Open Water Deep V for Freshwater?

[ColoradoGrayMan]

My wife and I are looking at aluminum fishing boats. I like a deep v aluminum hull design with high gunwales. I grew up fishing big lakes around the midwest and I remember several sketchy situations on rough water, and thanked God for flotation foam in the boat.

My wife and I are late 40's empty nesters that like to hunt and fish and travel. We do live in Colorado where the lakes are small, but we would want to travel to places with bigger lakes (Wilson reservoir, Kansas... Harlan County reservoir, Nebraska, Lake Powell, Lake Mead)

I'm looking at open water, deep v designs:
Starcraft Fishmaster 196
Alumacraft Trophy 205
Crestliner Commander 185

These are all 18--20 ft boats that I can easily pull with my truck. 2016 Nissan Frontier 4.0 V6 4x4 with 6ft bed and factory installed trailer towing package. 6,200lbs max trailer weight. It appears these boats all weigh in around 3,000--3,500lbs fully loaded with trailer.

The only person I know with any boat experience is my dad and he's telling me a deep boat like this is wasted unless I'm on the Great Lakes or the ocean. I can afford the boat and would feel safer in the larger size, but they are $10-$15k more expensive than a more shallow or "medium v"

Looking for input.

 

[Texasmark]

I got back into boating after a 5+ year break and my choice was just what you described and I think you are headed in the right direction....I say that having been boating for over 60 years and when 4 kids were growing up we boated nearly every weekend....church, home-change clothes, fast food joint, gas station, the lake!!!!!!! The boat of choice was a new 1972 18' Caravelle with a 125 Johnson, tri hull with a deep V. They didn't make deep V, mono-hull bow riders of any sort back then but they would have been the better choice.....notice in your shopping that the only gull wing-Tihedral-tri hulls you see today are 40 years old or so.

Good rig for fishing and skiing, or just boating for the day......the deep V trihull was my second "family" boat. I started the family boat quest with a new 1971 Chrysler Sport Fury 16' light tri-hull with a semi-V (shallow) with 55 HP engine and besides no room, it beat you to death. 55 hp wasn't adequate after a few Sunday flops so I was back at the dealer taking another financial hit for a new 85 HP Chrysler......depreciation the first couple of years on a boat-engine is brutal..... That kept it 1 year.

Couple of names to add to your quest are Tracker and Lund. The Tracker Tara is a super boat supporting your ideals. This time I was looking for a little smaller boat (than your requirements) since I fish alone and bought a used Crestline 1750 Fish Hawk, deep V, deep sides, 7'4" Gunnel to Gunnel at the transom and a 115 Mercury. It's 19 years old and I wanted to go through it before I put it on the water....just about there. Ought to run out real nice.

Good luck and remember this: The money you spend on your boat is gone forever (excepting a trade in at a later date.....which was my experience mentioned above....and I took a beating). What you buy with that money is what matters and you will thank yourself every time you and your family go out for a day's boating fun for buying what you wanted.

 

[ahicks]

Well, some deep vee counter points maybe. How well the deep vee hulls handle rougher conditions is pretty well known. What they cost you is constant "hunting" at slow speeds in displacement mode. This means near constant steering corrections are required by the captain. Not too big a deal in a brand new boat, but I'm here to tell you it gets old after a while. The other thing is stability. Compared to a wider flatter bottom you often see in fishing boats, a deep vee can be down right tippy! They're fine when everyone is sitting down, but moving around or climbing in and out onto a dock might surprise you when it comes to how far that side moves.

And then, what percentage of your boating might be done in rougher water where the deep vee has the advantage? If it gets nasty, are you even going to go out?

Last, so you know, I'm not completely down on that type of hull. It's just not my favorite. I think blasting around in the rough with a Donzi is a blast......

When it comes to anything else, I'm looking for the widest hull I can find for stability. If I have to slow down because of conditions, so be it.

 

[Starcraft5834]

size matters in boats and boats on biggers waters... had a deep V cuddy, was terrific on NYS Finger Lakes which are very big lakes.. all depends on where u are going.. get biggest boat u can haul... I started with a 15 ft trihull, quickly learned needed more boat, then a 20 ft cuddy, quickly learned I needed more boat.. now a 20 ft Toon with a 115 merc, and 2.5 kicker... tons of room, can do everything i want and need now.... learning process....

 

[southkogs]

"Wasted" is probably a little harsh. But, "unnecessary" might be more appropriate for the use you're describing.

My boat is probably what you would call a "middle V" - V hull, but not real deep. I'd be comfortable on the ICW with it and maybe some bigger bays, but I wouldn't be comfortable on it in big water like the Great Lakes or the Ocean except if the water was really calm.

I boat on the large impounds in Middle Tennessee. The size lakes these are we can put some pretty big boats out and blow up some pretty solid storms. My boat will handle all of it well enough ... BUT there are plenty of folks out there with deeper V hulls, even blue water type boats. And those boats aren't out of place. Truly they can handle the North end of Percy Priest better because all of the traffic really churns that water up!

So, it's probably not necessary - but the deeper V may come in handy.

 

[bchaney]

Have you considered a used boat? You may be able to find a deep V for the price of a new shallower V hull. When I was looking for a boat I also wanted a higher freeboard for safety, but if the price difference was that significant I'd think twice.

 

[ColoradoGrayMan]

Appreciate all the comments.

Couple guys mentioned water conditions. I'll be fishing for all kinds of fish. We like walleye fishing and there's better walleye fishing in other states, on bigger lakes. A lot of my past walleye fishin ain't exactly been flat water and warm weather. We've been catching them from the bank at the closest big reservoir.

We're going to try and get the biggest boat that will fit in the garage. We're building a new house and we added a 3rd bay to the garage for a boat. It's 24 ft deep. Going to get a folding tongue trailer, or maybe knock a hole in the back of that 3rd bay and put in another overhead door. Pour a pad behind the garage and roll the boat through. Easy enough with an aluminum boat and flat concrete floors. No room beside the house for a gate and driveway, so only way to get the boat into the backyard would be through the garage.


We did consider used at first, but came to the realization that with used boats, come used motors. Most of the older 90's motors are 2-strokes and have served their life out. Can't find parts for them. Nobody knows how to work on them... and doesn't want to learn. They're old news. It's all electronic ignition and fuel injection systems today.

No sense buying a used boat and motor and praying to get a year or two out of the motor before a $12,000 -- $20,000 upgrade comes down the pipe.

We did look at pontoons. They are an option, but they're tall and may not fit in the garage. Even a 16 or 17 footer is quite tall.

 

[Texasmark]

Well, some deep vee counter points maybe. How well the deep vee hulls handle rougher conditions is pretty well known. What they cost you is constant "hunting" at slow speeds in displacement mode. This means near constant steering corrections are required by the captain. Not too big a deal in a brand new boat, but I'm here to tell you it gets old after a while. The other thing is stability. Compared to a wider flatter bottom you often see in fishing boats, a deep vee can be down right tippy! They're fine when everyone is sitting down, but moving around or climbing in and out onto a dock might surprise you when it comes to how far that side moves.

And then, what percentage of your boating might be done in rougher water where the deep vee has the advantage? If it gets nasty, are you even going to go out?

Last, so you know, I'm not completely down on that type of hull. It's just not my favorite. I think blasting around in the rough with a Donzi is a blast......

When it comes to anything else, I'm looking for the widest hull I can find for stability. If I have to slow down because of conditions, so be it.

Check out the boats mentioned herein. Not your glass deep deep V that never gets the hull up and out of the water...center keel, 37*fore, 17-20* aft, reverse chines, 7'4 transom width on a 17 .6 boat.......hull weigh 1k# type things.

 

[bchaney]

I prefer 4-stroke as well, that's pretty much the reason I bought the boat I did. It's an old aluminum Starcraft that was repowered in 2008. Used boats with newer motors are available, at least in my area. Maybe an alternative is to find your preferred hull with a bad motor and repower it to your liking immediately.

That said, 2-strokes are very simple motors and most should be easy to work on. It seems pretty rare that they just suddenly die with no warning. Before buying one you'd just want to thoroughly check it out including compression testing to get an idea of remaining life.

Your garage sounds really cool.

 

[ColoradoGrayMan]

I'm a 2-stroke expert and used to prefer them, but reality is they are dying or dead. Can't get parts for a lot of them. My brother is going through this right now with a Mercury 60hp 2-stroke engine. The ignition box breaks on at least 1 cylinder every time he hits a hard wave. The new box is $500 and it's a "re-pot" from china.

I am looking at all kinds of different manufacturers. not at all stuck on the Starcraft or the Crestliner pr Alumacraft.

 

[TyeeMan]

Another one to look at would be a Lund Tyee. It's a tin boat which they also now make in glass. Deep V, high gunwales, very big water capable.

Mine is an older 1950 Tyee Magnum, we are regularly up on Leech Lake in Northern Minnesota which can produce some pretty impressive waves. Hasn't really been a concern in my boat.

Or the next size up would be the Lund Barron and Barron Magnum. They haven't made them for a few years, but towards the end of the run they were putting 4-stroke outboards on them.

 

[ColoradoGrayMan]

Definitely looking at the Lund Tyee. We like the 1800 and 1900 because of the weight and length considerations. Those are supposed to weigh in around 3,000 lbs towed. Add a cooler and gear...... I'm okay for about 3,500-4,000 lbs and want that safety factor. Truck is rated at 6,200 lbs max towing.

 

[TyeeMan]

I've owned 3 Tyees, 1750, 1850, and now a 1950 magnum and all were/are wonderful boats. I grew up with my family having a Lund so I guess that's why I'm partial to them.

My Tyees were/are I/Os. Starting with a 3.0L and now a 5.7L. When were not fishing we like cruising, I like the low center of gravity of the IOs that makes the boat a bit more stable.

From a fishing standpoint an outboard might be nice, but I offset that with a bow mount trolling motor.

Good luck with your search!