Mr Wizzard wrote:

Man, this is very helpful information, 'preciate dat!.
So, the rest of the boat been good/Ok to you ?

Yes, I have been very satisfied with the boat. I had zero issues with
the boat itself, and all problems have been self-inflicted. I hit
something one day and chopped off half of the skeg. The water here is
very murky so you can't see what's below. I suspect it was a block of
concrete or something like that. This happened when the boat was very
new, over one year ago, and it was nicely repaired by a local boat shop
/ Mercruiser dealer - they cut off the old skeg and welded a new one in
its place - you really can't see that it's not original.

I also had to replace the prop because the original one was bent /
damaged in the same incident. I opted to replace the prop with the
stock aluminum one. It gives me decent performance, and I prefer to
use a "soft" and weak prop, so in case I hit something again, the prop
will sacrificy itself instead of stripping the gears.

As for the boat, it's very austere, but that's why I like it - there
are few things to go wrong and take care of. I do all the maintenance
myself. I use it mostly on the local bayous and lake Pontchartrain -
it's a big lake and it develops a nasty chop on windy days. I also
like the fact that it's easy to tow, and I can still get 22 mpg even
when towing the boat.

Of course there are better boats. Ideally I would prefer to have a
four-stroke outboard motor and higher freeboard, but similar sized
boats with these characteristics are at least 50% more expensive. So
for the price, the 175 is unbeatable. Actually most people I have
talked with here can't believe that I paid so little for a brand-new
boat - they expect the boat to cost at least 20 to 30% more.