Need a little help boat choices.

[sed8ed]

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/huntin...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/huntin...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]

If you have the means always buy bigger.

Lorne

[Foxton Gundogs]

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]

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]

Big water = big boat as possible.

[Crazy_Farmer]

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]

Go as big as you can....

[lorneparker1]

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]

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]

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/showth...m-a-small-boat