Good, bad, and ugly. Let me hear it!
Looking for a rig that my wife’s 4-banger can pull with minimal difficulty. I like the layout and the fact that it stills comes with the 2XB hull which I love. The smaller boats in Alumacraft lineup do not.
These are nice starter boats. I’ve been looking at them myself. they have some pretty good deals on their website with these right now. If you are looking at one of those packages, they come with only a 12 volt TM system. 24volts minimum required for the river IMHO. the tiller will still be a wet ride in any waves over a foot. I also doubt a 4 banger could easily handle pulling or more importantly stopping this rig. Alumacraft boats come well put together as far as fit and finish and these have a nice wide open layout and would be very comfortable for two and slightly cramped for 3.
You will really struggle with a four banger pulling that boat. I’ve checked it out several times and it’s a very solid boat and is bigger than what it appears in pictures. The Fisherman 160 would be doable with a four banger.
For what it’s worth, or not, I like the Navigator 165 even better because of the extra width, and the sides.
My good friend has one in the single counsel model. He has it set up with a 24V bow mount and it is a sweet boat! Fished out of it many times with him on smaller rivers, smaller lakes, and the Mississippi and I know he’s fished on some larger lakes with it without any problems. Good storage, good layout and setup. I think the only thing I’ve heard him say he’d change is that he’d like to have a 75hp (max) instead of the 50hp he has on it.
It’s not as wide as the Nav 165, but it’s still plenty stable in waves and with people moving around in the boat.
I’d also agree with others in saying I’m not sure a 4 cylinder would be best for pulling it. Maybe short trips within a couple minutes drive without big hills, and ramps that aren’t really steep, but I’d feel uncomfortable pulling it very far with my truck which is a 2.7L 4 Cyl.
It’s a great boat though!
i just got rid of a 2007 classic 165 SC this spring. it was a great “small” boat. handled the river just fine, and made many trips to mille lacs.
you will get a little wetter in it versus a big boat, but it is still a good boat. you get a nice hull design in a smaller package.
had a 70hp yamaha 2 stroke on mine. would run 32-34mph with a light load, 30-31 regardless of what i had in it.
but, if i recall, that boat dry, is like 1200 pounds, so you had 20 gallons of fuel, fill up the storage boxes, batteries, trailer, etc. and I would think it is too heavy for a four cylinder to pull around. if it does pull it, you would probably get terrible gas mileage, and i’m sure it would be hard on the drivetrain of the vehicle over time.
just my $.02
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