Economical Freshwater/Saltwater Boat

[Carrollton-Fisher]

Hello all, I am new to the site, i've been hunting around for a good boat used for bass fishing that would occasionally like to take into saltwater/bay fishing as well. Would preferably like to be in the 6-10K range. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks in advance.

 

[cwhite6]

Re: Economical Freshwater/Saltwater Boat

Look into something like a Carolina Skiff. You can put a front deck on them like mine and mount a trolling motor along with a back deck with livewells. They are fairly priced and claim to be unsinkable. I love mine.

 

[Philster]

Re: Economical Freshwater/Saltwater Boat

Boating is never economical.

 

[rbh]

Re: Economical Freshwater/Saltwater Boat

Boating is never economical.

2nd that

 

[robert graham]

Re: Economical Freshwater/Saltwater Boat

I run an 18' Express jon boat and it's durable, light to haul, servicable, darn near can't tear it up, even when my wife ran it into the dock! Sea Ark makes some nice jon boats and not all jon boats are OD green/ugly(like mine),either. some are real nice looking these days. Check out Express and Sea Ark boats.

 

[RotaryRacer]

Re: Economical Freshwater/Saltwater Boat

This may sound funny and I admit that I know very little about fishing.

What about a Walleye boat? From what I can tell these boats are designed to work ok as bass boats but have a deeper freeboard and a more "sea" worthy hull design to be used on the Great Lakes. It may give you enough boat in the bay, but not so much it isn't useable on smaller water.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Economical Freshwater/Saltwater Boat

Avoid a true "bass boat" b/c they really limit what you can do on open water, and they generally aren't built to handle salt water.

 

[ml8163]

Re: Economical Freshwater/Saltwater Boat

Not sure if your looking for new, but I was looking pretty hard at Maycraft skiffs for a while. You can get a 17 footer with a 50 HP Yamaha for just over $10k. I also looked at one in person and they are no frills very well built boat.

http://www.maycraftboats.com/model_1700skiff.php

http://www.boattrader.com/listing/2010-May-Craft-1700-Skiff-10714094


Good luck!

 

[Carrollton-Fisher]

Re: Economical Freshwater/Saltwater Boat

Thanks for the replies. Cwhite6, i'm really interested in the carolina. did you have the platforms/trolling motor installed or can you buy them with? i'd love to see a couple of pics of yours if you could find time, don't go out of your way though. The maycraft also looks nice from what i can see, i'll have to do some research on them as well. Any more suggestions from other posters would be great or feedback on the one's mentioned.

 

[high'n'dry]

Re: Economical Freshwater/Saltwater Boat

You probably should do a search for "bay" or flats boats which are designed for exactly what you want to do. Built to run in shallow water with a tunnel, V hull entry, fiberglass saltwater hulls capable of running out on good days. You do not want an aluminum northern lakes walleye type boat in saltwater, it will just pound and beat and fizz.

 

[cwhite6]

Re: Economical Freshwater/Saltwater Boat

Thanks for the replies. Cwhite6, i'm really interested in the carolina. did you have the platforms/trolling motor installed or can you buy them with? i'd love to see a couple of pics of yours if you could find time, don't go out of your way though. The maycraft also looks nice from what i can see, i'll have to do some research on them as well. Any more suggestions from other posters would be great or feedback on the one's mentioned.

I bought mine from an individual who had built a custom front deck for it. CS sells their boats as either bare hulls or as built models. When you buy the bare hull, they have a whole slew of decks, consoles and whatnots you can add to them. My J16 new as a bare hull is around $2000. You can add front and back decks with lifewells, a center console with steering and seat and various other little things and come in WAY below your listed price. That is without a motor though. Mine has a 30hp Nissan and by GPS I get around 28mph with just me in it. Go to their site and surf around. I highly recommend seeing one in person at a dealer. You will not believe how stout they are.

 

[mikeroche]

Re: Economical Freshwater/Saltwater Boat

i had a 17 ft starcraft cc aluminum so it's light to haul and it had a deep v ,it went though 3-4 footers with out a problem

 

[Carrollton-Fisher]

Re: Economical Freshwater/Saltwater Boat

I'm really liking the Carolina JV 17 or JVX 18. I went to the dealer this weekend but they were closed until after the new year. They look like they'll offer a dryer/smoother ride. Anyone have any experiences with these two boats?