Want to buy a new fishing boat and looking for recommendations.

[PRDATR]

Long story short.

My son and I were looking at Tracker Boats, specifically a 17'er with a 60 Merc. Price was affordable at about 13K or so but the reviews I have seen online are horrendous as far as quality and BP customer service being unresponsive or telling people to send the boat back to the factory and repairs taking multiple phone calls and months to get resolved at best. 

It seems like common problems are leaking hulls, electronics that are outdated and wiring problems and people at BP who are almost clueless. Should we just be looking at a used hull and get a new motor and electronics?

[Delw]

Long answer short

BUY USED  but newer years. get the motor checked out by a reputable mechanic they will hook it up on there computer and let you everything.

Best merc mechinic in the state is brent at performance marine in glendale.

A new boat is great for a pcs of mind and the warranty. boat motors are the main cost of a boat.

A used boat if you cant afford a new one. I wouldn't buy shoot from Cabelas or Bass pro boat wise let alone have something worked on by them.

any boat either way your going to spend money on them ie break out another thousand is true. that being said I know guys with boats that havent had any issues with 15 year old boats. when they sit you have issues, run them once a month you wont have issues. Change the impeller min of every year and if it sits more than 3 months in with out running change it before you go out to the lake.

I worked on 2 strokes for a good chuck on years turned into a good side job but like any hobby I couldnt stand it after a while.  4 stroke is your best bet for a motor. 2 strokes are basically a race engine and if they dont get ran they break and dont run right. kinda liek the old Dirt bikes back in the day you always had to dick with them if you didnt ride them.

[PRDATR]

Thanks. Definitely going to get a 4 stroke.

[n2horns]

There was a Ranger on here a few weeks or month ago.

[wildwoody]

I got the bass tracker with the 40 hrs merc, 16'8"  love it, bass pro has always been great..

[AZLance]

Just got the 175TWX Tournament Edition with 60hp Mercury.  Love it so far!

[AZBIG10]

Anything mercruiser is solid you may be able to find a skeeter or champion that is well taken care of if you go iswd

[AZBIG10]

There’s a champion and a tracker on CL both worth a look

[Will K]

I had the TX-17 forever. Caught more fish out of that boat than many people have seen. I up-grade to a Nitro 901 CDX just for more room and storage.

[PRDATR]

33 minutes ago, Will K said:

I had the TX-17 forever. Caught more fish out of that boat than many people have seen. I up-grade to a Nitro 901 CDX just for more room and storage.

Was it carpeted? I'm used to fishing out of a Blue Wave Center Console that has no carpet and was pretty easy to wash down. I can't get my head around having carpet in a boat.

[azbirdhunter88]

Ya never take your boat to bass pro or cabelas. Horrible boat mechanics. Don’t buy one there either. 

[dmoto]

Yeah. Decent deal on that Champion 191 with a 200 Evinrude on CL. Looks like it might need some carpet on the floorboards but overall good shape. I'm guessing you'll be seeing more good boats going up for sale soon. 

[trphyhntr]

Lund. 

[PRDATR]

37 minutes ago, dmoto said:

Yeah. Decent deal on that Champion 191 with a 200 Evinrude on CL. Looks like it might need some carpet on the floorboards but overall good shape. I'm guessing you'll be seeing more good boats going up for sale soon. 

Way too many ponies for a boat that size on our lakes. I'm past the age for the need for speed. Back in my teens my buddy had a 13' Carlson Contender with a 3/4 tunnel hull and a 125 Evinrude that had bigger reeds in it and was good for 135 HP.

 We would go out after work in the Great South Bay of Long Island and in the evening the water was like glass. We didn't have a speedo and GPS wasn't around in 1969 but I can tell you that boat from a dead stop would do a propstand and was probably good for 60mph or better. The posted speed limit just past the canal was 30MPH and after partaking in the herb of the day he opened her up to about 3/4 throttle. Out of a cut in the marsh be comes Johhny Law in a Boston Whaler with a 135 Merc on it that had Power Trim/Tilt, which was fairly new back then. Well with his blue lights flashing and siren going he came up on us fairly soon.

I looked at my buddy and said what does he think he is going to do? He let him get to withing about 50 feet and mashed the throttle throwing a huge rooster tail on him and we put about 150' between us. We then slowed down and when he got closer we did it again. Laughing our nutz off. Over the next few minutes we did this three of four more times and he eventually backed off and we went on our way. Nowadays we would probably have gotten shot.

The plate on the transom had a horsepower rating of "Unlimited". He bought it used and it had a gold metal flake paint job on it. On the front of the deck was a painting of a Fly with sunglasses on a pair of bongos between his legs. The boat was called The Beatnick Fly. It was very very fast and light. On weekends when the "Rich Folk" would venture out in their 40' Chris Crafts and Hatteras we would buzz them and sometimes spray them. We were just a couple of longhairs and one thing we would do is come up in their prop wash at 40MPH and about 50 feet from their transom veer off to the right and hit the throttle as we crested their 3 to 4 foot  wave. The Beatnick Fly would litterally "become airborne  for 50 feet floating side to side. Good old American Fun. 55 years later he and I are still friends since one of my brothers married his sister. He is quite the character. Everyones perception of an Italian American from New York. Loud and obnoxios who would give you the shirt off his back. Master carpenter who has done custom work in mansions on the north shore, despite never learning to read or write.

[biglakejake]

Gregor