unfortunately aluminum is the trickiest stuff to work,
not practical as a handyman project. But it's great
engineering material, boats made of it can be light
& strong & durable.

Yes, you are right. This is the reason why I would ask repair shop to
fix the boat if I get an aluminum boat that needs fixing.

Well, you should start out by doing some field work. Join a crew and do
a lot of sailing. Trudge around to the sailing clubs and work at getting
rides on as many different boats as you can. Keep a notebook to record
your impressions of the different boats.

I am looking for a small powered boat for fishing. I think I know what
I need: A 17-ft/18-ft small center console that is made in aluminum or
fiberglass. I have been using rental boats for years. I need a boat for
myself that I can rig it to the way that I want.

Well, there is a slight amount of truth to that, mostly due to speed of
production as much as anything else. But a lot of those old very thick
hulled boats are mostly resin, which is brittle. Heavy ain't necessarily
strong, despite the numerous old wives tales about the strength of 2" or
6" or whatever thick fiberglass in the old pre-Nixon boats. A lot of
what's said around the docks on this subject is old wives tales and
utter nonsense.

In other words, I am better off examining the boat itself instead of
worrying about too much of its production year: Knocking around the
hull to see how much repair work that the boat will need ... etc. And I
need to keep an open mind with used boats, and don't be too quick in
eliminating a boat just because it was old or it was built in certain
years.

Sound like a workable plan to me. Thanks.

Be darn sure you don't under estimate the cost of fixing. Spend some
time with the various marine catalogs and price things like running
rigging, wiring, marine paints, etc etc.

Yes, I have been reading mail order catalogs to see how much new
fittings will cost. I will revisit some boat yards soon to see whether
they carry fittings that come off from old boat. Hopefully, old
fittings cost less than the new ones.

Jay Chan