Newbie here! Aluminum or Fiberglass?
 

First off, this is a great website. I discovered it while googling for boats. Here's my situation. I grew up Freshwater fishing. That's all I've ever done. Recently I discovered Inshore fishing and now prefer it, but I will be doing both. I live in the Lafayette area and would like to frequent Vermilion Bay/Marsh Island, Pecan Island, Big Lake, Henderson, Larto Lake (Father In Law's Camp) and good ole Toledo Bend.

I need a boat that can handle all of these things. From open Bay Water to the stumps of Freshwater. I was certain I was going to get either an Xpress H20CC, Alweld 19VVCC, or G3 1966. But then I went to the New Orleans Boat show and also liked the TideWater Bay Max and the Scout 175 Sport Fish.

Any advice would be appreciated. Hope to get better feedback than I did on Tigerdroppings.com and Rodnreel.com.

Oops! Just found the "search" tab. Several threads already. lol.

http://www.chrismarineboats.com/Gallery/picture_05.jpg

Thats all you

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Aluminum all the way!

Yikes! Way too big for me.

Love that boat peddler

Thanks sir!.......so do we!!

I have a 17' triton for sale in the classifieds. Check it out. I live in Lafayette.

What sort of budget you working with?

Peddler who built that boat?

Gaudet in Sorrento. Built my skiff too. Great builder!

I was hoping for $20k. I know I can get the Xpress for around $21k-$22k and the Alweld around $19-$20k.

If you do go with the Xpress H20CC, do yourself a favor and get the 150HP instead of the 115. You will be glad that you did.

Xpress is gonna be about the best aluminium hull mass produced you can get but stay with the Hyperlift hull if you want a good ride and they will still run pretty shallow

I won't drift too far off into this subject as it seems to spark allot of emotion...

That said, I own a G3 and have been very happy with it... They are well made, wide, stout (heavy) boats with plenty of structure and full legnth ice runners which are great for crossing timber... All the welds are beautiful and overall fit and finish is up to my expectatoins for what it is (a jonboat)...

It is not a speed demon or something you would want to cross rough open water in on a regular basis... It is a great "back country" or flooded timber boat which is where I tend to fish...

Good luck with your selection !!!

Hydro

I had a Xpress H56 Bass Boat. Nice ride and pretty fast I have to agree with the Hyper Lift recommendations.

I like the g3 1966 DLX. What do you have? Where do you fish?

1652 DK...

Fish all over from Cameron to Toledo Bend depending on the time of the year... For the most part I like the lower end of Sabine as it has a little of everything (marsh, timber, fresh and saltwater fish)...

Their 1966 is a beast ! They build a very "utility" jon boat hull, nothing fancy but tough and won't win any beauty contests... Kind of like an aluminum Carolina Skiff, wash-n-wear...

Kinda like a Haynie, heh? ;) :smokin:

Shhhhhheeeeeeeet . . . . . :eek: