Small Bass Fishing Boat

Question:
I am currently looking for a aluminum fishing boat for my dad. It will be for fresh water fishing around the Toronto area in small to medium size lakes. We won't do any great lake fishing. My dad has been to the Toronto boat show. We have been looking for a 16' or 17' aluminum boat for both walleye and bass fishing. We have looked at the STARCRAFT WALLEYE 170, STARCRAFT SUPER FISHERMAN 170, PRINCECRAFT PRO 167 SC, SMOKERCRAFT 16' KING TROLLER, TRACKER PRO Deep V-16, LEGEND V-170 Sport fish. Every dealer said their boat is better and is the strongest. I start getting very confuse and I don't know how to select the right boat. Our budget is Cdn$ 15,000 for every thing: boat, motor, trailer, tax and freight. The following is my questions: 1. What determine the strength of the boat and does it matter? 2. Does a stronger boat mean it is safer? 3. Does a double console inconvenient for fishing, especially for bass fishing? 4. Is V-Hull inconvenient for bass fishing? 5. Does double rivets make a different to the structure of the boat? 6. What does number of ribs and number of keels means in terms of the strength of the boat? 7. Does the thickness of the hull and bottom matters? What is the minimum thickness I should consider? 8. Is the STARCRAFT the strongest among the boats that I have mentioned above? 9. What criteria should I use when I compare the different boats? 10. What is the inside depth, max. depth and transom height of a boat? 11. What are the things that are crucial to a aluminum fishing boat?

Answer:
For strength, ask each what gauge (thickness) aluminum they use and what diameter of rivets. The hull should be a minimum of 0.050 inches (sorry, no metric spoken here) and the rivets should be 3/16 of an inch in diameter. If they don't know, then ask them how they can claim there boat is better and walk away. Stronger is a major consideration in safety, but so is design. One of my biggest pet peeves in small aluminum boats are the narrow or small splash well, particularly if you walleye fish or otherwise back troll. Water can easily come over the back. For that reason it is one of the areas I would examine. The splash well should be well designed. As far as v-hulls, it really depends on the type of fishing you plan on doing. V-hulls can be hard to control with trolling motors and can't get into the heavy weeds like a bass boat. But they offer far greater stability and can get you home safer should the weather turn against you. I have a funny story about that. I took my Lund down to Dale Hollow Lake which is a very large reservoir with a lot of fingers going off the main body of the lake. A lot of pretty bass boats are down there, and they would scream by me in the fingers. I max out at about 40mph and they easily could hit 50+mph. But it all changed when we hit the main lake. They could not handle the waves and had to drop to a crawl. But not me. Had to drop to 30 or so, but easily left them in the wake. So it all depends on what you want the mission of that boat to be. If you're worming for bass in small, weed infested lakes, find the shallowest boat you can. If you're going to be hitting the bigger lakes and mostly fish in open waters, stick to a deep V. My best suggestion to you is to hop inside and bang around and just get a feel for the boat. If it feels weak, it probably is. Also pay attention to the fittings such as cleats, glove box hardware, bolts etc. They should all be high quality and of sturdy construction. Avoid plastic parts. They may look good, but they will eventually break. Believe me, they'll break. Everything should have a purpose. Avoid boats with a lot of trim and stuff added to make it look better. Also look very closely at the hull to deck joint and wherever the hull or decks meet other surfaces such as windshields and the like. Are these joints well constructed? And also make VERY SURE there aren't any edges exposed or inherently dangerous looking features. You can get banged around in a boat and the last thing you want is to catch your finger in something or get a nasty cut. Simply, is it well built? Well, I've rambled enough. Looking back I didn't directly answer all of your questions, but do keep in mind that if you don't need a tank, don't buy a tank. You are keying on strength, but if you're just fishing the local pond, you don't need it. Go for comfort or fishing features instead.