looking for a 20-25 foot aluminum fishing boat.... brand suggestions?

[melontable]

Hi all,

I am looking for a 20-25 foot aluminum fishing boat. I have a few that I'm thinking about (for sale by friends and family) and I'm realizing that the only real brand I know is starcraft. So I've been looking on craigslist to see what's out there and I find that I either type in "aluminum" or "starcraft".

I'm looking for something that can take rougher waters (i mean... not like miles offshore, but i'd like it to handle some chop without slamming), so ideally like a deep or semi V hull. I'd also like something with a cabin of some kind for the wife and kids to get out of the sun. I'm looking at aluminum because the idea of srtinger problems really scares me.... I'm worried about such a big problem that can be so hidden.

Outboard is preferred but not required.

So in my mind, that takes a lot of the "big name" aluminums off the table, as the stuff I mostly see on craigslist (lund, klamath, gregor) are smaller boats with no cabin.

Any suggestions for other brands I should be looking at or searching for?

thanks!!!

 

[roscoe]

Telling us where you are located, and your budget, might help.

http://www.hewescraft.com/products/ocean-pro/

 

[Dmopar74]

Hewes craft!

 

[Sprig]

Hewscraft, North River, Rogue Jet (they come with outboard), Duckworth.

 

[TyeeMan]

Lund Tyee, Tyee Magnum or a Lund Barron or Barron Magnum.

As for a boat with a cabin, they haven't made em for some years but the Lund 2150 or 2450 Genmar Sport Cabin will fit the bill very nicely. Awesome boat if you're not looking brand new.

 

[harleyman1975]

Hewscraft...hands down!

 

[melontable]

shoot, yeah... I guess I left out some important info

I should have clarified, I'm not so much looking for "new" modern boats. Here's the thing about duckworth and hewscraft and such... they're super nice, but also super expensive, and fairly new, so there just aren't as many of them around. They're not really "common", and so the odds of one popping up on craigslist or whatever are pretty slim. I was looking for other starcraft-esque boat manufacturers. A brand that's been around for a while (so there are a lot of them out there) and were less "high-end" and specialized, so there were a lot of them made. Totally my fault, I should have been more clear.

For reference, right now, I'm looking at two early 70's starcrafts, both in the $2000 range (cheap because the sellers are friend and family). However, I have about $15,000 set aside for a boat, so anything in that range would be fine. My ideal would be to distribute the 15k into spending like 5k on a boat and then 10k fixing it up, because I really enjoy working on things, but mostly just wondering what other aluminum boat builders there were in the 70s-80s-90s that I can search for by name.

thanks!

 

[Stumpalump]

I'm on my second Valco Bayrunner and will buy a third when I get the two foot itch. My 18' center console weighs 550 pounds and with a 170 pound 48 Evinrude it runs out at 34 with a light load. Cruise all day on $20 bucks worth of gas at 26 mph. They make a 22 cuddly cabin. This may be long gone but here is a pic and you can add it to your search. https://www.bdoutdoors.com/forums/threads/22-foot-baja-bayrunner-cuddy-cabin.642598/ I looked over a few of the larger Starcraft and they would work but every one I find has that gowd awful black outdrive contraptions on it. I guess you could yank the outdrive and use it as an anchor and then put on a outboard bracket. I'm sure it's been done but don't know the results.