Utility/Fishing boat ideas?

[KC8QVO]

I am new to the site here and am looking around at boats. I am not in the market immediately, just playing with the idea. A little background - I've pretty much grown up on the water, mostly Lake of the Woods and Lake Erie. I've been going up to Lake of the Woods all my life and just got back from my yearly trek Sunday. We've had several boats over the years up at Lake of the Woods. Dad had a 22' Wellcraft I/O with a cuddy when I was younger and had that all over Lake Erie and some other smaller lakes in Ohio, before that we had a cottage on Put-in-Bay.

We lost our only "fishing" boat on Lake of the Woods due to down-sizing 2 years ago - it was a 18-19' Lowe with an Evinrude 175hp motor. It was a good boat. Our two boats now are a 22' Princecraft pontoon boat and a 16' aluminum Lund with a 25hp Johnson tiller (1983-84 era). The Lund is my run-about boat while I'm up there and the pontoon boat is a general use boat for everyone that doesn't like the crude'ness of the old Lund hehe. The drawbacks I see to the 16' Lund are that it isn't suited for rough conditions as its all exposed and, in the grande scheme of things, is still very slow at ~20-25mph. It is a good "local, calm weather" boat. The pontoon boat is a good local boat - cruising the bay, commuting, some utility work (bulky moving - appliances, furniture that are too awkward to get on the Lund).

I've been looking at the newer Lund lineup. I'm not a huge fan of the fishing-specific boats because we use our boats for a lot of utility purposes. I spotted the Alaskan and the 2000 WD looks about what I'm after - a more stripped down, open boat compared to the upper end fishing boats, but it still looks like it will suit the fishing realm with a bow mounted trolling motor. Being 20.5' it is longer than our Lowe = better suited to bigger water. Dads Wellcraft at 22' was fine for us on Lake Erie, but I wouldn't want to be in too much smaller of a boat.

It would be nice to have an all-around use boat that can get us around the lake keeping up with the guides and keep us protected when the weather goes to pot. That leads me to my next question. I don't see an option for a camper top or anything. Our Lowe had a top on it and we could zip in side panels. That was quite nice. Does anyone know of other options on getting a top to have an enclosed cabin on an Alaskan?

Are there other boats that may be worth a look that you can point me to with a full window and top ability in the 20' range?

My neighbor has a Renegade. Its nice because its an open boat, but that's also the problem because it only has the windshield on the drivers side = not much protection at all, nor a way to put more on.

Another question is motor size. How do I choose the right one? I know something that will get us moving at a decent speed with some margin is all I want, not the biggest motor I can get. If I've got the boat loaded down its not going fast at all, so brute force for the weight doesn't matter. 4 people out fishing it would be nice to move, maybe 30-40mph?

The Lowe with the 175 on it was a bit over-kill (part of the reasoning behind downsizing - in current times unnecessary). It was nice because it would run real well at 2/3 to 3/4 throttle. There wasn't anyone we couldn't keep up with and there was never a need to run it full bore. Around Lake of the Woods we could run it wide open most places if we wanted as the water wasn't frequently big enough to throttle back, but it was not necessary. Lake Erie is an altogether different ballgame. All the faster we ever took the Wellcraft was enough to plane and backed off a bit. The waves were often too big to really get going.

Did I confuse or paint enough of a picture? Thanks for any input.

 

[ut84088]

Re: Utility/Fishing boat ideas?

I purchased the new 1875 Crossover last month and love it. It is a great fish/ski combination boat. 4 pedestal seats, 2 jump seats in the rear, and two padded areas in the bow. It is nice and wide so there is a good amount of room and it has lots of storage including a place for ski or a wakeboard and fishing poles. Great all around boat in my opininion.

Mine came with the camper enclosure that I will use later in the year when the weather starts to turn cold and nasty. I put in a 24 volt Minn Kota with Ipilot and love it! The anchor feature is great when you find a place you want to stop and fish for a while. It will keep you there without having to anchor and when you are done you just move on. The battery life was a little dissapointing, so I might have to switch from group 27 to group 31 batteries.

The new Merc 150 4s is a great motor. I am still trying to dial in the prop, but I was able to get 43mph at 5000 RPM last week and we are at high altitude here. When it was just idling it would run around 2.5-3.0 mph which would be suitable for trolling, however I will probably add a kicker later instead of putting hours on the main motor. I'm going down a pitch this week so I am hoping to get to the 5400 RPM range and maybe 45-48MPH. I'm also going to try pulling a tube this week now that the motor is broke in.

 

[KC8QVO]

Re: Utility/Fishing boat ideas?

Thanks for the reply. Great info.

You have me curious with your prop tuning. Are you just trying different props? Is there any theory behind how you are doing it? I used to fly model airplanes so I am familiar with prop pitches and the affects from that perspective. Are you after a specific RPM at a specific speed, or just a specific speed?

The 150 seems like it will get that boat moving pretty good regardless. That's above where I'd like to be, but it also carries some margin.

The Crossover is a neat boat - lots of storage space on it. Although, we don't do a whole lot of skiing/tubing/wake boarding anymore so the sport aspect isn't really all that important.

 

[snowman48047]

Re: Utility/Fishing boat ideas?

I've got a 2000 Lund Alaskan SS 20'. This is the right type I think you are looking for if you want open floorplan. The small side console works much better for fishing if you troll. I can also cast, drift, and fish at anchor with no issues. As far as camper top, I don't have one but I do have a fairly simple PVC and canvas "top" I use for duck hunting. The 2 inch PVC fits nicely into the 8 rod holders I have mounted. Gets me out of the wind/rain/snow/cold if I need to.

As for motor size, get the most hp you can afford and will fit the boat no matter what brand boat you end up with. Mine is way under powered with a 50hp. Top speed is maybe 23-24 with just me in it. It is rated for a 120 and I should have got it when I bought it new. You don't have to run full out all the time but when you NEED it, it will be nice to have it.

Nobody ever said "my boat is too big and goes too fast".

 

[Georgesalmon]

Re: Utility/Fishing boat ideas?

Look at the mirrocraft agressor EXP pro 19'. Big, wide, deep, can get full canvas enclosure. Not 20' but lots of room for a 19. Less money than Lund. Auminum floors, no rot. Much smaller company but has very good warranty and stands behind it.