17 Ft. Blue Fin w/50 hp Force or 15 ft. Smokercraft Resorter

[3lados]

New to forum, new to boating, too.
There are currently two boats, same price, almost same condition for sale. Not sure which is which?! ARGH!
17 Ft. Blue Fin w/50 hp Force or 15 ft. Smokercraft Resorter with 60 hp Johnson.
Both aluminum hull, both floors solids..
So, which is the better buy? Any advice on what to look for,
either one notorious for problemos...

 

[ryanr623]

Re: 17 Ft. Blue Fin w/50 hp Force or 15 ft. Smokercraft Resorter

New to forum, new to boating, too.
There are currently two boats, same price, almost same condition for sale. Not sure which is which?! ARGH!
17 Ft. Blue Fin w/50 hp Force or 15 ft. Smokercraft Resorter with 60 hp Johnson.
Both aluminum hull, both floors solids..
So, which is the better buy? Any advice on what to look for,
either one notorious for problemos...

I would stay far far away from any force motor. Notoriously unreliable and hard to get parts for. On the other hand, not sure what you want to do with the boat... but 15 foot is rather small. If it were me i'd keep looking. Pics always help BTW

 

[geeco1]

Re: 17 Ft. Blue Fin w/50 hp Force or 15 ft. Smokercraft Resorter

I would have to somewhat disagree. I have a 17 foot Blue Fin with and 85 hp Force. It is very simple to maintain and I have been able to get any part that I have needed. Granted, there may be some parts that are harder to find, but those typically aren't your normal maint parts. Again, just my opinion from my experience.

 

[3lados]

Re: 17 Ft. Blue Fin w/50 hp Force or 15 ft. Smokercraft Resorter

Plan a is to have a boat that doesn't leak, that rides lake and river waves, keeps riders dry
Was hoping to purchase a good boat and not buy a poorly constructed boat.I understand Lund is a great choice, but where on the boat foodchain do the Blue Fin and Smokercraft Resorter rank?

 

[Greg Mrozinski]

Re: 17 Ft. Blue Fin w/50 hp Force or 15 ft. Smokercraft Resorter

Lados,

Welcome to iBoats. Seems like sort of a toss-up for sure. Maybe the deciding factor should be layout, features etc. All things equal go with the bigger boat.

 

[3lados]

Re: 17 Ft. Blue Fin w/50 hp Force or 15 ft. Smokercraft Resorter

smoker is a single console layout for fishing, the blue is dual console traditional seating.
I'm trying to determine which hull is better built/ designed/ better reputation. While typing an 88 Sylvan 18' dual console popped up for sale.
Still same question, which of the three hulls is better built/ designed/ better reputation?

 

[americaneagler77]

Re: 17 Ft. Blue Fin w/50 hp Force or 15 ft. Smokercraft Resorter

i had a 50 horse force, it ran great, but that seems too small for 17 feet, my 15 footer did 29 with a force 50, a 17 would be a dog i think.

 

[geeco1]

Re: 17 Ft. Blue Fin w/50 hp Force or 15 ft. Smokercraft Resorter

I don't know which one would be "rated" higher. Do they all have the same aluminum thickness? I am not a big believer that one brand is better than another when it comes to older boats like that. They are all riveted aluminum, probably with the same thickness, etc. One could leak just as much as the other. BlueFins, seem to be built the same as Starcraft. To me, it's kinda the Ford, Chevy, Dodge comparison. Each person is going to give their impressions based upon their own experiences (myself included). Like Greg said, go with what boat suits your needs. They probably all weigh about the same, so towing shouldn't make a big difference. Where are you going to store it? Will the 17 footer fit in you garage? As was said before, all things being equal, go bigger. If you go with the 15 footer now, then you will want 17 ft a year from now.

 

[5150abf]

Re: 17 Ft. Blue Fin w/50 hp Force or 15 ft. Smokercraft Resorter

Go with the Smoker for sure, mostly because it has a Johnson but Smoker makes a real solid boat, if they both had the same engine it would be a draw but with Force parts getting harder to find everyday that kind of makes the decision for you.

When you are talking riveted tinnies there really aren't alot of big diferences, Lund is the bigger brand but that doesn't make them better, Smoker has been around since the 50s I think and makes a really really good boat, Blue Finn was another local brand that was a really good boat but the company wasn't real big, both are northern Indiana companies, Smoker is still going finn closed in the later 80s I believe.

Again the engine is the deal breaker here, Force was a good engine but you simply can't get parts where the Johnsan has almost every part readily available, you can even get parts for it at Napa.

 

[LongLine]

Re: 17 Ft. Blue Fin w/50 hp Force or 15 ft. Smokercraft Resorter

I have an '84 - 18 Ft BlueFin and it's still going strong. The good thing about outboard boats is that you can always dump the engine & get a different one.

Tom B.
(LongLine)

 

[PWH1]

Re: 17 Ft. Blue Fin w/50 hp Force or 15 ft. Smokercraft Resorter

The Blue Fin is a solid boat. My father has the identical package you are looking at. The construction of the boat is solid and with a different outboard, it would be a keeper. As suggested earlier in the thread, that combination is indeed a DOG (with fleas!), even the loons and ducklings passed us as it cannot get out of its own way. So, if you go with the BF/Force combination, be prepared for a underpowered setup. Depends on your primary desire with the boat - if you are just looking at putting around and fishing, might be all you need. Water sports would be out of the question.

Best of luck.

 

[3lados]

Re: 17 Ft. Blue Fin w/50 hp Force or 15 ft. Smokercraft Resorter

Yup, spoke with 89 Smoker owner, who's only owned it since last year. Also, he's taken it out to coast several times. Soo.. inda morning going to take an hour drive to look at the 88 Bluefin. The underpowered Force is a concern, but maybe mentioning this will lower the price. Already have looked at several "great condition" boats which ended up being not so great... Eventually will post picture of my "new to me" boat. Who knows, maybe ma?ana.
Thank you everyone. The responses do help.