Re: Aluminium or Fiberglass?
It appears you will be trailering nearly 100% of the time. Advantage = aluminum due to weight and less HP needed to move the same size boat, as well as less HP in the tow vehicle and hence better economy. Since you will use this boat for hunting which gets you into some questionable water (stumps, rocks, wing dams etc), advantage again goes to aluminum. Aluminum also requires less maintenance and there is less heartache if one does tag a rock whereas a good thump with a glass boat and you have some relatively painful repairs. If it is beauty you are after, then a glass boat has a little more sex appeal than a tin boat. You can obviously do nearly everything with a glass boat that you can do with an aluminum but mishaps will be a little more of an issue. You will hear all sorts of stories about bad welding or rivets that leak. Having owned many boats over the years with a good mix of glass and aluminum, I do prefer aluminum and I've never had a leaky rivet or a broken weld. Is it possible? Certainly! Is it likely? Very unlikely. Will you have an issue with a glass boat? Probably not? So you see -- there is no right answer. Buy what lights your fire. You haven't mentioned boat size but if you are a serious fisherman, you don't likely want a dual console as the port side console gets in the way and takes up valuable space. There are plenty of center and side console models from nearly every manufacturer. Probably the best smaller boat for fishing for one, two, or three people is a tiller steered boat in the 16 - 17 foot range. And at the other end of the spectrum is a Ranger Bass boat. There are enough makes and models to research it will make your eyes bleed. Have fun -- good hunting.
