boat info for buyer

[steriosm88]

I'm looking for a bigger boat to replace my tiny little car topper. I read in the boating for beginners thread that someone tried to post the differences in boats. Where can I find this info? Aluminum vs Fiberglass; deep v vs ...; outboard vs inboard and so on. I'm leaning towards an aluminum 17 foot bow rider with a 70 to 90 outboard. To be used for fresh water fishing up in
Canada. Also would like to know what chines are. Thanks

 

[gcboat]

Re: boat info for buyer

Really can't help you much in your choice of boats.
However the chine of a boat refers to basically the shape of the bottom, i.e.
a 'hard chined vessel', a ';soft chined vessel'.
Do a quick search in Wikipedia for "chine / marine". It will give you a much better definition.

 

[fishingdan]

Re: boat info for buyer

No, the chine is where the hull side meets the hull bottom. Planing hulls will have a distinct corner where those to surface meet. This allows water to break away from the hull side.

The shape of the hull is the shape of the hull.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: boat info for buyer

If your primary use of the boat is for fishing Canadian waters you don't want a bow rider. You want something with a large deck and provisions for a bow mounted trolling motor. Bow riders have seats up there and although some of them can be converted to accept a pedestal seat, they are not the best fishing rigs. Aluminum is lighter, requires less maintenance, you will be bouncing off rocks and glass boats don't like that. Lighter boat means it takes less of a tow vehicle to tow it and hence less fuel. Outboards are lighter, easier to work on and easier to winterize than I/O's. I will use an Alumacraft Navigator 175CS as an example of a good fishing boat. Lund, Crestliner and others make similar rigs.

 

[steriosm88]

Re: boat info for buyer

Thanks for the replys. Silvertip you made some good points. I'm looking for a bowrider with the pedestal seat up front and full stand up rain tops. I'm going to be using it to fish Lake Ontario for salmon and Georgian bay as well and figure the rain tops will come in handy. It will be a camping boat as well as it will hold all my gear easily. I'm leaning towards an outboard for the reasons you mentioned. Are those 'hard' chines for rough water or smooth? Looking for something reasonabley stable. Thanks for your help. Great site.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: boat info for buyer

i also recommend aluminum. there are a lot of northern brands that are good. that we do not get exposed to here in the south, as they are for the northern boater, and conditions.