First Boat advice for fisherman?

[DallasJeff]

I'm looking to buy my first fishing boat within a few weeks and I'm looking for advice. I know very little about boats and registration requirements/costs etc.

I plan to spend about $1000 or less for boat, motor and trailer.

What size motor is ideal for a 14 or 16 foot jon boat?

What are the advantages/disadvantages of v-hull vs flat bottom?

Is it required to transfer the title and register both boat and motor? What about trailer? How much does that cost approximately? I've read that can run hundreds of dollars.

 

[5150abf]

Re: First Boat advice for fisherman?

You don't say what state you are in but in Indiana you motor isn't registered just the trailer and boat and it is well less than 100 to transfer title.
The best kind of boat is the one you can find for $1000, I originally wanted a jon but the very few I could find were to much or too small so you may have to settle for what is available.
If you find a 14-16 15 horse is plenty 10 will do.
V bottoms are a bit more tippy as they are a rounder hull and they run a bit more draft(how much water it takes to float the boat)but they run much better than flat bottom as they cut through the waves better, a jon goes over the waves as opposed to through them but either is fine.
So if you are planning on fishing shallow water stick with the jon if not iether will work.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: First Boat advice for fisherman?

to me this is the ideal first fishing boat, 14 ft aluminum, 10-15hp. you can buy a plain boat and add accessories.

 

[cbavier]

Re: First Boat advice for fisherman?

Welcome to I Boats DallasJeff: I assume your from Texas. You can lean a lot from I Boats.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: First Boat advice for fisherman?

Hi,

You don't say where you'll be fishing, meaning on what kind of water. I'm going to assume lake fishing.

For your $1000, look for a 12-14' aluminum V hull (14' if possible), with an outboard at least 6 hp in size (around 10hp is better, and 15hp is ideal), and preferably a Johnson or Evinrude. Trailers for such boats are lightweight, as are the boats.

Don't be in a rush. Use Craigs List as your starting point. Most important is that the outboard be in good condition. It's expensive to replace or repair an outboard and they're usually the highest priced item on the combo.

Jon boats are OK, but if you're on the lake and the wind kicks up, you're in for a slap-happy, wet ride back to the ramp. The V-hull will keep you drier and the ride will be a bit less harsh and damp.

Avoid old fiberglass boats in this price range. Almost all will need work, and you don't need that for your first boat. Aluminum fishing boats are pretty trouble-free, and even minor leaks are relatively easily repaired.

Extras are nice, but don't expect too much for $1000. Swivel seats, fish finders, an electric trolling motor, rod holders, and the like can be added later for low cost if you are patient and look around.

Good luck in your search. And remember, this is just one guy's opinion.

 

[crashnburn63]

Re: First Boat advice for fisherman?

I was just in the same position as you, bought the boat last Saturday. I ended up buying a 14 foot Duroboat (aluminum construction, similar to Lund or Smokercraft but manufactured 10 miles from where I live) with a very nice (and very expensive) 10hp Mercury "Bigfoot", various gear (including downriggers) and Caulkins trailer. The whole setup, which is a couple of years old, cost me $3500. I had been watching Craigslist-Seattle for several months, and this was a reasonable, but not great deal. If I had been willing to drive farther than 10 or 15 miles to look at boats I might have found something similar for $500 less, but I wasn't willing to invest the time and gas.

The motor is the most expensive part of the deal, West Marine lists a 2008 version of this motor at $3100. I put a value of $1500 on three year old one I bought. If you are willing to go bottom end, you can probably pick up an old 2 stroke, manual start OB in this power range for $500 or even less. Just be prepared to spend some time working on it. If you can get by w/o the trailer (small boat/big pickup) you can probably save another $500 or so. Me, I've got way more to do in life than time, so I spent the $$ to get an almost new motor (and with the electric start/tilt, one that my kids can operate).

That said, the ideal boat will depend a lot on where you live, what you will want to fish for, and on what bodies of water. Honestly, I would tend to trust folks in your neighborhood a little more than this forum, simply cause I think local knowledge is key. Half the people in my neighborhood have boats of one type or another, and I spent a lot of time chatting them up, discussing how I wanted to use the boat, and where it was going to be kept (which, BTW, eliminated my first choice of buying a Zodiac type of craft). For small lakes, you might even consider forgoing the OB altogether, and just use oars (good for the shoulders) or an electric trolling motor (no smell, mixing gas, fouling plugs, etc). At the launch where I tested the Duroboat, they guy in front of us launched a fancy Alumaweld with a big (probably 100HP+) OB on it, and then proceeded off to fish propelled by his electric trolling motor! Guess he was trying to save on gas ;-)

Good Luck,

-dm

 

[DallasJeff]

Re: First Boat advice for fisherman?

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll be fishing Texas lakes and riversand traveling to state parks and other locations for weekend trips. There is a large local lake within about 10 miles where I'll do most of my boating/fishing but I'll also be fishing and camping at locations all over the state and even in Oklahoma and Arkansas (short trip from Dallas). Most of my fishing is for largemouth bass but also crappie and catfish.

I've searched Craigslist-Dallas the last couple of days and there are a lot of options. The thing I'm not sure about is whether its OK to buy a boat & motor with no title. I checked the TX Parks website and apparently is costs about $25 for title plus $25 for registration for each boat and motor (both must be titled and registered in Texas). So that adds about $100 to the price I think. And the trailer I'm not sure.

I've seen several websites for doing jon boat conversion to a "bass boat" by pulling the stock aluminum benches and adding a marine carpeted plywood deck and swivel chairs, compartments, lights & wiring etc. This looks like a good route to me because I enjoy working on projects like that.

My friend has a canoe and we've been making expedition fishing trips on Texas rivers the last two springs & summers. We went out to the Pecos river and Amistad reservoir last weekend and that got me wanting a motor boat. The river mouth and canyons were just too big to fish by canoe. It was too windy in the afternoons to paddle and move easily around the canyon. We caught a lot of fish, about ten stripers (all within ten minutes), five smallmouth and two largemouth. One of the largemouth bass was about a 5 pounder. With a motor boat and live well we could have had a much better trip. Bring on that IRS refund!

Thanks
Jeff

 

[cbavier]

Re: First Boat advice for fisherman?

Quote I've seen several websites for doing jon boat conversion to a "bass boat" by pulling the stock aluminum benches and adding a marine carpeted plywood deck and swivel chairs, compartments, lights & wiring etc. This looks like a good route to me because I enjoy working on projects like that.

My friend has a canoe and we've been making expedition fishing trips on Texas rivers the last two springs & summers. We went out to the Pecos river and Amistad reservoir last weekend and that got me wanting a motor boat. The river mouth and canyons were just too big to fish by canoe. It was too windy in the afternoons to paddle and move easily around the canyon. We caught a lot of fish, about ten stripers (all within ten minutes), five smallmouth and two largemouth. One of the largemouth bass was about a 5 pounder. With a motor boat and live well we could have had a much better trip. Unquote

You really don't want to be pulling the bench seats out of a boat. They are part of the Hull Structure. They keep the hull from flexing, twisting. If your thinking of a flat bottom and doing all that why not just keep looking and buy a boat built laid out like you want? Then instead of spending all your time working on a boat you can actually be on the Lake using the boat. You mention wind. You don't want a flat bottom boat on a Lake and especially where there is wind. Flat bottoms are good for rivers period. Tri Hulls are as bad as Flat Bottoms too and that's why you can buy one so cheap. Almost a give away price. They hammer you to death in rough water. Take your time, Find and Buy a good 12-16 ft V Bottom or at least Semi V bottom.

 

[bhammer]

Re: First Boat advice for fisherman?

I live over in Fort Worth. Yes, the boat and engine will be registered/titeled and the trailer does not have to under a certain weight, which yours will be. I wouldn't buy one if it ever had one before as you will have difficuly registering it. If the seller has a title but can;t find it, have him pay for a dupicate. You can get them within 30 days from the TPWD.

If you are going to fish Texohma or lewisville and probably ray hubbard, go with a v bottom as you wont get beat up as much on the windy days or busy lake day. But, lavon and rivers would be fine for a flat. Me and a buddy used his flat all the time for crappie on lavon and when we went to hubbard, we never went back. It was just too rough for his 14'

 

[CATransplant]

Re: First Boat advice for fisherman?

I wouldn't buy a boat or motor without a title if one is required in your state. There's too much chance of one or the other being stolen. Then...when you try to register it, it gets impounded and you're out the money and the boat both.

If the owner doesn't have the title, it may be that he/she never transferred the title from the previous owner. Down that road is madness.

Careful boat owners have the title in hand, and can legally transfer it to you. Careful boat owners also take care of their boats. I'd want both things. Since you're talking about a budget of just $1000, I'm assuming you don't want to put a bunch of money into your boat before you can use it. Get the papers or walk.

Be patient. Somewhere, someone is trying to get their old boat out of the yard to make room for their new one. They have the title, and the outboard runs fine. Wait for that one.

 

[DallasJeff]

Re: First Boat advice for fisherman?

Thanks bhammer for the info about titles and registration. I've found several on Craiglist that are selling for about $800 with boat, motor, trailer and trolling motor. A couple of them have title in hand. I'll keep looking for a while until I find the right motor in the right condition.

The jon boat conversions are very popular. I've been reading and looking at pictures of a lot of success stories. For about $500 you can turn a v-hull jon boat into a low cost bass boat with fishing platforms and under-deck storage compartments and comfortable boat seats. In some cases the modification is done by removing the bench seats and replacing with aluminum beams to support the hull and deck. Other cases the seats remain in the boat to support the deck but you lose storage space. There are lots of pictures and a good example of what I hope to do here: http://www.myjonboat.com/aaron.htm or go all out like this guy http://www.blog.tarakito.net/?p=73#more-73

 

[cbavier]

Re: First Boat advice for fisherman?

Thanks bhammer for the info about titles and registration. I've found several on Craiglist that are selling for about $800 with boat, motor, trailer and trolling motor. A couple of them have title in hand. I'll keep looking for a while until I find the right motor in the right condition.

The jon boat conversions are very popular. I've been reading and looking at pictures of a lot of success stories. For about $500 you can turn a v-hull jon boat into a low cost bass boat with fishing platforms and under-deck storage compartments and comfortable boat seats. In some cases the modification is done by removing the bench seats and replacing with aluminum beams to support the hull and deck. Other cases the seats remain in the boat to support the deck but you lose storage space. There are lots of pictures and a good example of what I hope to do here: http://www.myjonboat.com/aaron.htm or go all out like this guy http://www.blog.tarakito.net/?p=73#more-73

I hate to argue with you but the first link is a picture of a V Bottom not a John Boat. The second link with all the pictures is a John Boat. The problem with the first boat I can see is stability. The point of gravity will be high with the floor on top the seats and that boat will be very tippy, unstable. A john Boat or a Bass Boat has a bigger footprint so they are more stable and also have a shallower draft. they ride on top the water instead of in the water. Making them more stable but also ride rougher in choppy water. Bass boats that are Fiberglass tend to ride better than aluminum because of the weight of the boat. Think of a bobber verses a sinker in rough water. However, it seems you have made up your mind so go for it and good luck.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: First Boat advice for fisherman?

like i said earlier, that picture i posted as a great starter boat. you need to check the places you want to fish, some may be Horsepower restricted lakes. there are many, that do not allow anything larger than a 9.9 hp motor.

 

[DallasJeff]

Re: First Boat advice for fisherman?

Tashasdaddy,

That's good advice. Many of my favorite spots don't allow gas powered boats at all. In those cases we can just paddle (which is what we currently do) or use trolling motor only. There are even certain locations where we'll have to tow the canoe into a canyon and then paddle and fish from the canoe.

cbavier,

I thought the v-hulls were also called v-hull jon boats? At least that's how they read in the classifieds. I agree with you about balance. It looks like the center of gravity would be higher and that would make the boat top-heavy and tippy. But according to people who have done this it doesn't change the center of gravity much because you're putting a lot of heavy things such as support beams, chair mounts, 3/4" plywood with carpeting, storage bins, etc directly in the bottom. So most of the weight stays low. I plan to correspond with several guys who have done this and get their actual first-hand experience. About 75% of my boating experience is in different types of canoe so a tippy boat doesn't concern me as much as it might others.

 

[DallasJeff]

Re: First Boat advice for fisherman?

I found my boat. Its a 1957 Crestliner 14-ft V-hull. Good condition and no leaks, titled and registered through 2009.

Motor is an Johnson Seahorse 10HP that runs good and has been kept in good condition.

Also comes with a 1-yr old 35 pound trolling motor and trailer with current tags.

Two anchors, oars and oarlocks.

$650-700
I'm still negotiating price.

 

[beerfilter]

Re: First Boat advice for fisherman?

That is a sweet looking rig , and a cherry motor to push it .
Them old Johnnys will keep running after all the new stuff on the dealers floor has gone to China to make car parts .

 

[cbavier]

Re: First Boat advice for fisherman?

Dallasjeff thats good looking rig. You will be happy I hope. Congratulations and happy boating.

 

[DallasJeff]

Re: First Boat advice for fisherman?

Thanks everyone. I appreciate all the advice. I'm real dumb on this until I "get my feet wet".

Any advice on keeping the motor running good season to season? The guy I bought it from said to mix gas and outboard oil 40:1. And to run it out of gas each time to keep fuel out of the system while the boat is put up. I've never owned an outboard before so I just want to be sure to keep it running good. Its been a good motor I guess cause its a 1954 and still running. The only repair needed has been a new impeller and new coils, whatever that means. The guy told me I should replace the seal in the lower. There's something called a "weep hole" or something that oozes a little fluid. I'm pretty handy but I wonder how available the parts are for this old Johnson.

I think this was a pretty good deal. They guy said his wife was after him to get it out of the yard since he took up golf and doesn't run it anymore. Here's what I got:

'57 Crestliner V-hull
'54 Johnson 10HP
Lowrance Depthfinder
Four oars
Trolling Motor
Deep Cycle marine battery
Two life vests
Trailer
Lights
2.5 Gallon fuel container and lines
Title and registration through August
Set of pins ??? for the prop/lower in case one fractures ???
Price $650

Thanks to his wife for making him get it out of the yard!

Happy Boating
Jeff

 

[DallasJeff]

Re: First Boat advice for fisherman?

CBavier,

I'm taking your advice on the decking seriously. The guy told me he had it completely decked out but removed it because it was too heavy for the 5 horse motor he was running at the time. he said it was plenty stable but just too heavy to go anywhere with a small motor. The front deck is a removeable 3/8" plywood with carpet that he used for casting platform. I may just leave the boat as-is and use his front casting deck without adding all the extra weight. But it sure is tempting to add a full deck and carpet with lower storage compartments. Still on the fence about that. Definitely will add a cooler and pump as a live well. That's assuming I can actually catch any fish.

 

[bhammer]

Re: First Boat advice for fisherman?

That's a nice looking rig! Congrats! I'll keep my eyes out for you on the water.