Opinion on Aluminum Boat

[Redbelly]

I think the xpress has a lifetime hull warrenty. Don't know what Triton has. I will soon be shopping for a bigger metal bote myself. I will be interested in what you decide on sundown.

[birddog]

Xpress does not have a lifetime warranty. Neither does Triton if i'm not mistaken.

[sundown]

Triton has a limited warrenty.

[Redbelly]

Someone told me that about xpress awhile ago and it stuck. But on further investigation, it appears they offer pretty much the same hull warranty as most metal hull makers do.

[Pinocchio]

Most relevant info has been posted already. I just have one theing to add - the flip side of being light and floating in nothing is that on a windy day, the alum boat will get blown around twice as bad.

Which is remedied with drift sock/5 galon buckets. I am a believer of aluminum in this area for shallow water fishing. Also a fan of tunnel hulls with jackplates.

MHO

Tunnel hulls, even with jackplates have their darker sides! I did a lot of research and there's a lot of misconceptions! Like the skeg, prop and prop gear housing can't be used very effectively when they're up higher (protected) than the rear bottom of the boat. 3 to 5" of lower unit extension below rear boat bottom is usually required. Jackplate pulling up motor won't help! I believe I read it on here where someone got a tunnel boat and on the very first time out he tore-up skeg, propeller and gear housing! On aluminum boats with tunnels, they're very noisy and get a lot of vibration which makes the tunnel welds prone to crack and leak. Installing a water tube in the tunnel helps a little by helping to flush out air that gets trapped in the tunnel and produces noise vibration and cavitates the prop but this is only a marginal fix (so the experts say). A psychological problem exists where there're rocks (tunnels were introduced in Texas where there's mostly sand, mud and shells -- not rocks like in the Big Bend) in that tunnels give a false security and boat speeds increase in skinnywater and when a rock or oyster bar is encountered at higher speed -- big time hull and lower unit damage is common.

[Redbelly]

Pinnochio you need to look at my 16' Scandy White. It has a bigger tunnel than any other boat I've seen so far. When I have it trimmed up 6" only an inch or so of the point of the skeg is below the plane of the bottom of the hull. I also get the most speed when trimmed up to max. Not to say there are no differences in handling from a standard hull.
It has 3/16" bottom and 1/8" sides. Longitudinal metal stringers. This boat has collided with an oyster bar at wide open with a 70hp at Aucilla before. Causing a complete halt. There is a slight dent underneath in the front from this collision.

It was the previous owner who had the collision. It is built like the Merrimac.

[Pinocchio]

Pinnochio you need to look at my 16' Scandy White. It has a bigger tunnel than any other boat I've seen so far. When I have it trimmed up 6" only an inch or so of the point of the skeg is below the plane of the bottom of the hull. I also get the most speed when trimmed up to max. Not to say there are no differences in handling from a standard hull.
It has 3/16" bottom and 1/8" sides. Longitudinal metal stringers. This boat has collided with an oyster bar at wide open with a 70hp at Aucilla before. Causing a complete halt. There is a slight dent underneath in the front from this collision.

It was the previous owner who had the collision. It is built like the Merrimac.

Hmmmmm? What Confucious say? Boat at wide open throttle at Aucilla soon give boat a sudden stop as boat operator flies through air with crack-up and long swim and boat owner has quick start on visit to repair shop and friends give him new name -- Yew Dum Hass!

[Redbelly]

Yes a bad call was made, as they were rushing in at dark. I personally don't do that in that area at dark. They did get a case of busted azzzzz.

Just trying to show the boats quality with this example, not condoning the action!

[grim reeler]

Most relevant info has been posted already. I just have one theing to add - the flip side of being light and floating in nothing is that on a windy day, the alum boat will get blown around twice as bad.

Which is remedied with drift sock/5 galon buckets. I am a believer of aluminum in this area for shallow water fishing. Also a fan of tunnel hulls with jackplates.

MHO

What drift sock do you recommend. I have been considering one lately as I cant seem to fish unless its whitecapping.

I have an aluminum tunnel as well (1860 seaarc). Its great for sandy bottom areas like lake jackson lately, but rocks and oyster bars still make me pucker pretty good. On the flats here, they give the advatage of running shallower, and you may just miss that rock or bar 10" under the surface when running, but mistakes are expensive and dangerous with or without a tunnel. I dont have a jack plate but I am pretty happy with the performance without one. The boat tops out at 30 with a 50hp, and can run in 7" of water. The motor is mounted 4 or 5" higher than a standard hull boat would mount it. It gets a shallow as just about anything with an outboard.

But tunnels have their quirks, they dont back up well, and the top end is lower. If someone goes and stands on the front deck while idling, I have to trim all the way down or the intakes come out of the water.

I have noticed no extra noise compared to standard hulls. The prop only cavitates when I trim too much. If looking at alum tunnels, I would stick to seaarc, duracraft or scandywhite.

[tin can]

http://www.gatortraxboats.com/home.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You're welcome to come take a look at mine.

[Redbelly]

http://www.gatortraxboats.com/home.htm

You're welcome to come take a look at mine.

Could you post up a pic??

[Pinocchio]

Most relevant info has been posted already. I just have one theing to add - the flip side of being light and floating in nothing is that on a windy day, the alum boat will get blown around twice as bad.

Which is remedied with drift sock/5 galon buckets. I am a believer of aluminum in this area for shallow water fishing. Also a fan of tunnel hulls with jackplates.

MHO

What drift sock do you recommend. I have been considering one lately as I cant seem to fish unless its whitecapping.

I have an aluminum tunnel as well (1860 seaarc). Its great for sandy bottom areas like lake jackson lately, but rocks and oyster bars still make me pucker pretty good. On the flats here, they give the advatage of running shallower, and you may just miss that rock or bar 10" under the surface when running, but mistakes are expensive and dangerous with or without a tunnel. I dont have a jack plate but I am pretty happy with the performance without one. The boat tops out at 30 with a 50hp, and can run in 7" of water. The motor is mounted 4 or 5" higher than a standard hull boat would mount it. It gets a shallow as just about anything with an outboard.

But tunnels have their quirks, they dont back up well, and the top end is lower. If someone goes and stands on the front deck while idling, I have to trim all the way down or the intakes come out of the water.

I have noticed no extra noise compared to standard hulls. The prop only cavitates when I trim too much. If looking at alum tunnels, I would stick to seaarc, duracraft or scandywhite.

1. Light aluminum boat on a windy day: Better to go fishin' when wind ain't blowin' so hard or if ya jus' gotta go out thar and drift-fish -- look for small drift sox (2, one fore and one aft -- small ones can be hard to find);

2. I went through da Tunnel-boat Fever and got over it! If ya jus' gotta go fas' den stay outta skinnywater and go offshore with 25'+ bluewater boat and tripple 300hp V-8 Yammie 4-strokes and gobble-up 'at $4+ gas -- them Arabs'll love ya for it! I larned long ago that rocks and oyster bars are a fisherman's friend -- 'ats where lots o' fish hang out and iffin' ya gotta run ya gas motta at all among 'em, jus' tilt up motta and go slow 'specially in a light aluminum boat and ya'll do jus' fine at both catchin' fish and NOT wreckin' ya boat 'n' motta! Iffin' ya jus' gotta bus'-up ya rig den they's lots o' rocks 'n' oyster bars that'll accommodate ya! :

[boggob]

'ol Tibido wus fishin one fine day on da banks of da mississippi.
He spied a water moccasin wit a frog in his mouth.
Tibido knew dis frog would be great fisshin bait. He also knew the snake wus dangerous. He stealtily snuck up on the creature an' grabbed it by the neck. He got his frog, but what to do? Iffin he dropped the snake, it would chomp him.

Thinkin quickly, Tibido took out his hip flask an' dribbled a few drops o' whisky down de snake's gullet. De snake rolled his eyes back an went limp. Tibido put da snake in some bushes an went ta fishin.

An hour later, Tibido felt a gentle nudge at his foot. Lookin down slowly he saw it was the same damn snake.

With two more frogs!!

[tin can]

http://www.gatortraxboats.com/home.htm

You're welcome to come take a look at mine.

Could you post up a pic??

http://s204.photobucket.com/albums/bb93 ... Gatortrax/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[wevans]

Hell, that aint a boat it's a floatin dock with a motor on it looks sweet though