Choosing Aluminum Boat Lund vs Legend

[ozenine]

Hi Guys,
Here I am looking at new boats. Due to space and money restrictions I narrowed down my search to 2 models:
1) Brand new 2011 Legend AllSport 151:
http://legendboats.com/en/view/boat/2010_151_allsport
It is 15.1 feet, long 76 inches beam. They also add the premium package for free. All together the price is 17700 and that includes upgrade to 50 hp 2 stroke merc, 7 year warranty on motor, fees, taxes, etc.

Pros over Lund:
- Starcraft Made hull with 0.1 ga aluminum on the bottom (vs 0.67 on Lund)
- Year - may be important for resale - 2011 vs 2007
- Guides on trailer
- Folding tongue on trailer (a must for me - stored in garage)

2) Lund 1625 Classic Sport
http://temagamimarine.com/new_vehicle_detail.asp?veh=43164&CatDesc=&pov=1581436#detail

Price with same motor is 17100 everything in (same warranty on motor )
Pros over Legend:
- Instrument gauges
- Trolling motor and 2 batteries
- Mooring cover included
- Price
- A foot longer

I know this question will come up - why not buy lightly used boat. Here is my reasoning - warranty on hull, floor and motor. Worry free ownership for 7 years. Boats keeps their value - 2001 aluminum 16 footer is listed for 11500.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Choosing Aluminum Boat Lund vs Legend

I'd sooner buy a brand new motor, couple sheets of plywood, and some pedestal seats for your existing Starcraft then shell out that kind of scratch for a stripped new boat.

 

[lncoop]

Re: Choosing Aluminum Boat Lund vs Legend

Sounds like you're determined to buy new, which I understand. However, before you pull the trigger please consider the following caveats to your reasoning.
1. You don't necessarily have to buy a new rig to get a warranty.
2. Structural damage to aluminum boats is easy to spot and repair, which means the risk of unseen issues is greatly reduced as compared to used glass rigs.
3. Worry free boat ownership for seven years? YEAH RIIIIIIGHT! I know what you mean of course, but I really think you're overvaluing peace of mind, particularly with regard to the hull and floor.
4. Just because that 01 is listed for $11.5k doesn't mean she'll fetch it.
Just a few things to consider.

Now, as to your question, I think if I were forced to choose between only those two I'd go with the Lund because of the extra goodies and space. Both good rigs though. Whatever you choose, I hope you enjoy the heck ouf ot if. Tight lines.

 

[ozenine]

Re: Choosing Aluminum Boat Lund vs Legend

EZ, I was waiting for you to chine in . I agree with you on the motor part. When i priced motor it came to about 7 grand for me.
I love my starcraft that seats in the garage now and I am thinking of keeping it and slowly restoring. The time is really bad for me now - tons of work and tons of things to fix around the house.
I guess my wife got fed up with several unsuccessful launches and told me that she wants something reliable for everyday use.
You know it better then me that besides the plywood and motor there are few things that need to be bought to make a boat saleable - paint, tires, carpet, seats. I am already 2 grand into that SC add another grand for other things = 3 plus 7 grand in motor - 10000. Given that I can get 2001 16 footer for 10000, this 1979 boat after 5 years even fully redone with new motor will be worth 6000 max, so I am loosing 4000. On another hand if 17000 will be worth 12000 I will lose 5000.
I guess the fact that i cannot spend time working on it now is the major thing

 

[ozenine]

Re: Choosing Aluminum Boat Lund vs Legend

lncoop, thanks for the opinion. I agree that i maybe overvalueing the peace of mind, but I also look at the price per year of usage. Given pretty good resale values of aluminum boats there is not a huge difference. But where there is a big difference it is in amount of labor that needs to be put in.
I am not a king of a guy that buys new things. the only big purchase that we made was a new house and it is only because it was chaper then one in established area. My cars are all bought used.
I guess I want something reliable which does not frustrate me because it breaks every other time. And I have no time to fix it before next outing, so outing has to be cancelld. You know what I mean.

Main thing for me in warranty is motor followed by floor+transom. And I am looking at 6 extra years of platinum warranty (1200 bucks) from merc which covers everything in motor.

 

[DonHof]

Re: Choosing Aluminum Boat Lund vs Legend

I was in your shoes last year looking for my first boat. Everything I found was over priced and not taken care of. I went new, glad I did!
That way you can equipped the boat the way you want not the way some else wants.

 

[ozenine]

Re: Choosing Aluminum Boat Lund vs Legend

I was in your shoes last year looking for my first boat. Everything I found was over priced and not taken care of. I went new, glad I did!
That way you can equipped the boat the way you want not the way some else wants.

I am very fussy about maintaining my things, few people do same. So everything used is the lottery that is why it is cheaper. That way I can maintain it under my standards and hope for the best, not inherit issues caused by poor maintenance of PO.
As I said the main thing for me is that I have almost zero time currently for fixing stuff.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Choosing Aluminum Boat Lund vs Legend

Hey Oz, the beauty of an older tin boat is the simplicity of its construction. You could do a half-*** restoration in 3 days. Tear it apart, cut new floor and transom pieces from exterior plywood, paint it all with porch and floor paint, put it back together. If you continue to store it in the garage I bet you'd still get many years out of it before rot even started to be an issue. I'd invest that little bit of time into your Starcraft and hang a new or better yet a warrantied rebuilt motor on there and go fishing.

My opinion would be different if you were looking at well-outfitted boats. In that case I'd say congrats to you on being able to afford the upgrade. As it is I see you possibly spending $17k on a new boat that doesn't really offer you much more than your current rig other than a new motor and shiney paint job.

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: Choosing Aluminum Boat Lund vs Legend

I'm not sure I agree with the rationale for buying a new boat. The Starcraft just needs to be repowered with an outboard. No way do you need to drop 7k on a motor to be back on the water reliably.

Does it need to be restored on the interior too? That will only cost a few hundred dollars.

I see outboards all the time that are in running condition for 2-3k. Not to mention that you may not be overly impressed with a 50hp on that new boat.

I am obviously biased towards Starcrafts, but I'd stick with what ya got and just shop for a new motor.

That 2001 boat did not sell for that price of 11k, I'll bet it was listed at that price and didn't sell.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Choosing Aluminum Boat Lund vs Legend

Here's Oz's current boat for reference http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?p=2641353#post2641353

After looking at it again, I stand my ascertion that you could have that boat ready to go in a weekend.

I went here http://www.outboardexchange.com and looked at warrantied rebuilt outboards. $2850 for a 50HP Evinrude.