Deep V Boats

[BassCats]

I am looking at getting a Deep V boat. I live on a rough lake and have a hard time in a bass boat with my knees and back. I thought about a center console but have decided I like the layout of Deep V boats better. 

 

For those of you who live up north and have them please explain what made you choose the brand you have.

 

Tracker, Lowe, G3, Alumicraft, and Crestliner all have dealers in Texas. Lund does not have one anywhere within 500 miles of me. 

 

I would like to keep my boat between 20-30K rigged.

 

Thanks for all your help and knowledge.

 

Chad

[slonezp]

I don't think you can go wrong with any of the brands mentioned. The Ranger deep v is not a bad set up either. Find a dealer you can trust. I own a Lund. I spent 3 years researching boats. Lund had the layout I wanted and a great reputation. Wish I had researched the dealer better

[Allen Der]

I have a Lund, but also considered the Alumacraft Competitor and the Crestliner Fish Hawk.  Those are both great deep-V boats with large casting decks.  Get the aft conversion bench seats which when folded down double the size of your aft casting deck.  Sometimes I fish from the back and use the I-pilot remote to control the boat.

[Way2slow]

If you want it for possible rough water, the deeper the V the better, but I would go with a fiberglass. I don't have much experience with tin boats, but I've never been in one that will begin to ride as good as a deep V glass boat when the water starts getting white caps on it.

[S Hovanec]

I have a friend that's a guide in NY. He recently retired his tired Lund and bought a Starcraft. He hates it and is looking to get back into a Lund.

I also have a Lund. The biggest reason I have it was price. It was the cheaper of the 3 boats I was considering. Also, it was the only one that offered Honda as motor option.

[OkobojiEagle]

some research topics:

 

new vs. used

fiberglass vs. aluminum (rivets vs. welded)

console vs. tiller

size needed for lakes to be fished

availability of service

[BassCats]

I plan on buying a new Aluminum Deep V. I have researched the riveted vs welded and I do not believe it will matter to me which one I get. 

I do want a console with walkthrough 

 

17-18 ft is size I am looking for.

 

Alumacraft, Crestliner, Lowe,Tracker,G3 all are near me. Only problem is that I live in texas and it is hard to test drive a Deep V boat since almost no dealer carries them. I will probably have to order one once I decide on the boat.

[Way2slow]

Being in Texas, I'm not sure why you are set on a deep V, unless it's going to be a family boat, like a F&S and you want the smoother ride to keep the wife happy.   Probably the reason the dealers don't carry them is because not very many people want to deal with them bass fishing.  Spring and Fall, you can be fishing pretty shallow water and I don't care how good you are, you are going to get hung close to the bank from time to time.  Deep V's are going to make it more difficult to get into real skinny water close to the bank to retrieve your lure.

 

If near the coast and fishing bays, the deep V will cause you problems there also.  Most back bay boats are flat bottoms or tunnel hulls just so they can deal with the shallow water better.

 

Now, if you are not a bass fisherman or don't fish the spring and fall shallow water bass, and don't have to deal with skinny water, and want to keep the wife happy with the ride, the Deep V is probably the way to do.

[Allen Der]

Being in Texas, I'm not sure why you are set on a deep V, unless it's going to be a family boat, like a F&S and you want the smoother ride to keep the wife happy.   Probably the reason the dealers don't carry them is because not very many people want to deal with them bass fishing.  Spring and Fall, you can be fishing pretty shallow water and I don't care how good you are, you are going to get hung close to the bank from time to time.  Deep V's are going to make it more difficult to get into real skinny water close to the bank to retrieve your lure.

 

If near the coast and fishing bays, the deep V will cause you problems there also.  Most back bay boats are flat bottoms or tunnel hulls just so they can deal with the shallow water better.

 

Now, if you are not a bass fisherman or don't fish the spring and fall shallow water bass, and don't have to deal with skinny water, and want to keep the wife happy with the ride, the Deep V is probably the way to do.

have you fished out of a deep V?  my Lund gets into a foot of water no problem without getting stuck

[S Hovanec]

My Lund drafts less than a foot. Never really need to utilize that tho cause shallow fishing to me is 6'-10'!!

[Way2slow]

Yep, I've fished from a Deep V that's why I would never own one fishing the lakes I fish. I guess your fishing tactics and lakes are different than mine. So, lets not start criticizing what we don't know. I've done a lot of fishing in Texas also, especially on lake Falcon, so I also know a little bit about the waters there.

In the spring and fall, I've seen many times the only way you were going to retrieve a lure in a boat that needed a foot of water, was to either get out and walk in the muddy bottom or break it off, and I fish some fairly expensive hard baits that I don't care to break off. I'm talking about having to get in few inches of water. A lot of the banks may be 5-10 feet from you when you are in a foot of water. In the spring a fall, or even night fishing in the summer, if you are not casting into water that shallow, you are passing up a lot of nice fish.

[S Hovanec]

He's looking for a boat for rough water, not skinny water. A bass boat isn't where it's at for his needs.

He's probably like me, I want to be IN a boat, not ON a boat. All I do is bass fish and I would never own a bass boat. They're not the best option for the water I fish.

[Lund Explorer]

I plan on buying a new Aluminum Deep V. I have researched the riveted vs welded and I do not believe it will matter to me which one I get. 

I do want a console with walkthrough 

 

17-18 ft is size I am looking for.

 

Alumacraft, Crestliner, Lowe,Tracker,G3 all are near me. Only problem is that I live in texas and it is hard to test drive a Deep V boat since almost no dealer carries them. I will probably have to order one once I decide on the boat.

 

I don't think you can wrong on any of the brands you've listed, and I promise not to mention the one I'm running around in! 

 

If I were in your shoes, I would base my final choice on: #1 Layout, #2 Price, #3 Service.

[slonezp]

My advice at this point is to do your research, and wait until late winter early spring to buy. You have the possibility of buying a new leftover and the ability to get the early spring boat show discounts for the current year. The motor companies offer free or discounted extended warranties in the spring. Johnson Outdoors offers the trolling motor and graph rebates in the spring etc.

[Shockwave]

My advice at this point is to do your research, and wait until late winter early spring to buy. You have the possibility of buying a new leftover and the ability to get the early spring boat show discounts for the current year. The motor companies offer free or discounted extended warranties in the spring. Johnson Outdoors offers the trolling motor and graph rebates in the spring etc.

This is exactly what I'm doing. I want a Lund Pro V GL and am planning to wait till early spring of 2016 to pull the trigger on a leftover model. I'm taking the time now to do homework on the potential dealer I'm gonna deal with.

[slonezp]

This is exactly what I'm doing. I want a Lund Pro V GL and am planning to wait till early spring of 2016 to pull the trigger on a leftover model. I'm taking the time now to do homework on the potential dealer I'm gonna deal with.

PM me and I'll tell you where not to buy.

[S Hovanec]

The 2075 Tyee has really caught my eye recently.

[slonezp]

The 2075 Tyee has really caught my eye recently.

Have you seen the new ProV GL? If I was in the market and had the cash, that would be my next boat

[S Hovanec]

Saw it. Not really interested in glass. Ya gotta be too careful with it!

[Dwight Hottle]

I started in a 18' Lund and bought a 20' StarCraft with a 19 degree dead rise. The deeper V's with a higher degree of dead rise handle the waves better & have a softer re-entry without the pounding you get in a lesser boat.   I love it & would never go back to a Lund because they don't have a deep enough dead rise. The fit & finish on the Lunds is pretty much the industry standard for aluminum boats & they do have a higher resale than most of their competitors.

The disadvantage of the deep V is that they draft a little more and the higher sides cause more wind drifting than lower sided boats do.

[S Hovanec]

Funny you say that Dwight. My buddy went from the a Lund Baron 2100 to a StarCraft FishMaster 2100 and he hates the StarCraft. He's looking at the 2075 Tyee Magnum now.

[Dwight Hottle]

Funny you say that Dwight. My buddy went from the a Lund Baron 2100 to a StarCraft FishMaster 2100 and he hates the StarCraft. He's looking at the 2075 Tyee Magnum now.

 

The 19' fishmaster is a 19 degree deadrise like my 20' 2" STX but the 2100 fishmaster is only 15 degree deadrise. He got a 20' 10" boat length but lost out on the deadrise. Lund doesn't publsh deadrise angles but the figure I usually heard was around 14-15 degrees. That is probably why he didn't like it compared to his Baron.  I'll bet he has never ridden in an STX. Both the Baron & Tyee are Lunds top of the line boats. The STX is very similar to the Lund Pro V but has a greater dead rise angle. Most saltwater boats in the 20-30' range are 20-22 degree dead rise for an example.

[S Hovanec]

He didn't mention the ride. He hates that all the storage is open. Everything gets wet. Also, the windshield isnt sloped as much as the Baron was so everything on the dash gets wet.

[BASSPATROL247]

Ive never really fished out of a actual bass boat(lowrider haha) but a few times and i prefer a deep/mod v. Even if i didnt fish multi species and only bass i would still have a v, sits to low for my liking and like said above i liket o fish in the boat not on it thats what rafts are for haha

[Further North]

I've had a Lund 1800 Pro-V, a 1750 Crestliner and am currently running a Crestliner CMV 1850.

 

I like the CMV because of layout and storage, but all three were good boats and I'd buy another of either brand in a heartbeat.

 

I had a Tracker for a couple years as well...they are good boats, and it got the job done well, but they just don't have the same build quality as the Lunds and Crestliners.  That's not bashing the Tracker - it's just reality.  If a Tracker was what my budget allowed, I'd buy another, no problem.

 

I fished out of several Alumacrafts and one G3, no problems there either, all good products.

 

I have not fished out of a Lowe, but have heard they are good.

 

...the way I picked out my last boat (the CMV) was based on how I fish - I wanted big decks, lots of storage and a rod locker.  I want my tackle below deck, out of my way when I'm fishing, and I want the same for the rods I'm not using.  I decided I'd settle for slightly lower ride quality as I fish a lot more than I run the boat I easilly fish 10 hours for every hour I spend running), it turned out it doesn't matter much...my CMV has an 11° dead rise, the Fish Hawk has an 12° dead rise and the Pro-V had a bit more than that...there's no real difference in how they run at cruising speed, and honestly the CMV is easier to handle in bad weather than the Lund was...but that's likely got more to do with the hull design being 15 years newer than dead rise angles.

 

...as far as getting into shallow water...I ran that big Lund into water around 12" often easily.  Trim up the motor and run in on the bow mount...no problem.  Could it go as shallow as a bass boat?  Probably not...but I don't need to where I live.  I run the CMV through water around 1 ft. all the time.  Easy as pie.  I have mor trouble running my trolling motor shallow than I do hanging up the boat hull.