Re: new boat advice
The "fish and ski" name can mean different things to different people. The bowrider companies put trolling motors on their bowriders, allow you to put fishing seats on the front and rear, and possibly add a live well. The bass boat makers modify their bass boat hulls by expanding the seating area and adding more seating capacity and swim ladder. Then there are center consoles that are just center consoles and many think they are a good fish and ski boat. They all have strengths and weaknesses and you need to really decide what you want to do with the boat, and what's more important. If fishing is more important, then an outboard fish and ski from one of the bass boat makers is going to be better... where as if you are doing occasional fishing and mostly cruising and skiing, then the bowriders may be better.
I was looking for an outboard fish and ski with the bass boat type hull. I a '93 17' at the beginning of the summer after looking for quite a while and was very happy with it. It did a good job fishing and could get into very shallow water, and it also served us well for skiing, tubing, and wakeboarding. But, I came to realize that with 4 teen+ kids in the family, this boat was a little small for us, and I continued to look for a larger one. I eventually found the 20' ProCraft that I have now and we love it. It does everything a little better than the 17' did (a little more power for water sports - 115hp vs. 200hp; a little larger fishing platforms; a bit more storage space, a bit more seating space, etc.).
The thing is that there seem to be very few of the 19-20 fish and ski boats for sale on the used market that aren't nearly new and over the budget I had planned. I looked for about a year before I found this one... '95 and garage kept so really good condition. There seemed to be about 15 to 20 of the 17' fish and skis, for every one of the 19-20'. If you are opening it up to a bowrider, then that may give you more in that market, but I was only looking for the bass boat style with an outboard.
As for outboard vs. inboard... there are many threads on that here. For fishing, I like the outboard better because you can completely raise it out of the water and the boat can then go into about a foot and a half of water without a problem. If you are fishing out in deeper water, then not an issue... but if you are going into the shallows, then it is. Outboards are also easier to get to and work on, and since the motor is completely out of the boat, you also get more space in the boat for the same hull length. On the downside, they can be louder and if you have a 2 stroke then there is oil to consume and a little more smoke at times. Other than that, they are going to both do the job. The odd thing to me is that my new 200hp 2 stroke is a lot quieter than my 115hp 2 stroke was... both Mercury.
