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You're going to get a lot of the same advice when you go to buy a boat. It will sound like this... "You should save up and buy new." "You should test drive a lot of boats and see which one works for you." "Brand X boat is the best by far, you should buy one." "Never buy a Brand Y motor." "Buying new is crazy, you should buy used." Get the picture?
I have strong opinions when it comes to fishing gear but I don't have strong opinions on glass boats because I've never owned one. So I picked up the phone and called my friends who have boats and fish hard. I picked their brains at length for recommendations and opinions. I asked about handling, speed, rough water performance, engine reliability, trolling motors, storage, trailers, fuel economy, fish finders, all of the big items. Information is key with any large purchase.
In the end I learned what I think we all know. It's a 'love the one you're with' world out there. Ranger guys think Rangers are the best for quality and attention to detail. Champion guys talk about the ride and the rough-water performance. Triton guys talk about the speed, the handling and the price. I listened to it all. I enjoy hearing from people who are passionate about their equipment.
I also took in to account 12 years of back-seating with team partners, friends, and Pro/Am draws. I've been in boats that have speared waves, broken windshields, hit steel buoys, ran up on docks, thrown prop blades, and blasted through 4 footers. I haven't spent much time behind the wheel but I've driven a Nitro, a Basscat, and a couple Rangers. I'm no boat expert by a long shot but I know the water. Here's the conclusions I came to.
New or Used:
My price range was 20-30k. At the same time I wanted a 19-20' boat with a 200 to 225hp motor. New was out of the question. The notion of paying $40-$70k for a bass boat seems broken to me as a sustainable business model. With the recession in 2008/2009 this may change. But as I write this, prices on new rigs are still way up there. So used was my choice. I wanted something 2005 or newer.
Boat Size:
19 to 20 feet felt like the right size for me. I'm not out fishing the National Guard on the Columbia River or Mead. I do like to get in close around docks to flip. With my swimbait-centric approach to life, 8' rod lockers were a must have item. So I had to go with at least a 19 footer. 21 felt like overkill for my fishing.
Boat Brand:
After a lot of thought I settled on Champion or Ranger - with Champion as my first choice. Triton interested me, but I didn't like the front deck layout. My top criteria were rough water handling, space to fish up front, and room for my 8' rods. I wanted a boat where I didn't have to second guess running the San Joaquin, or the narrows at Clear Lake on a big day. I felt like Champion was my best bet in the 19-20' range based on trips with Cameron Smith in his 196. The feeling of cutting across 2' chop with no bumps is a nice feeling. This meant a 196, 198 or 200 Elite was on the menu. I was willing to consider a 20' Ranger like a 520 or Z520 if I could find a real deal on one. 19 foot Rangers weren't on my list based on too many bone jarring slams in a 195VS over the years.
I didn't care about speed and didn't look at any specialty boats like Allison or Bullet. Resale value was a consideration, and after watching the classifieds carefully for more than two years I saw that both Ranger and Champion had decent resale. When I say decent, I'm talking in relative terms. Bass boats depreciate at an alarming rate. What was important was that when I saw a sharp looking Champ or Ranger came across at a good price - it got sold. I don't plan on having any of my current boats until I die. There's too much time left to fish!
When you listen to opinions on boat brands, just keep in mind that there's a trickle down effect on boat purchasing decisions. What I mean is that the top tier pro-staff guys who are getting free boats or memo boats are fishing those brands because of the boat deal -not necessarily because it's the best boat. Of course many pro-staff guys believe strongly that they are in the best brand, but when you knock $10k off the price of any boat it starts to look real nice. Think about how many guys on the Elite Series have changed brands in the last 5 years.
When you put a deal like the FLW Ranger Boats contingency money in the mix, pretty soon you wind up with a lot of top-tier and second-tier guys running Rangers in California. The reputation for Ranger grows because when those guys sell their boats they are always going to say Ranger is the best boat you can run. They want to sell the boat after all - right? In many ways, pro-staffers are like an extended sales force.
None of this is to say that Ranger is a bad boat as obviously I considered buying one. I'm just recommending you keep an open mind and think about whether this kind of trickle down effect could be influencing your purchasing decision. The same guy who tells you Ranger is the absolute stuff this year as he sells you his memo boat could be pitching a Triton to a different guy next year. That's the industry. Nothing wrong with it as long as you have awareness. I have zero affiliation with any boat company and if you don't either - you should pick the boat that works for you.
Single or Dual Console:
If you are cool, you go single console. That's all there is to it. Your non boater can chew on knats and fend of the coots because when you hook super-bessie you are going to need to run past the second console with the rod buried under the boat as you let out your Iaconelli scream. I hear all that. But I like my non-boaters, and I have a little boy who might want to go fishing with me when he's older. So I decided that either single or dual console would be fine.
Trailer:
Single or dual axle? The trade-offs are the price of 4 tires vs 2, the risk of a blowout on a single axle, and the ease of maneuvering your rig. Single axles are easy to back in to a tight parking space or push around on the jack wheel. Dual axles are nice when you get a blowout. Having been behind the wheel on a dual axle when the tire blew I am here to tell you that you'll breathe a big sigh of relief being able to get off the highway without incident as radial chunks shoot from the wheel well. When you check the parking lot at a Pro/Am, you'll see an overwhelming percentage dual axles. I suspect that's for a reason. Dual axle was a must have for my boat.
Engine:
Blue, black or sliver? Either way a 3-star carb rating or a 4-stroke was a must have for San Pablo Dam, DVL, and the likelihood that more lakes will begin enforcing outboard motor emission regs in the future. I went in to my thought process thinking 4-stroke. I don't like the idea of buying oil and mixing it. I do like the idea of low maintenance. To my surprise, the more I learned about the newer 2-strokes, the more my opinions shifted.
Being conscious of the environment and hating the stench of blue boat exhaust in the morning I looked in to emissions and was surprised to see that the newer 3-star rated 2-strokes were very good (in relative terms). As a point of comparison, my 2005 Yamaha 15hp 4-stroke has a lower carb rating (2) than a 225hp 2-stroke Mercury ProXS (3). That was an eye-opener for me.
Speed was not a huge factor in my decision but I wanted a boat that could jump up and move. The Delta is a 30 minute drive from my house and though I'm not a big Delta guy I do fish there. I didn't want to be underpowered on that body of water with it's winding canals and idiotic jet skiers. I thought about the Triton's I'd seen with 225 Hondas hanging off the back - they just didn't look right. The opinions I got were that the Hondas just don't have the performance you really want on a bass boat. As much as I wanted a 4-stroke, it didn't feel right. Yamaha is coming out with the VMAX SHO 4-stroke that might solve the 4-stroke issues, but it's too late for me.
This got me narrowed down to Mercury Optimax ProXS, Yamaha Series 2, and Evinrude E-TEC. My next step was to read all of the marketing materials and check all of the boat test websites for fuel economy numbers. The marketing materials for boat motors are a marvel of statistical manipulation. Someone should do a case study on misleading marketing. My next move was picking up the phone again to solicit opinions and hear as many blown engine stories as I could from friends. I liked the ProXS for the fuel economy and the lack of blown engine stories. The Yamaha sounded good in reliability terms but not in fuel economy and oil consumption terms. The Evinrude won the prize for most blown engine stories. I decided that a ProXS was what I wanted.
Trolling Motor:
Minn Kota or Motorguide. They all break. Guys like the Motor Guide's because you can spin the head with the cable quickly. The same guys who say that will tell you their stories about breaking the cable and losing a day on the water. I've owned Minn Kotas for years and hated the unreliable foot pedals on the PD series. Trolling motor brand therefore wasn't a consideration for me. I'd take either. I did want a 36v with 100lbs+ thrust. When you are sight fishing on a calm day in clear water, you want to be moving at least 2.5mph. 3 or 4 is nice.
Fish Finders:
I didn't hang up on Fish Finders. If I could get some nice ones that was great, but I decided that I would not let this be a make or break criteria for the boat. In the long run I want the full bore side-scanning setup, but I knew that in my price range and year range I was unlikely to get it. No big deal.
Accessories:
Like the fish finder, I did my best to put accessories out of my mind. Of course we all want two power poles, a hydraulic jack plate, blinker trim, Smart Craft gauges, a lift assist trolling motor, Hamby's keel guard, remote oil fill, tackle organizers, rod racks, structure scan, and Biosonix. But those things can all be purchased after the fact.
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