PDA

View Full Version : Need a little help boat choices.



sed8ed
03-11-2013, 09:50 AM
I have decided (and got permission) to buy a new boat for the coming fishing season and later, duck season. My choices have been narrowed down to the following boats but I need a little help weighing the pros and cons... hopefully someone has either of these two styles and can weigh in.

Uses:
50% waterfowling: Pitt river, goose island, westham island foreshore, fraser river back eddies and sloughs
25% Pulling crab/prawn traps in Indian arm, putting around with the wife to the small islands, heading up to the mouth of the arm for fishing and hunting
15% Salmon fishing on the fraser, probably below the Rosedale bridge, however I may venture higher if the boat can handle it
10% Hunting up north: floating rivers, accessing points off Williston lake

Boat choices:
Lowe Frontier 1546 http://www.loweboats.com/2013/hunting-boats/frontier-1546/


Pros: Lightweight (290 lbs, can put it on top of the enclosed trailer when I go hunting up north), narrower trailer width for ease of storage, easy on fuel, cheaper, can trade my existing 8hp for a 25hp straight across the board, shallower draft for marshes
Cons: Can only take a 25hp max (is that enough power for the fraser/williston?) narrower beam, less cargo capacity,

Lowe Frontier 1650 http://www.loweboats.com/2013/hunting-boats/frontier-1650/

Pros: Higher capacity, more room for buddies if they come hunting, higher HP rating @ 40hp, wider beam for greater stability
Cons: 460lbs, I am not moving this around by myself but I could still take this boat up north if I invest in a boat loader for the truck and put the quad underneath, trailer is 7' wide now, fuel usage is double, total costs are around $2000 more for this boat

lorneparker1
03-11-2013, 09:57 AM
If you have the means always buy bigger.

Lorne

Foxton Gundogs
03-11-2013, 09:59 AM
1546 should be enuff boat and as you say you dont need an army to move it 25HP with a jet would work well, down side neither are ruff water boats so watch it on the chuck and wiliston.

Foxtail
03-11-2013, 10:09 AM
Williston is a mean lake and the wind blows up big... When we were there years ago we had our 21' welded aluminum with at the time a merc 150 outboard with jet. The other guys we were with had a 23' duckworth with a 383 inboard jet. Our boat had a big custom fully enclosed canopy at the back wich was the oposite of aerodynamic... on the way back up the lake the wind blew up and we almost couldnt get back... everyone except my dad had to pile into the other boat for our boat to make any time at all. I would be very hessitant about taking a little boat like that into williston... more so than the Fraser.

Mr. Dean
03-11-2013, 10:17 AM
Big water = big boat as possible.

Crazy_Farmer
03-11-2013, 11:53 AM
Always try to buy a foot or too longer then you think you need. It's the shits buying something then realizing you need bigger

Fred1
03-11-2013, 12:05 PM
Go as big as you can....

lorneparker1
03-11-2013, 10:10 PM
Always try to buy a foot or too longer then you think you need. It's the shits buying something then realizing you need bigger


Thats what she said!

On a serious note, i have lived this a few times and it is super ghey

Steelwheels
03-12-2013, 12:46 AM
Thats what she said!

On a serious note, i have lived this a few times and it is super ghey

Not sure your meaning.. What? ...Coming up short??

sed8ed
03-13-2013, 12:11 PM
Well these responses were quick... thanks so far.

Leaving Williston lake out of the equation then (I have access to a cabin right near the WAC dam and was hoping just to go explore up the east arm but if it is too risky then I wont even add that to the possibilities) I think I will go and see if I can negotiate a better deal on a bigger motor first, then buy the boat that it fits.

Given my boating locations, I was leaning away from a jet drive, however I may be able to get a 50 tiller with a jet for a decent price including trading in my honda... how are the jets in a marine environment (indian arm and in the chuck)? Would the slight chop make them unfeasible with the jet sucking air? How hard is it to tiller control a motor of this size?

I think I will be going for the 1650 provided I can get a decent motor, my budget is $5,000, $5,500 max all in... the 1546 will run me around $4,000, the 1650 will run me $4,700 with a 25-30HP or $7,100 with a 50hp jet so I will have to wait a bit and pick up a few extra shifts to pay for the full load setup * if I were to go this route I will buy the motor now and buy the boat later *

I was looking at this thread and it gave me ideas for hunting options up north but if I were to go that route, we would need to have 2 vehicles anyways in order to retrieve the boat. http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?92976-Hunting-from-a-small-boat

labguy
03-13-2013, 05:57 PM
Remember that you will lose about 30%-35% HP when using a jet drive. In other words your 50 HP jet drive becomes a 33 or less HP.

If you go with a power tilt and trim on your motor, in most cases you can lift the engine high enough to avoid rocks in shallow water if your careful. A stainless prop on the package will take a fair amount of dings without causing you too much grief.

Operating a tiller handle on a 40 or 50 HP prop drive is no problem whatsoever......I have never used a jet tiller that large.

:)My ulterior motive here is that I have an almost brand new (less than 8 hours) 2012 Mercury 40 HP tiller handle with power tilt and trim that I would sell very reasonably.

I bought this engine brand new in Sept of 2012 it and comes with full transferable warranty. The reason I'm selling is that a mud motor would better suit my uses.

Anyway, good luck with whatever you decide to go with.

Fred1
03-13-2013, 06:03 PM
I believe the Mercs HP rating is what you get from the jet. So one that has a 65 on it is giving you the 65hp. Am i wrong?

labguy
03-14-2013, 08:38 AM
I believe the Mercs HP rating is what you get from the jet. So one that has a 65 on it is giving you the 65hp. Am i wrong?


That's not what I've been told by a number of Mercury dealers and technicians regarding outboards. They all warned me about losing 30-35% HP when you have a jet drive. The leg is the only change between a prop drive and a jet drive.........the motor head is the same for both.

Hellfish Hunter
03-14-2013, 09:22 PM
I was just on the stamp last week and the guide from west coast adventures has 140 hp tiller jet so a 40-50 will be no problem!

Sako7
03-14-2013, 10:27 PM
The mercury 40 factory jet uses a 60hp power head so it is 60hp at the crank and 40hp out of the jet.If you install a jet drive on an existing outboard you will loose about 30%.

Ian F.
03-15-2013, 06:47 AM
I think Dano has the second boat you are looking at

Look to the US for purchase, friends have saved lots of money doing similar

Kudu
03-15-2013, 06:57 AM
I have decided (and got permission) to buy a new boat for the coming fishing season and later, duck season. My choices have been narrowed down to the following boats but I need a little help weighing the pros and cons... hopefully someone has either of these two styles and can weigh in.

Uses:
50% waterfowling: Pitt river, goose island, westham island foreshore, fraser river back eddies and sloughs
25% Pulling crab/prawn traps in Indian arm, putting around with the wife to the small islands, heading up to the mouth of the arm for fishing and hunting
15% Salmon fishing on the fraser, probably below the Rosedale bridge, however I may venture higher if the boat can handle it
10% Hunting up north: floating rivers, accessing points off Williston lake

Boat choices:
Lowe Frontier 1546 http://www.loweboats.com/2013/hunting-boats/frontier-1546/


Pros: Lightweight (290 lbs, can put it on top of the enclosed trailer when I go hunting up north), narrower trailer width for ease of storage, easy on fuel, cheaper, can trade my existing 8hp for a 25hp straight across the board, shallower draft for marshes
Cons: Can only take a 25hp max (is that enough power for the fraser/williston?) narrower beam, less cargo capacity,

Lowe Frontier 1650 http://www.loweboats.com/2013/hunting-boats/frontier-1650/

Pros: Higher capacity, more room for buddies if they come hunting, higher HP rating @ 40hp, wider beam for greater stability
Cons: 460lbs, I am not moving this around by myself but I could still take this boat up north if I invest in a boat loader for the truck and put the quad underneath, trailer is 7' wide now, fuel usage is double, total costs are around $2000 more for this boat






You don't need a jet boat on the local marshes - all you will do is make a huge racket and waste a ton of cash.

A 12/14 foot, flat bottomed boat fitted with a 15-20hp short shaft motor, will be more than enough.

If you want to fish the Frazer or Harrison this boat will be fine - if you want tackle big water buy a "deep v" and add a wet deck along with horsepower.

Take a drive down to Cabelas in Tulalip, they have the perfect boat for you - and their price is right.

sed8ed
03-16-2013, 03:43 PM
Yeah, I am shying away from the jet now... looked up how well they work in anything other than skinny water and the reviews were quite poor.

Kudu - The wife actually talked me out of buying a 1436 and just using my existing motor on it... she didn't want a repeat of her having to drive to mission to pick me and the boat up and then up to Gill to get my truck where I left it... too much current to make it back up

I am leaning back towards the 1542 now... motor trade, selling my little cargo trailer to buy a used boat trailer and selling my zodiac... I am only looking at around $2,200 additional for the 1542. That leaves a good chunk more cash to spend on other life expenses (like a new rifle and scope)

In two or three years, we are planning on buying a deep water/family boat anyways... probably a Maverick DV... just have to finish the reno's on the house first. Keeping in mind though, that is a lot of boat to take out hunting and fishing on a regular basis

zaconb
04-08-2013, 11:03 PM
I run the Lowe 1852mt for hunting and its great, my thoughts are the more room the better. Now it's a great Lake and marsh boat but running up the "arm" is a different story. I live on the north shore and have run under the Iron Workers Bridge to Cates Park and under the First Narrows to fish the Cap a few times and I'm here to tell you she does not like any type of wave action and she is rough!

Mr. Dean
04-09-2013, 11:33 AM
FWIW, I think Steeleco has a boat/motor combo for sale - It sounds to me it's right up your alley.
Maybe toss him a PM....