New Boat Advice

[crappie55409]

ill keep it short. Im looking at buying a newer 2010 and up alumacraft classic 165 with a yamaha 50 or 60 4-stroke. anyone have any reviews of this boat and particularly this motor? Anything alarming i should know about before i start opening the wallet?

Thanks for any advice

[Whoaru99]

Advice? Yes.

Go bigger in both than you think you want/need.

[crappie55409]

i have a 15K budget so bigger than my specs will be hard to come by

[Brad B]

Have you checked out the Classic at Cabela's. they have a boat, motor, trailer, trolling motor package for this model that is around $17000, for about a extra $1000 they said you could go to the 70HP(max HP for the Classic is a 75 HP) 4 stroke over the 50 HP that comes with the package. the one on the floor has the added rear casting deck/ jump seats in it. they are a nice boat and this might be the next boat I get. one option to stay under budget would be to look at the new Escape model in a 16 foot. it will be a hair narrower but only by like 3 inches. it does offer a little less storgae space. what I like about the the Escape is that it is a cross between the discontinued lunker model and the now discontinued Fisherman model. I currently have a 2011 160CS Fisherman and wish that is had the lay out of the new Escape. The Classic Package above is the side console model. you might be able to get into a Classic Tiller model for that $15,000 to $16,000 range. as for Yamaha Motors, I have the 40 HP 4 stroke and let's just say I am sold on Yamaha's. I won't have any brand but a Yamaha after having one.

[theiceman]

Don't buy a new boat! I know it s nice to have new but I made that mistake, shop around walleyeCentral or the hsolist and you can get a pretty darn nice boat for that kind of money mostly rigged up, and Yamaha by far is one of the greatest motors, than there s Suzuki coming in second.

[Ufatz]

Can't beat a Yamaha or Suzuki outboard motor. To maximize your budget dollars a good clean used boat is the way to go.

Good luck and enjoy the water. Oh.....be sure to pick up some quality PFD's and then USE them.

[Gatores]

I actually have a 2010 alumacraft classic 165. Mine has a 50 hp Yamaha, but it is a 2 stroke. I have owned it just for 1 year, but love it so far. It is a very fishable boat. I fish devils lake in ND and I am planning on getting a different boat just cause I want a little more speed for traveling longer distances on such a big lake. I have been on the lake in some mighty big waves and the boat handled it without any issues. My advice, depending on the lake you fish, would be to get a little more hp. Granted if you fish a small lake that size motor would serve you just fine.

[Juan Grande]

I would agree that you should shop for used boats. If you're going to buy new, wait until the boat show and look for deals then. Most people take good care of their boats and if you can find one that's a few years old it will save you money.

FYI, I bought my Lund Explorer 1700 SS back in 2006 and paid $19K for it. That was with a 70 lb Minnkota, Lowrance electronics and a 115 Merc EFI 4 stroke.

[jb426]

Consider what u are going to use this boat for now and in the future. I started with a 14' tiller on a small lake. Over time pan fishing got alittle old, started fishing walleyes on big lake, moved up to a 16.5' single counsole. That is what I have now but if I could I would go with a 17' with a 115hp full windshield. The 17' is the perfect size for most situations, it's small enough to handle by yourself yet big enough to fish three comfortable. It will also handle most sized lakes just fine. If/when you have kids it's a good family boat also. Don't do what I did and start small, you will lose lots of money outfitting each new boat. Find a used 17' you might need to go a little older than 2010 but you can find a very nice one for 15,000. Just my two cents.

[gunner55]

I agree with jb,go a little bigger than you think you need.You might have to go a little older to stay on budget.We got ours at 3+ years old & in great shape,for about what the motor was valued at.We got ours(02 Crestliner Fish Hawk with Yammie 115)off the list in the late fall/early winter though.Around 12K

[NEANGLER]

Another one for buying used, I got my Alumacraft Tourny Pro 175CS for $15K and it was loaded w 150 Merc, 9.9 Merc kicker, 100 LB thrust Bow mount trolling motor w locator and a New Lowrance 102CS. was only about 4 yrs old when I bought it and the Kicker had just been put on and never been used. And as everyone has said already buy as much HP as you can.

[delcecchi]

Sounds like you caught him with his shorts in a twist. Great deal. Congratulations.

[SledNeck]

With the superior resale on Lund and Crestliner not a bad idea to buy new.

[Sandmannd]

Best time to by a boat is the late fall. Prices drop by a lot.

[harvey lee]

I would agree it's a better deal most times to buy used and yes, one can save some dollars.

I have purchased both used and new and I do like the new boats.

I will pay the addded dollars for a new boat even if it costs more, I like new.

[delcecchi]

I have looked at new and used boats and cars in the past. It always seems to me that the money saved by buying used is small compared to the amount of wear and tear and lack of warranty on the used vehicle.

[Umma Gumma]

I like to think I'm always shopping for my next boat, and in looking I see a lot of boats only a few years old that have only a few hours on them, many less than 50. Yet these boats are sometimes $10-12K less than new, not including sales tax. There is always a risk that something could go wrong with the boat or the motor, but invest that saved money into a mechanic checking out the motor before you buy, or getting new carpet put in if that's important.

Inevitably someone buys a new boat and within a matter of trips there is a cut on the carpet or a scratch on the outside, and you get more obsessed with the scratch than catching fish (at least I do). Save yourself the heartache and buy someone else's almost perfect boat at a fraction of the cost, and invest the saved dollars into electronics or a kicker motor. There biggest drop in a boat's value happens the second you drive it off the lot. After that, if you take care of it, the drop is much less. Let someone else take that hit, and then you enjoy their boat.

[Juan Grande]

I'm probably being Captain Obvious here, but another thing to consider when deciding on length is what will fit in your garage. I have a standard sized garage with a third stall and my 17 footer barely fits in a regular stall, with the swing tongue broken. The interior/cover will last much longer if you keep it out of the sun when not using it.

[CaptainMusky]

There are nearly new boats that can be had for great money. I know you initially were looking at the Alumacraft Classic, but I just found a 2010 Alumacraft Navigator 165 with a 90 suzuki, trolling motor, depth finder, etc for under your $15K number. That was just one example, there were several others.

Buying new is nice and one thing to look at are new non-current models. You can get them quite a bit cheaper.

I bought my boat, motor and trailer this way. I receive all the warranties and rebates that were currently being offered and saved a few thousand dollars! The larger dealers will have leftovers, just limited in quantities and models.

[Ballyhoo]

Alumacraft makes a great boat and is under rated. They are practical, durable and a good all around boat and they cost a lot less than a Lund. Everyone has hit all the big things. Make sure the engine is the highest rated for the boat. There is no substitute for power in a boat. An underpowered boat is horrible. It is often hard to find a used boat that fits your needs, either too old, wrong motor, wrong layout so it might pay to go new and keep it longer. That is what I ended up doing. I got the boat that I wanted and am slowly equipping it the way I want. I am proud to say the first scratch on it came from me and not someone else.

[Juan Grande]

Yep Captain Musky, I bought my 2005 in 2006 as they were clearing out last year's models. Definitely saves you some cash.

[collegepaul]

ill keep it short. Im looking at buying a newer 2010 and up alumacraft classic 165 with a yamaha 50 or 60 4-stroke. anyone have any reviews of this boat and particularly this motor? Anything alarming i should know about before i start opening the wallet?

Thanks for any advice

My dad just bought a 2014 Alumacraft classic 165. He bought the 2014 model partly because it has larger drawers in the bow than the previous 2013 Classic model. IMO, the larger drawers are nice for pulling out and putting back in your tackle and other gear; you don't have to dig for it. It's a small detail but it's one of those things that makes it just a little bit nicer to fish out of. He put a 60 hp Mercury on it and runs well.

[delcecchi]

I just looked. They are fuel injected, and that is significant in my book. (At least the current ones are) Yamaha has a good rep in outboards.