Boat reviews

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4spdragtop

4spdragtop

FABO Gold Member
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I'm looking to upgrade my 16' tin tiller. Looking for mainly fishing but also to yank the kids and grandkids around. My preference is aluminium and a minimum 16' with 60 HP.
There is quite a few different mfg out there on the market....Lowe, Legend, Mirrocraft, Princecraft. Motor wise I'm leaning towards a Merc outboard.
Anyone got reviews/advice? Any I should steer clear of?
Thanks
Steve
 
I can certainly tell you a little about the motor situation. And I am not knocking the other brands I will mention as they are nice units. However Mercury and Yamaha probably have 80% of the market. That means parts readily available, more information about maintenance and repairs, and a large network of service on these throughout the world. That alone would put me in their showrooms.

I am a Mercury guy. Always have been. I have also been around some Yammy's and I like them also. But it comes down to who will help you and how when a problem arises and since you are on the water now you know it not a matter of it but rather when....

JW
 
4spdragtop said:
I'm looking to upgrade my 16' tin tiller. Looking for mainly fishing but also to yank the kids and grandkids around. My preference is aluminium and a minimum 16' with 60 HP.
There is quite a few different mfg out there on the market....Lowe, Legend, Mirrocraft, Princecraft. Motor wise I'm leaning towards a Merc outboard.
Anyone got reviews/advice? Any I should steer clear of?
Thanks
Steve
Click to expand...
Check out Tracker. Great boats and the 4 cycle merc. only bested by Honda
 
Blind Squirrel said:
I can tell you what the acronym B.O.A.T. stands for, in case you need a review. Break Out Another Thousand!
Click to expand...

And wouldn't trade it for a sec..... As I get older a day on the water is way more appealing than a day in a building working on a car. Opinions vary but in either case you will be bustin' out a thousand as you say lol.....

JW
 
LOL, yep heard that a few times. They arent all the money pits people make them out to be. I see 10 year old boats up here still going for 60-70% of price of new.
Treat them right and they will be good to you and maintain their value.
 
4spdragtop said:
LOL, yep heard that a few times. They arent all the money pits people make them out to be. I see 10 year old boats up here still going for 60-70% of price of new.
Treat them right and they will be good to you and maintain their value.
Click to expand...

Spot on Steve. I have an 85 Ranger (garage kept) and when you pull the drain plug it's dry as a bone. It does everything as it should and the Merc. on the back let's me do pretty well against 60K boats in tournaments... Way too many good memories of being on the water.

Have you considered a fiberglass boat or is that not an option?

JW
 
I havent considered a fiberglass really, I had an older one around a 75 and I ended up putting a hole in it....my fault but I always seemed to believe that aluminium ones hold their value better?? Now that being said your Ranger is a top quality boat. On the upper end of things. Im looking to trade my 69 OR buy....in the $20k CDN range max.
Blind Squirrel said:
I can tell you what the acronym B.O.A.T. stands for, in case you need a review. Break Out Another Thousand!
Click to expand...

SLOPAR72 said:
Spot on Steve. I have an 85 Ranger (garage kept) and when you pull the drain plug it's dry as a bone. It does everything as it should and the Merc. on the back let's me do pretty well against 60K boats in tournaments... Way too many good memories of being on the water.

Have you considered a fiberglass boat or is that not an option?

JW
Click to expand...
 
I hear this guy does some custom boats...……..
upload_2020-3-18_18-3-23.png
 
Around here, you can't hardly give away a used fiberglass boat. My parents had a really nice, well kept bayliner. I finally had to just trade it away for a used car. They just don't hold value (at least around here) like an aluminum boat does.
 
Around here the upper end ones do but not like aluminium.
Mid grade are a tuff sell.
Blind Squirrel said:
Around here, you can't hardly give away a used fiberglass boat. My parents had a really nice, well kept bayliner. I finally had to just trade it away for a used car. They just don't hold value (at least around here) like an aluminum boat does.
Click to expand...
 
Mercury might be alright for recreation use but they just wont stand up in the commercial fishery . it would be hard to give one away to anyone who makes a living with an outboard . to many junk plastic parts among other things .
 
jimjimjimmy said:
Mercury might be alright for recreation use but they just wont stand up in the commercial fishery . it would be hard to give one away to anyone who makes a living with an outboard . to many junk plastic parts among other things .
Click to expand...

They must be doing something right. If I sit in The water surrounded by a 100 boats 90% percent are Mercury's. But that's not an industrial setting either.

JW
 
Some dealers offer a 6 year warranty on their Mercs. We're inland, so dont see too many commercial settings for Mercs or any other motors.
SLOPAR72 said:
They must be doing something right. If I sit in The water surrounded by a 100 boats 90% percent are Mercury's. But that's not an industrial setting either.

JW
Click to expand...
 
Two of my buddies have really nice boats. Tracker and a Lund. Makes my boat seem like a pos!

Screenshot_2019-08-08-20-50-36.png


20191004_092253.jpg


20191007_143532_HDR.jpg
 
Tracker, can't go wrong still running my 1989 tournament TXS 17'
Never had any issues with the boat or 75 Merc triple, stored inside and maintained .
Great boat!!!
Lon
 
Both nice boats. You get the creature comforts with the Lund. Them is pricey! Up here a new 18' is $40k and up. Nice pike! Hoping to land a bunch of those this year.
67Dart440GT said:
Two of my buddies have really nice boats. Tracker and a Lund. Makes my boat seem like a pos!

View attachment 1715489303

View attachment 1715489304

View attachment 1715489305
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Lon are all Trackers fiberglass? Also can I take grandkids tubing etc on one? How bout rough water? I thought they were a "bass boat"?
Thanks guys!
lkopaska said:
Tracker, can't go wrong still running my 1989 tournament TXS 17'
Never had any issues with the boat or 75 Merc triple, stored inside and maintained .
Great boat!!!
Lon
Click to expand...
 
4spdragtop said:
Both nice boats. You get the creature comforts with the Lund. Them is pricey! Up here a new 18' is $40k and up. Nice pike! Hoping to land a bunch of those this year.

Lon are all Trackers fiberglass? Also can I take grandkids tubing etc on one? How bout rough water? I thought they were a "bass boat"?
Thanks guys!
Click to expand...


They are both awesome boats. I think the tracker was 19 and the Lund was 18 feet. Both are very wide which I really like. Makes fishing easy and lots of compartments. We caught a bunch of pike like that accidentally fishing for walleye.
 
4spdragtop said:
Both nice boats. You get the creature comforts with the Lund. Them is pricey! Up here a new 18' is $40k and up. Nice pike! Hoping to land a bunch of those this year.

Lon are all Trackers fiberglass? Also can I take grandkids tubing etc on one? How bout rough water? I thought they were a "bass boat"?
Thanks guys!
Click to expand...
Not all most are aluminum, mine is modified v bottom, a little rough ride on heavy swells but can pull 2 skiers. Best of all more reasonable price than glass
Lon
 
4spdragtop said:
Some dealers offer a 6 year warranty on their Mercs. We're inland, so dont see too many commercial settings for Mercs or any other motors.
Click to expand...
Looking at strength of the support forums, I think I'd prefer the Merc if I were going back to an OB.
 
I take care of a camp here in north Ontario and we have 9 boats and motors.
Over the past 20 years we have rid ourselves of all the fiberglass boats but 1 only because it is one we hardly use. No good for pulling up to the shore to go do hikes or exploring.
The boats I like the most are the Crestliner alum. They are welded seams not riveted. Crestliners are expensive however and may not be in price range you are looking for.
If you are tubing I would look for welded seam boat. However I have a 1967 18 foot Starcraft that I use daily that is riveted. I have hauled alot of junk over the years with it. I have loaded it with over a ton of concrete bags many times.
As for engines we have 1 Merc and the rest are Yammys. The Merc came on the Crestliner as a package deal. The Merc runs just fine but it is expensive to maintain. The oil that you must use for warranty is around $100. a gallon and the engine holds 1.5 gallons. It is also much harder on fuel exspesualy when tubing.
The Yamaha engines are tough to beat, we have had them all over the years and fazed them all out for Yamaha`s.
I traded in my 115 Yam with 5000hrs on it 2 years ago for a new one. During the 13 years I had that engine never did it break down, just oil changes at end of season. I did change plugs once but don`t think it was nessasary.
I run my boat right till winter and engine fires right up frozen in the lake every time.

Get a Yamaha engine and never look back.
Mike
A picture of busting ice behind my boat.
100_0617.jpg
 
Thanks for the detailed info!
Good to know about maintenance costs!
Cool pic!
Rudy`s Ride said:
I take care of a camp here in north Ontario and we have 9 boats and motors.
Over the past 20 years we have rid ourselves of all the fiberglass boats but 1 only because it is one we hardly use. No good for pulling up to the shore to go do hikes or exploring.
The boats I like the most are the Crestliner alum. They are welded seams not riveted. Crestliners are expensive however and may not be in price range you are looking for.
If you are tubing I would look for welded seam boat. However I have a 1967 18 foot Starcraft that I use daily that is riveted. I have hauled alot of junk over the years with it. I have loaded it with over a ton of concrete bags many times.
As for engines we have 1 Merc and the rest are Yammys. The Merc came on the Crestliner as a package deal. The Merc runs just fine but it is expensive to maintain. The oil that you must use for warranty is around $100. a gallon and the engine holds 1.5 gallons. It is also much harder on fuel exspesualy when tubing.
The Yamaha engines are tough to beat, we have had them all over the years and fazed them all out for Yamaha`s.
I traded in my 115 Yam with 5000hrs on it 2 years ago for a new one. During the 13 years I had that engine never did it break down, just oil changes at end of season. I did change plugs once but don`t think it was nessasary.
I run my boat right till winter and engine fires right up frozen in the lake every time.

Get a Yamaha engine and never look back.
Mike
A picture of busting ice behind my boat.View attachment 1715489514
Click to expand...
 
Some great responses on this thread. Think Ill park my *** here and eat some popcorn...

Eating-Popcorn-Soda.gif
 
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