buying a fishing boat

[jackal68]

Man im looking at every medium to buy. In canada in u.s. dont know who to trust whom to buy from.My buddy tells me "watch out don't by a force engine" don't buy a tracker I just want a good used fishing boat.Dont know of any marina's ugh. Ok i have vented i'll be ok

[mike rousseau]

Walleyecentral

[Tim Mills]

Post what type of boat u r looking for, budget etc, ofc'ers can offer suggestions on how to find it.

 

Be patient, do your homework, know your prices so you can act quickly if a good deal comes along.

Better value in USA. Take your time and wait for the right boat, don't settle.

[BillM]

Walleyecentral

 

I found guys on that site are overpriced. Found ours on Craigslist in Michigan.

[HTHM]

pm sent

[Lape0019]

First off, I own a tracker 190tx and would buy another one in a heartbeat. The only ones that have problems are the older tracker 175txw hulls but with a little research, you will figure this all out.

 

Force engines are not necessarily bad, but they are a bare bones engine that if I had the choice, I would stay away from.

 

Honestly, I think of both Tracker and Force as entry level equipment. They serve a purpose to get you into you first boat at an affordable pricepoint.

 

My advice is if you are looking used, settle on a pricepoint and if it is aluminum you are looking for, look at Lund, Crestliner, or Princecraft. There are other great boats out there but these guys seem to be touted as the best. And try to get as close to max HP as possible. A lot of people under power their boat to try and save money. All this does is make you regret the purchase because the boat will not perform properly and you won't be happy with it...

 

Adam

[lookinforwalleye]

There are a lot of good boats for sale out there and probably just as many that are not so good...I can tell you it is just as frustrating from the sellers point of view!!!

I Tried to sell my Stratos a couple of years ago and for the most part I got a bunch of tire kickers and lowballers trying to steal it from me, I had the boat at a price point where it should have sold you could not have gotten the same boat in the States for less but still everybody wanted it for 2-3 grand or more less than my asking price which was already under fair value.

[landry]

I bought in the states twice.

My advice is similar but I would pick a specific model and length that u like so that u can compare apples to apples. That's what I did. Then I looked daily for a few months and pounced when I saw a good value.

Always water test it and have a mechanic go over it before u buy!!!!! No matter what Bull the tell you.

[Big Cliff]

Always water test it and have a mechanic go over it before u buy!!!!! No matter what Bull the tell you.

X2

 

Take your time, there are good deals out there to be had and getting caught up in a bad one could take a lot of the fun out of fishing for a long time to come. Give us some ideas of what you are looking for; what sort of water do you intend to fish? What do you have to tow it with? What is your budget? Are you planning on doing a lot of trolling? The more information you can give us to work with the more we can help you!

[lookinforwalleye]

I bought in the states twice.

My advice is similar but I would pick a specific model and length that u like so that u can compare apples to apples. That's what I did. Then I looked daily for a few months and pounced when I saw a good value.

Always water test it and have a mechanic go over it before u buy!!!!! No matter what Bull the tell you.

The one guy I had that was somewhat serious had a hard time trusting...I had just had mine in for service full report done motor under 75 hours perfect condition water tested etc. and the buyer still wanted me to trailer the boat a couple hundred miles to his mechanic so he could go over it, needless to say there was no deal!!! Not every seller is out to screw you!!!

[BillM]

Exchange rate isn't very good for buying over in the states now unfortunately. You'll probably still save some $$$ but not all that much.

[Big Cliff]

The one guy I had that was somewhat serious had a hard time trusting...I had just had mine in for service full report done motor under 75 hours perfect condition water tested etc. and the buyer still wanted me to trailer the boat a couple hundred miles to his mechanic so he could go over it, needless to say there was no deal!!! Not every seller is out to screw you!!!

I have sold a few things both through here and other on line sites and I have always tried to make sure that the buyer got a good deal and there were no hidden problems. I don't ever want to be walking down the street and have to hide my face. Unfortunatly not everyone is like that so it has to be buyer beware!

[landry]

Most sellers are good people for sure. However, when I sold my boats I made sure to have testing already done and printed from a marine mechanic and I insisted on a water test all three times. My reputation means more to me than money. Having said that I would not want my boat to be trailered for another test a couple hundred miles either. That would be silly. I would just encourage them to contact the mechanic/marina that already did the engine assessment. Selling boats is annoying as you do get a lot of annoying tire kickers and lowballers but the people that bought my boats were all good people in the end.

[aplumma]

last boat I sold I spent 3 hours going over the boat with the new owners explaining all of the quirks that had showed up in the past. We went over the as is sold contract and answered any questions he had as to what AS IS means. We squared up on the price and I returned $100.00 to him towards any items that I did not know about. This follows two basic rules of selling something Get the terms in writing and the correct price is the one where both parties are happy.

 

BTW the boat is still running like a champ and we fish together regularly.

 

best of luck

 

 

Art

[wkrp]

If I would ever buy another boat it would be a Hudson Bay freighter canoe.

[akaShag]

We can be of a lot more help if we know what you want to use the boat for, and where. A Great Lakes boat might be too big for small water. A boat that I can take comfortably on all of our back lakes might be NFG for Lake Ontario. I will NEVER go back to a console/steering wheel, but there are folks who will NEVER buy a tiller boat.

 

And so on.............

 

Doug

[Beanstir]

Have a mechanic look over the motor. I speak from experience as I purchased a used unit and only got 2 rides before being towed in. $2,500 in repairs later, I learned my lesson.

[jackal68]

Thanks for the feed back guys. I am not familiar with the big waters. Erie or Ontario is just way to out of my wheel house or interest. the whole down rigger is not my bag. Im looking like an older Peterborough with an outboard right down to a 14 footer. im starting to lean towards a jon boat. I live right by the grand and the only passengers would be me my son and maybe daughter. Or who knows. any suggestions on 12 and fourteen footers with kickers.

[akaShag]

I have owned a lot of boats, all but one smaller rigs.

 

When I was finally going to buy a brand new boat because I had saved up enough money, I asked a professor of mechanical engineering if I should buy a boat with a fiberglass or aluminum hull. Well, to distill his advice down to its basics, if you EVER pull your boat up on sand or a rock, or if you EVER leave it out in the sun, you might not want to have a fiberglass hull. I thought that was very valuable advice and bought a Sylvan with an aluminum hull, and have never looked back. That was fifteen years ago, many days on the water, and I am a VERY happy camper. Sylvan boat, Honda outboard, for my fishing I have a perfect outfit.

 

For Caribou, you might find that a twelve footer is just not enough boat if you do want to fish three people. It can be done, I did for years, but there is not much space and an excited passenger can give you some pretty spiritual experiences.

 

Doug

[BillM]

No need to go to the US for a 14ft tiller, they are everywhere around here. Before we purchased our Lund we had a 15ft Legend Widebody tiller with a 40hp Honda 4 stroke. With a few improvements made (front casting deck, livewell, etc) it was probably one of my favourite boats.. Extremely stable, crazy fuel mileage, took the rough water without any issues, just an awesome boat. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend one. Sold it to a guy who cottages on Sparrow.

[bushart]

If you check Kijiji regularly---I see little 14 footers with regularity

 

You may have to find several sellers for boat/motor and trailer

 

And like all said---test it out

 

Getting towed back to shore somewhat stinks

[jackal68]

kool thnx folks

[bushart]

OK--here's an example

 

I was just on Kijiji (Renfrew County)

 

There's a 14 ft boat/motor and trailer---2400 dollars

 

I can't seem to post the link here---but not hard to find

 

I have zero idea about how good or bad it is??

[Steve]

if your not looking to fish big water, ie, erie, ontario, simcoe, st clair, etc, then go with whatever boat you find meets your price standards...

 

but your friend is right - if you want to use your boat in remotely big water, i'd stay very far away from crackers and legends.

 

if i was only looking for a boat for the grand river, i'd go with a flat back style canoe and a 2 hp outboard.

 

if you want something wider, i'd go with a 14' lowe or similar.

 

lowe makes what I call a "miniboat". that's a 14' with a 25hp motor, usually honda's.

 

that would fit perfectly for your needs.

 

but just understand, big water eats small boats....or all trackers/legends.

[BillM]

 

 

but just understand, big water eats small boats....or all trackers/legends.

 

Dude, you need to re-check your info. What eats small boats on big water is weather, not the brand.