In a bit of a quandary. Spend a summer on Lake Powell with a friend with a 22' Sea Ray many moons ago but still consider myself a rusty semi novice at this point. Shopping for my own boat. Given $ limits and personal preferences I'm looking for a 16-18' used welded aluminum deep V with a 40-70ish HP 4stroke outboard, ideally in the $5-7k range. If I had a $20+k budget this would be no issue, but in the Arizona area used market such things seem nonexistent.
Quandary: what I'm finding are either older boats from good reputation makers that fit that description but with 2-strokes, often old 2-strokes, OR less old boats that are low rider bass boats, but have nice 4 stroke engines. Local options here in Flagstaff are Lake Mary (some of you would deem it a long pond no doubt ;-) or (the opposite extreme) Lake Powell. (Note that depending on who you listen to or who is interpreting the regs, Lake Powell either does or does not have restrictions on older 2 stroke outboards. I'd much prefer to avoid them anyway just for environmental responsibility reasons.)
I would like my "new" boat to be able to be usable on both. One of the things I recall from my time on Powell was that the water could get "interesting" even for the 22' Sea Ray. I'm guessing it would get a bit more extreme than "interesting" in one of those bass boats that seem to have maybe a foot of rise from the water level. I don't mind getting wet once in a while, but also don't want too much drama in my old age ;-)
Does anyone have opinions or experience with low boats in rough water? Brands/models that are preferable or to avoid? Am I just being paranoid or what? Thanks!
Quandary: what I'm finding are either older boats from good reputation makers that fit that description but with 2-strokes, often old 2-strokes, OR less old boats that are low rider bass boats, but have nice 4 stroke engines. Local options here in Flagstaff are Lake Mary (some of you would deem it a long pond no doubt ;-) or (the opposite extreme) Lake Powell. (Note that depending on who you listen to or who is interpreting the regs, Lake Powell either does or does not have restrictions on older 2 stroke outboards. I'd much prefer to avoid them anyway just for environmental responsibility reasons.)
I would like my "new" boat to be able to be usable on both. One of the things I recall from my time on Powell was that the water could get "interesting" even for the 22' Sea Ray. I'm guessing it would get a bit more extreme than "interesting" in one of those bass boats that seem to have maybe a foot of rise from the water level. I don't mind getting wet once in a while, but also don't want too much drama in my old age ;-)
Does anyone have opinions or experience with low boats in rough water? Brands/models that are preferable or to avoid? Am I just being paranoid or what? Thanks!
