Help, I'm buying my first boat

[Jigger Man]

Which of these boats would be better for my first boat purchase?
1.) 1988 16ft. Lund Rebel, with a 1988 30hp oil injected Suzuki. It comes with a cover, and an older bow mount trolling motor(I do have a transom mount trolling motor). It has 2 swivel seats, with 3 bases. They are asking $3500, the best price I could get out of him was $3200.

or

2.) 1986 16ft Alumacraft Lunker SS, with a 1985 50hp Mercury with a stainless steel prop. It doesn't have a cover, and has a few more scratches then the Rebel (not a real big concern) It has 3 swivel seats, with 4 bases. The dealer is asking $2800, I haven't tried bargaining yet.

Neither boat has power tilt/trim. Both motors will be thoroughly inspected, and will have a short warranty period( I believe 60 or 90 days) From what I've heard from friends, the dealer has treated them very well, and he seems like a real straight shooter.

[Crawlerman]

I'd go with #2. A cover isn't a big deal... they cost a couple hundred tops and can be gotten at any fleet farm. 50 horse may be more than you need if it's a normal hull boat; but it's worth more. Another thing to consider would be the depth and width of the hulls and any livewells, storage compartments, casting deck, electronics etc. But it sounds like the #2 is the better deal. Or wait till spring when more people start selling there stuff... I paid $1750 for my 14' lund S series (deep hull) boat with floorboards, lights, stoarge compartments, and a nice reliable '87 fuel injected ELS LS 20 horse Johnson... it's a great boat for a beginner. Those two sound like decent starter boats as well. Keep your eyes on the stuff for sale over $250 here... I've seen some pretty good deals that made what I paid for my fixerupper look like a rip-off. The one thing I learned myself last year is having your first boat is great. Just take it on smaller lakes with less Rec. Traffic first to get comfortable with it, and test it out.

[minneman]

FYI, I bought "ten yrs ago" a 1984 ws16 lund w/merc35 tiller and trailer same age, for $1995.00 the boat is the older style rebel. floor with small storage under 2 seats. no livewell. its a deep wide boat. found at a local dealer.

I think both are over priced! keep looking and dont get fixed on one boat, the deals are there you just have to keep searching.

[fishinphyl]

We purchased a fiberglass silverline tri-hull 2 years ago for $1400.00. We added new seats for $400.00 (of course we added the toys-trolling motor, fish detector). It has a full windshield, seats 8, has plenty of room for a cooler and junk, 120 hp I/O and runs great and it also looks like a new boat. We use it to fish and ski and love the boat. I looked at the boat show and would not trade this boat for the $14,00-$15,000 fishing boats we saw. We purchased a cover for it - but we never use it. We purchased a canopy for it and then put a plastic tarp over it which is much faster and keeps the boat like new.

We looked at used boats for a long time before we purchased this boat. The fishing boats were so overpriced and in such bad shape we could not believe it. So keep an open mind and look around. Remember, we still have a lot of winter left. Darn!

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Phyl

[Gordon Fothergill]

Both sound decent, keep in mind that the trailer is a big part of your package. Always try to get more trailer than you need. When buying a used boat remember to look them over really good and to be patient. There are some good deals to be had on the type of package you are looking for. Quite a bit of boat buying season ahead of you.

[Bushwacker]

I would pick option #2----- I just sold a 1986 Alumacraft Lunker 14SS with a 1986 Johnson 35 hp. I got $2300 for mine in the fall, so the $2800 sound pretty good. I picked up a cover for mine at Fleet for like $65 so it is not that big of a deal. When looking for a used boat, look at the options on it. The three vs. four seat bases may not sound like that big of a deal, but when you have a boat, you have a lot of friends. There will be times when you that extra spot will come in handy. I moved out of the cities and now I fish a ton, so I bought a bigger, newer boat, but my Lunker was great. Great setup and design, 14' didn't cut it though. I did stick with Alumacraft- 1994 Competitor 170. Great quality boats. Good luck and shopping for a boat is one of the most enjoyable shopping there is!!