bit of warranty) motor can be had for the same price or less.I have seen asking prices for really good boats go down from mid-30s to a sale price of mid-20s. Have the boat and motor checked out by someone.ou  A good dealer with a certified tech can quickly tell you if a motor has had regular service where manufacturer requirments have been addressed.  A boat in this price range will have a motor capable of producing downloads from the ECU which will a  tell a lot (hrs, engine fault history, current faults etc etc). Have a dealer for the brand of motor run a registration history of the motor which will detail all warranty claims, any outstanding and non-addressed recalls and service bulletins. If a Mercury, Evinrude and Yamaha, PM me the S/N and I can do that for you