Have an almost 18 ft fisher deep vee, all the problems elnut mentioned are true. Also have a tracker 16 ft grizzly all welded, 100 gauge aluminum, money matters to me now, that smaller boat costs less to tow, is easier on the trannys of trucks, same with brakes, and the four dtroke motor just sips gasoline.I'd never try a smaller aluminum boat on real big lakes. But on the great lakes, Lund makes boats that could probably stand up to a hurricane, and they are aluminum, but you need Gold to own one .