Looking for a new boat, not sure where to start. Puget sound & Lake WA

[lukes2006]

So I'm wanting to pickup a boat, mainly for fishing in Lake Washington and the Puget Sound with about 20% devoted to cruising around with a few other people. Looking pretty hard at the 17-19' smoker craft, alumaweld, and custom welds with outboard.

My question is, am I really in an ideal spot for bringing a boat this size out on the sound? I live in Lynnwood just south of where I5 and 405 meet. About 20 minutes from the Edmonds boat launch and Magnuson launch for Lake Washington. The Edmonds launch is right on the larger body of the sound and I'm just really not sure how great that area is for fishing or cruising around with a couple friends. Am I just totally wrong here, is that body of water just west of Edmonds pretty easy to handle in a boat this size in the open water?

 

[geekgiant]

Re: Looking for a new boat, not sure where to start. Puget sound & Lake WA

You are in an ideal spot indeed. The challenge is that the Edmonds launch is a sling system only and if you're going out more than 2x/month it's almost cheaper to moor your boat. But, that would make getting onto Lake WA difficult. I have a 19' Trophy 1952 and I consider it a perfect crossover boat. Has a big enough dance floor for four to fish comfortable and has a cuddy for the kids to hang in etc... (It's for sale if you're interested in a fiberglass boat )

The smaller aluminums are super light so a good wind and chop will be felt by all.

The area outside of Edmonds is awesome for fishing, crabbing and shrimping. People routinely pull in lingcod, crabs and salmon right outside the marina (in fact, the Edmonds pier is even awesome for this).

Happy to answer any other specific questions too...

 

[lukes2006]

Re: Looking for a new boat, not sure where to start. Puget sound & Lake WA

You are in an ideal spot indeed. The challenge is that the Edmonds launch is a sling system only and if you're going out more than 2x/month it's almost cheaper to moor your boat. But, that would make getting onto Lake WA difficult. I have a 19' Trophy 1952 and I consider it a perfect crossover boat. Has a big enough dance floor for four to fish comfortable and has a cuddy for the kids to hang in etc... (It's for sale if you're interested in a fiberglass boat )

The smaller aluminums are super light so a good wind and chop will be felt by all.

The area outside of Edmonds is awesome for fishing, crabbing and shrimping. People routinely pull in lingcod, crabs and salmon right outside the marina (in fact, the Edmonds pier is even awesome for this).

Happy to answer any other specific questions too...

Thanks so much for the info, it helps a ton to get this info from someone local. I think I'd only do a couple times max each month on the sound.. the sling could get expensive. I've found two launches near me for Lake Washington, the kirkland public boat launch and Magnuson. The Kirkland is closest, 15 minute drive but launch looks tiny with a small parking lot, from what I read they just recently got a double dock though.

Magnuson is definitely larger but it's about 25 minutes away. The annual launch fee isn't too bad at $150 either and I'd really like the convenience of a faster launch/trailer.

I was a little scared that I'd end up purchasing a $16k boat and end up frustrated by the lack of launches and the boat launch traffic. Is it really that bad around here?