2017 BASS boat brands and motors

[fishinwrench]

I get asked all the time "what's the best boat, and what's the best motor"?  In my opinion what makes the boat "the best" is the interior layout, this is where you store your stuff and spend all of your time. The way the hull rides is secondary because you can adjust your driving style to compensate for hull design.   I don't know of any Piece Of Crap boats these days, they are all built well, which is not something you could say back in the 70's and 80's.  Cracked transoms, hull splits, cap seperations, bunk blisters, and soft floors are pretty much all things of the past.

Motors?  Well I make probably 80% of my living on Mercury's, but the truth of the matter is I hate the way the corporation does business and I'm blown away by the number of guys that remain faithful to them.  My personal preference is Evinrude because I like their history, I like the way the company has always done business (both OMC and BRP), I like owning them and I like working on them.  As for what I feel is truly the best and most reliable outboards available?  Yamaha.  You'll be hard pressed to find a guy anywhere in the world that is disappointed in his Yamaha outboard. Their ignition, cooling, and oil injection systems are as close to flawless as it gets, powerhead tolerances are finely tuned and consistent, and their gearcases are bulletproof.  

[Bill Babler]

Wrench makes great points.  In guiding in Alaska you only for the most part see 2 engines.  First overall without a doubt is Yamaha second is Honda.

I will say and I am knocking on wood here is that both Beck and I have ran the Opti's since 2008 and put close to 5000 hrs. on them with out a single engine or lower unit failure.  Bill did have a reed blow and another one of our guide friends had a lower unit go out at Lake O trying to pull a dock out in reverse but, they have been really good and fuel efficient for us.  In 08 Mike Webb blew the 1st. two he had but I don't think he has had any problems to speak of since. 

I ran Evinrude strictly from 1978 to 2002 and had little or no complaint.  I did have issues with warranty as they went thru 3 corporate changes.  Since Bombardier has taken over and they have been restructured I have not ran one.  I know they were having lower unit issues but like everyone I'm sure that is solved.  Pretty much like Wrench said the boat companies are weeded down to what that's out there is good.  How friendly the interior and the fish ability of the boat is what make thre best boat for you.  I ride in boats most every day and will disagree that the hull does not make a difference. Yes, driving skill is extremely important, but with the technology these boat companies have now some do drive much softer ride smoother and handle big rough water better.  Some, like my big Phoenix you don't drive, you just ride in.

Lund started this revolution years ago with a reverse chine hull and the bass boat companies that have followed this lead are making the smoothest hulls.  Alan Stinson is perhaps the leader in Hull design and his influence is seen in the Triton, Stratos and Phoenix, while incorporating the inovations of Lund that provide stability and keeping water out of the boat even in cross wind low speed rough water situations.

You buy any of the top 6 or 8 boats from the top companies and like the way it is set up for you and how easy it is to access your equipment and get around in the boat and you will be happy as a Lark.  As Wrench said the really bad ones have been weeded out. 

Good Luck

[Smalls21]

9 hours ago, Seth said:

 The 4 strokes seem to be a lot more reliable, but they are all 150hp and less.

mercury verado engine are all 4 stroke's up to 350hp

[Seth]

8 minutes ago, Smalls21 said:

mercury verado engine are all 4 stroke's up to 350hp

I'm aware, but the how many Verado's do you see on bass boats compared to Opti's?

[Smalls21]

4 minutes ago, Seth said:

I"m aware, but the how many Verado's do you see on bass boats compared to Opti's?

quite a few more in recent years. I believe Bill is getting a verado on his new Phoenix this year

[Seth]

Speaking of Verado's, what is the difference between a regular Verado and the Pro four stroke model? Are Pro versions more geared towards bass boats?

[Smalls21]

the only difference i can find between the 2 are the pro 4stroke has a different gear ratio, shaft length, and weighs 13lbs less

[vernon]

17 hours ago, Sore Thumbs said:

Those evinrude motors are really expensive I guess. Every boat I see for sale with one seems to be $5-$10000 higher than same boat with yamaha or Merc. 

Last March my G2 was 3K more than the comparable Merc and Yammy.  So far, worth it in my opinion but then I've spent most of my life wasting all my money so who knows?

[vernon]

14 hours ago, Champ188 said:

Sounds exactly like my Merc.

Now that's just mean!  Eye poker!

[vernon]

9 hours ago, Sore Thumbs said:

I've never owned one but it seems like people stay away from used boats with Evinrudes. Scared of them for some reason. I see the draw if you buy a new one. Can't beat the warranty. 

The warranty was huge for me.  I was initially drawn by the novelty of the appearance and then after further review the technology really peaked my interest as I thought the ideas of no break in, integrated power steering, push button hot foot/hand throttle operation, auto tilt and trim, etc. was kind of cool and certainly innovative.  Then the performance features like oil consumption, fuel efficiency, torque and the rest of the stuff that I really don't understand really stood out (to me anyway).

Then, after all my Merc acquaintances beat me over the head with the stupid stick I thought back to all of the problems that they'd had with theirs.  Now, there's no doubt in my mind that they way they treat their equipment was 99% of the reason for the problems but there were problems nonetheless and not cheap problems either.

Whereas I've owned 12 outboards manufactured by each of the "Big 3" and have literally never had an engine in for repair.  Not once.  Routine maintenance only.  So that told me that operator error was at least somewhat significant in the overall performance and reliability of an outboard.

After again considering that the G2 had all the cool stuff that I found so intriguing, a 7 year warranty and the service center is ten minutes from my house I decided to completely disregard their "advice".

And, "Whoolah" next thing I knew I had a G2.

Of course after saying all of that,  I recently DID have the FIRST motor malfunction of my life as the power trim had to be replaced!  Guys at the shop said it was 5K worth of warranty work as they replaced the entire mid section.  

Anyways, hopefully, that's the end of it and at least I know that there's not much that I could have done personally to abuse the trim so MY record's clean even if the motor's is not.

And, all of the other stuff has been as good as I hoped so I'm more than satisfied thus far.  

And it still looks cool!