Impossible boat hunt?

[cbavier]

Re: Impossible boat hunt?

The boat in the link looks great. It would no doubt serve your purpose for a couple years maybe providing your kids are 4 or 5 years old. There are some important things you must consider.

One you don't say where you are.
Two where you plan to boat. Great lakes, Inland Lakes, Ocean.
Three your kids are going to grow and get bigger and heavier FAST Boats look big until you start loading them up with gear and passengers. Then they get awful small in a hurry. How long you plan to use this boat before going larger.

 

[bekosh]

Re: Impossible boat hunt?

You don't need a boat to go with your camper. What you need is a boat that is a camper.
18-20ft pontoon with a full camper canvas should sleep 4 easily. You can use it parked at a campground on the trailer, or just beached or anchored out on the lake. There really is nothing better than waking up in the morning already on the lake.

 

[zapblam]

Re: Impossible boat hunt?

1) Sask Canada.
2) Inland lakes. Besnard Lake, Diefenbaker, Nipiwan/Tobin.
3) Probably wont get bigger for a very long time. Will use camper till its past falling apart. Will never own a full size truck let alone a 5th wheel. Not my style of camping. The tenttrailer was the luxury upgrade from a tent with the kids.

We already fish out of a 18ft decked lund with one kid (second child due this april) and 4-6 adults. It works but we could take our own boat it would save grandpa from hauling the 6 adults and 2 kids.

My dream setup is a camper topable boat (200lbs max as camper top has a rating of 250lbswith the racks I will install) and a folding aluminum trailer for towing at the lake and the odd occasion I go with the boat without camping. I know folding trailers and cartoppers are common in Australia but not here.

 

[BF]

Re: Impossible boat hunt?

have you thought about seasonal camping? That way you leave the stuff there, and can have a decent sized boat (on a trailer) that doesn't need to be towed regularly (except to launch). Remember you can still do day trips for fishing etc. using your seasonal spot as your "home base".

We did a 12' boat on top of our pop up camper for years when I was a kid... with a 9.9 merc it went good. But it was always crowded and the 12' boat wasn't very nice for moving around in. It would be a big change from the 18' that you've been using. One of the shallow 14's would fit on top, but still are a big step down in size from a full sized 16 or 18' boat.

The plus side of a bigger boat 16-18' alum with ~25 hp is that it would allow you kids to do tubing and skiing... in addition to being a good fishing platform.

We switched from weekend to seasonal camping when I was ~12. We used the pop up for one season, then bought a used travel trailer (was 18' I think)... It was nice to go out "camping" but have the place already set up. Around the same time we switched our 12' aluminum to a used 15' fiberglass boat with a 40 hp... our first "real" boat with a steering wheel. We did lots of skiing behind that rig.

Upshot is that I don't think there is a good compromise for you. When we camp now (family of 5), I take a 16' aluminum on a trailer and we tent. With fuel costs now, I think seasonal camping makes a lot of sense... especially if there are several lakes fairly close together.

 

[zapblam]

Re: Impossible boat hunt?

Thanks for all you input. I will most likely revisit this topic next year when next years spring fever hits.

I have decided to put the boat hunt on the back burner for a year or two. With new baby due in a few weeks and all. Will be at least a year till we would even consider boating with a baby. Camping yes. Will take my 3yr old daughter out canoe fishing a few times though in the mean time.

As far as skiing and tubing, neither of our families have. Her family stricly fish and ours always canoe. So a plain jane bench seat utility is all thats needed. Not a priority or even a thought yet.

I have also stopped and thought realisticly and realize that there is no safe way to bring our trailer and a boat to a lake. We will continue to hop in grandpas boat with us 4 and them 2 and quite often brother n sister n law. It works fine. Even 6 lines in the water have not been a problem. Either that or on occasion rent a boat at the lake.

In the mean time, its every second weekend in the canoe and fishing solo for me.

An uncle has a 14ft meyers semi v for us to try out just to see if a small boat would even work for us safely.

 

[zapblam]

Re: Impossible boat hunt?

Thought about seasonal. But we both like going to different lakes. Seasonal your stuck going to the same. At the very most we might go to a larger tent trailer in several years. Say from our 10ft to a 14 or so. Or may go back to tenting.