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Hi All -

I'm looking for a small aluminum boat for my son and I to go fishing
at a nearby lake. I'd like to be able to hold at least 4 adults on
the boat from time to time. I was also thinking of buying a used one
with just a trolling motor on it.

What brand/model would you recommend? How much do you think it will
cost?

I've never owned a boat before so I don't know what things I should
look out for when buying one.

Thanks.


Include Lund boats in your shopping process. I've got a WC-14 yacht that
works well for me. It's built like a tank. In 1999, it cost me $1600 with
trailer, but without a motor. I don't know prices on new motors. I got a
mint-condition used 15 hp Johnson for $1200, if I recall correctly.

We all have different criteria for these decisions. Mine was a boat that was
capable of handling nasty wave conditions, maybe not smoothly, but safely,
which this boat does. Click the bottom picture at this link, which also
shows other boats in their "Adventure" series. They also make a 16 ft boat
in the WC series:
http://www.lundboats.com/adventureseries_2007.html

You mentioned 4 adults, though, and for more than one reason, that raises
issues. First of all, all boats have a limit to how much passenger & gear
weight they are designed to carry safely. You'll have to check the specs on
these boats, vs. what kind of weight you expect to carry. You also need to
take into account "luggage", and the types of people you will take on the
boat.

Luggage: With 3 people in my boat, an ice chest, and multiple tackle boxes,
things are crowded, especially if any of the people are clueless about
keeping their stuff out from underfoot. Two hours of fishing and this gets
tedious & cramped. So, for the typical 8 to 10 hour fishing marathon, I'll
only take one passenger, unless I know I'm dealing with wide awake people.
Take a really close look at the floor & storage space in whatever boat you
find interesting. Don't estimate ANYTHING. If you intend to have 4 people in
the boat, bring the family when you're shopping. Get volunteers from the
store's staff to climb in the boat and see what things are really like with
that many people, in terms of space.

Types of people: Just once, the wind caught the side of my boat at the exact
moment that a large teenager decided he wanted to lean over the low side of
the boat to look at the water, or something. Scary moment! I leaned into the
wind and corrected the boat's angle. These small boats are sensitive to
shifting weight, especially with enough wind or interesting wave patterns.
If you can foresee having passengers who are totally blind to the world
around them, you should be thinking about a bigger boat that's less
sensitive to surprises.