Need The Straight Scoop

[Mitch f]

FWIW, I'm not totally stuck on a Fish and Ski, but with a wife and 2 young girls I need to think of them too.

[Old plug]

Think about the. Cost of running a big heavy boaat is as well. I have a friend bought a new 18 ft bass cat last year and strapped a 300 hp yamaha on it. I have no idea how fast that thing will go but i have seen him going down the channel a few time during the week and I have never seen anything else that fast. It is vertually airborne. Boat cost $50K all total. If your looking at a big bass boat or fish and ski you can be sure it is going to run you around $40 at least. That is too rich for my blood.

[LarrySTL]

Ditto about the fish and skis.

One thing you might do if you havent already is sit down and figure out realistically how often you are going to have more than one other in it, and also how often you will make a top speed run of say 10 miles or more. Running 5 miles at 40 or 45 mph sometimes unless the weather is truely horrid there are a lot of boats that would be ok. Above 50 mph it gets different. Above 60 is lots lots different.

I've been in big Skeeters and I think they are strong boats but my experience is that even at 21 feet, I find them a much harder ride than Ranger or Triton. Nitros seem to be getting better, but I personally would not bet gobs of my money on that. I hear good things about Phoenix but dont know them firsthand.

Part of this is also where you plan to use it. LoZ is murder on boats and backs and I'd get the biggest well made fiberglass boat I could afford or I'd get a big aluminum deep deep V. Bull Shoals except from the dam up to about Oakland tends to be a bit narrower and therefore less bad wind than some other places ( he says about the place where he was in a tornado on the water in a bass boat). Miss River....see LoZ, then multiply it. Table Rock from about point 9 to the dam is pretty big open water and the huge goof boats and wake boats are getting bad in lots of places on TR. Up the James or way up the White, not so much. Pomme de Terre, pick what you like best, its a gentler lake than many others. Rend and Carlyle see Miss River.

Around 19 feet of fiberglass and a 175 or 200 hp, a dual axle trailer with brakes is really helpful. If you are going to 18 ft and a 150, check your vehicles tow capacity, and consider a transmission cooler and/or oil cooler on your vehicle. Also pay lots of attention to what the gas mileage will be at $ 4 per and how often you plan to tow it how far.

I would lean strongly to Ranger, perhaps Triton for fiberglass; your mileage may vary. I dont know enough about aluminums of any size to have an intelligent opinion.

Resale value I would say Ranger.

Most bassboat dealers around here, if you are looking seriously at a good size, boat will take you out for a test run in what you may want or find a happy customer of theirs to do that for them. This can be a good idea even if you are considering buying used; 20 minutes at Winter Park wont really teach you anything except perhaps whether there is a serious problem with that particular boat.

I have never owned aluminum bigger than a johnboat for a pond, so I dont have any specific knowledge about them.

Remember to enjoy the process, and to buy what *you* want rather than what we collectively want.

[ness]

Clearly you're gonna be 2 boat family. Or 3.

[Greasy B]

Clearly you're gonna be 2 boat family. Or 3.

3, and a pole barn.

[Old plug]

Well Mitch I could really care less what you get but whatever you get get the feel of it before you come out to LOZ. This thing is big,brutal and dangerous.

[Mitch f]

Well Mitch I could really care less what you get but whatever you get get the feel of it before you come out to LOZ. This thing is big,brutal and dangerous.

I agree Old Plug, We'll see what happens when gas goes up to $10 per gallon, maybe less pleasure boaters

[Old plug]

God i hope so Mitch. But I have seen my dentist neighbor pump 200 gals into his cigarette boat over a weekend. The other fuel that runs them around here they sell in the bars and in town.the liquor department in the G2M market in Laurie spans 4 or 6 rows.

[ness]

Well Mitch I could really care less what you get but whatever you get get the feel of it before you come out to LOZ. This thing is big,brutal and dangerous.

...and filled with poop. Don't forget the poop.

[Old plug]

Yeah thats true too NESS but most of our ozark lakes either do or will have that problem as they age unless they do a better job of sewage treatment. The Ozark's are full of quaffers i think it is spelled. Sewage water from septic lines goes down into those cracks in the limestone and can travel miles. They have found dye in big springs from a town miles away. They are attempting to do something about that here. I am on sewers myself. The treatment plant we have here in the Morgan county sewer district releases water that is actually sterilized. They added 500 homes more on it last last year. And now are coming up on nearly 1000 homes on it. Its very hard to install sewers on these rocky lots and it is not cheap at. $60 a month. Problem is some if these counties cannot get a sewage bill passed. But it is going to happen in the future. It has to happen.