BigBendFishing.Net

This may be a little too wide open, but what the heck. If you had about $15K and wanted a new inshore fishing boat to do the following, what brand (or brands) of hull and outboard would you buy, what style of hull, what size and HP, and what equipment would it have?:

Must be towable with mid-size SUV (e.g, Ford Explorer V-6) or mid-size truck.
Must accommodate three persons fishing.
Must be light and shallow enough to get up into very shallow creeks in Big Bend region.
Must not be destroyed by the occasional, unintentional, slow speed run-in with a rock or oyster bar.
Must have power trim and tilt and very shallow running outboard.
Preferably center console (and livewell and front-mounted trolling motor).
Did I say it must operate very shallow (and be light enough to push when the water gets super-skinny)?
Must be reasonably capable of beating across Apalachee bay chop on way to the inshore spots.
Must have enough freeboard to allow going out to the shallow grouper rocks (15 to 20 deep or so, but not looking for an "offshore" boat really).
MUST be long-term saltwater durable, high quality, all aluminum transom, all welded (assuming aluminum).

Thanks for reading; please just ignore if this is TMI! Yardyacht

I'll sell you my '05 Xpress for less than that. New Lowrance HDS7, new 24V MK trolling motor, new stereo, Detwiler Jackplate. 18ft length with wide beam. 90 HP Yamaha with 4 blade PowerTech Prop. Will get you anywhere you need to be to catch trout or reds. Can be yours for 11k.

If you don't want mine, then I'd look for something similar. Good luck, boat searches are fun

How about something like this:

Why are you selling showboat? YY, I'd look at something similar to what Showboat has. I have a 22' pathfinder, it will do everything you said, except get really skinny ( less than 8 ") and doesn't take rocks well. We have been catching all of our reds this summer on a 14' jonny. Jonny gets skinny and can take a bump from a rock. I'd look for something in between, and decide what is more important, getting shallow or going offshore occasionally. I'm sure you know there is no perfect boat for all applications, always some compromise. Good luck, oh yea, Yamaha or etec for power.

http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/2012/Se ... ted-States

Looks like what you are wanting.

G3 1756 with 60 yamaha does all that pretty well. I like the one I'm fishing.

SHOWBOAT wrote:I'll sell you my '05 Xpress for less than that. New Lowrance HDS7, new 24V MK trolling motor, new stereo, Detwiler Jackplate. 18ft length with wide beam. 90 HP Yamaha with 4 blade PowerTech Prop. Will get you anywhere you need to be to catch trout or reds. Can be yours for 11k.

If you don't want mine, then I'd look for something similar. Good luck, boat searches are fun

I wouldn't sell my 1874 Duracraft equipped pretty much the same for that. Sounds like a good deal!

1966 G3 CC... 2009. I'm looking to move up. I'd entertain selling it but a tad higher than the number you mentioned.

All those attributes in one boat....you "must" be kidding!

badbagger i love your boat! i'd like to have something like that, only 16-17ft. something i can easily launch by myself.

mbweimar wrote:badbagger i love your boat! i'd like to have something like that, only 16-17ft. something i can easily launch by myself.

Thanks. I had the same boat in a 16 and 17. Done the right way, it's not all that hard nor different than launching a 16 or 17ft.