After
glancing around I think I've decided that I want a "Fish and Ski" type
boat. I've been looking through the boattrader.com and iboats.com
website and I've come across these two models:

1995 Stratos 278/17'9"/Johnson 115 Fast Strike (although says 150 in
the pic)/8995.00
http://www.iboats.com/cgi-bin/marine...gi?id=45638-ad


http://www.iboats.com/cgi-bin/marine...gi?id=48213-ad
1994 Procraft/18'/Mariner 150 Four Stroke/9995.00

Clif, both Stratos and Procraft made decent quality boats in the mid-1990s.
Those are very similar boats; both have the right amount of horsepower. Note
that the Procraft ad is also wrong. There is no such thing as a Mariner 150
four stroke. It's a two stroke motor.

50,000 acre lake in South Carolina? Are we talking Lake Hartwell?

My concern with those boats would be the dark colors, particularly the carpet.
On a hot day here in the south, that carpet will guarantee you are baked on the
bottom while the sun bakes you topside. My bass boat has a silvery-gray carpet
that's much lighter and still broils me on a long, hot day of fishing.
Depending on your fishing habits, you may also regret the lack of under-deck
rod storage. That's often a weakness for fish and ski boats. Some in-floor
ski lockers can be used to store rods pretty nicely with rod organizers. But,
fish and ski layouts are a compromise, and when it's time to pull a skier, they
are much friendlier than a dedicated fishing boat.

Make sure you have the boat you choose checked out prior to completing the
sale. The hull (particularly the transom) needs to be checked for soundness,
and the motor should be examined by a competent mechanic.


-- Rich Stern
www.nitroowners.com - The Nitro and Tracker Owners Web Site
www.mypontoon.com - The Pontoon Boat Web Site
www.fishingreportdatabase.com - The Fishing Report Database
www.mysporttrac.com - The Sport Trac Web Site