deep v fsihing boat

Looking to buy a 16-17 foot deep v fishing boat heard complints on the Trackers - anyone own a Lowe. Lund? any information waould be appreciated Thanks Wild duck

I own an Alumacraft 16.5ft Competitor. It has a 90hp four stroke Mercury. I fish the twin lakes in Western Kentucky and it is a nice boat.

I own a Lund 1800 fisherman, great all around boat. Not sure what type of fishing you do but there are some draw backs.
1) Being an tall sided boat you are much more susceptible to being pushed around by the wind
2) When trolling being that it is a V hull walking around in the boat while trolling with the trolling motor can change your course. The with later I corrected with a GPS XI5.
My only other complaint an its a big one. I haven't been on the water all year.

Are you buying new or used?

I have had a tracker bass boat and a couple 17' aluminum Sea Nymphs v hulls. I think Lowe bought Sea Nymph. I considered the Sea Nymphs mid range quality boats. They were plenty good for what I did and I put them through the some gruesome tests. Once it got to almost white capping though I had to slow down to about 17mph and then 12 mpg in rough water because the boat would bang on the waves and it was limiting as to where I could go and when. I was always worried about damaging the boat by banging it on waves. Always.

I now have a 1600 Lund Pro Sport v hull. It has 24" sides floor to top of gunwale like the Sea Nymphs. I like the 24" height. It is good compromise between super high and low. The quality of "everything" from trailer chains, to the paint job, to the hull construction is far far better than the other boats mentioned above. It really kind of amazes me. I never worry (much) about damaging the Lund in rough water and I can go where and when I want.
This boat is a 2000 model. I assume they still make them this well?


The boat Kstonich mentioned here would be my ideal boat for striper fishing for lake Cumberland. I would think that it would take any kind of water you can throw at it within reason and you could striper fish 3 to 4 people out of it without tripping over each other.

I have a Tracker 16' Deep V, and while it seems to be a decent little boat, there's nothing I truly like about it. I guess the only 3 positives about the boat is 1- It was cheap, and 2- It rides soft and dry in moderately rough water. (Haven't had it in big whitecaps yet) and 3- I'm not fishing from the bank!

The boat is only big enough for two people to fish from comfortably. Once you add a bait tank, a small cooler, a cast net in a bucket, a good size landing net, and a big tackle box for striper baits, then it feels cramped with two on board. I just bought the boat this spring and I'm already keeping my eye out for something bigger. While Tracker is on my list for a bigger boat, it is on the bottom, with Lund, Crestliner, and Lowe above.

Tracker boats are usually a bit under-powered, unless you order a new one and spec the max rated HP. I suspect many are just like my boat...it runs out great with one person but once you add fishing gear, a bait tank, full live-wells, and 2 or 3 extra people then it struggles to get on plane.

Good luck in your search and remember..."Buy once, cry once!"

For what it's worth as I am aging 57 I have a 16 foot alum bass boat served me well but what I'm beginning to notice that I'm not as stable on my feet as I used to be so means falling out of boat im considering a v bottom all my friends I fish with have them the only draw back is bass fishing is a lot harder to fish out of a v haul. I'm leaning towards v hull

[QUOTE=wild duck;575772]Looking to buy 16 foot deep v fishing boat heard lot complaints on the Tracker boats any one own a Lowe, Lund? any feed back appreciated - Wild Duck[/QUOTE]

I own a Fisher Marine Water Strider III aluminum boat and have had it since 1978. Not used a lot but it's lasted me all this time. Had a few rivet head come off and had to weld the holes back shut by hiring a welder to do the job. Now I just plug up the holes with JB Weld and they have held up since 1992. Was going to Patoka Lake from the Evansville, IN area and it's a 1.5 hour trip. My neighbor told me about JB weld and used it to cover a hole where a rivet head popped of. We were about ready to cancel the trip to Patoka lake due to the hole in the boat. about 1/8" in diameter in size. But the neighbor (Mike) got me some JB weld and applied it over the hole. I was skeptible but after we arrived the JB weld was dried and hard as a rock. This little hole in the boat still has the JB weld on it stopping it from leakaing any water.

Moral of the JB weld story is that if you get an aluminum boat with rivets just remember that the rivet heads can come off and causes leaks in the boat. One other time the weld split and I almost lose the boat. Luckily the weld broke/split at the front bow area and once I got the boat's nose up the water was able to be pulled out the back of the boat while I was moving and pulled the drain plug. I saved my boat from sinking that day at Patoka Lake. So beware that aluminum welds on a boat can break too.

If I had to do it all over again I'd buy a aluminum boat that was all welded and without any rivets if possible. That or a fiberglass fishing boat.

Lund makes good boats from what I have heard. The local Conservation Officer that worked my area and retired about two years ago fished out of a LUND Boat. If that tells you anything. He likes to crappie fish and I used to watch him fishing as the lake we fished is only 90 acres in size and there is no place to hide from anyone on the roadway next to the lake. So I could sit in the parking lot or on the roadway and see where he fished. LOL. There are only so many crappie spots in this 90 acre old stripper pit that was never reclaimed by AMAX coal company. They dug the coal out of the land and left a big 90 acre hole in the ground that filled up with rain water. It's 60 ft deep in some areas With a few structure features. But mostly it's a dish pan shaped lake with steep sides and very little wood. Lots of submerged milfoil alond the shallow edges before the bottom drops down into 30 ft to 60 ft of water.