Did Brunswick " Ruin " Lund, Crestliner and Lowe?

Selfishly, as I look to make a decision on a boat I have to ask you all if the three brands above are in fact no longer the same quality as Alumacraft.

Dealers are dealers. What say you all post 2004?

They aren’t worse, Alumacraft just stepped up their game. Lund is still the top dog in alum boats.

Really? Dutch I take your opinion highly. That’s interesting

What Brunswick did was buy Mercury and paired them with their boat brands. Yamaha did the same thing with Skeeter & G3.

Do you guys have any welded aluminum boat manufactures back there or are they all riveted?

If you are thinking of boats like they make in the northwest we have Lake Assault boats.

Lowe is on my radar. After seeing them they seem like a great value but I pay for quality

Dutchboy wrote:

If you are thinking of boats like they make in the northwest we have Lake Assult boats.

I might be wrong, but I think Lake Assault boats went by the wayside a few years ago.
To the OP’s question though, no way would I say Brunswick ruin Lund, Crestliner, etc. In fact perhaps helped with an infusion of more financial investment to further enhance research and product development to stay a nose up on the competitors.
A year or so ago there was a show on Fox North that did a feature on the Lund assembly in NYM. Was very impressed with the development and attention to quality controls and details!

Crestliners are welded. I have owned 2 pro-v’s and have fished in several different lund models, and friend has a trophy alumacraft I have fished out of many times. It may be a unfair comparison between a pro-v and a trophy, but in my opinion lund seemed much more solid and handled better in big waves. Neither boat is a dry ride in windy conditions. The resale value on a Lund is about the best you will find for a aluminum boat as well. I think either boat will treat you well in the long run, but in my opinion I would never say alumacraft makes a better boat than Lund. I will reiterate that maybe the two models are an unfair comparison, but that is my experience with alumacraft.

Lake Assault was bought by a company in Superior Wisconsin and I believe is still being made.

When I bought my Lund, I had it narrowed down to the 1875 Impact, and the Alumucraft 1800 Competitor Sport. Both boats were for the most part, exactly the same and about the same price. It came down to the little things that sold me on the Lund. The fit and finish is better IMHO and the resale will be there too. I’m sure I would have been happy with the Competitor, very nice boat.

Dutchboy wrote:

Lake Assault was bought by a company in Superior Wisconsin and I believe is still being made.

yes they are. There next to or real close to Frazer shipyard!

glenn57 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Dutchboy wrote:</div>
Lake Assault was bought by a company in Superior Wisconsin and I believe is still being made.

yes they are. There next to or real close to Frazer shipyard!

Yes it was Frazer who bought them. Thanks for the reminder.

I bought my first Lund, a 1984 5.3 Tyee in 1987 and I bought my last Lund, a 2011 2000 Alaskan DC in 2011. I’ve never noticed a decline in quality over the years and my next boat, if I ever buy another, will be a Lund as well.
I’ve always liked them for their fishability and their toughness when conditions get bad. I’ll never claim them to be the driest or the smoothest riding boats on the market, but for what I want in a boat, they can’t be beaten.
You look like a young guy, Doug, with probably many boats in your future. I’m sure Lowe and Alumacraft both make quality boats, but if you want quality, value AND a great resale value, I don’t think you can go wrong with a Lund.

I have a 2014 Lowe FM 175 Pro WT, and love it. As far as 17.5 boats go, I felt it gave me the best bang for the buck. Fit and finish on the lunds and alumacrafts were nicer, but those boats also cost a solid 5-7 grand more when I priced them out. I put a 125 opti and a 9.9 pro kicker on mine.

My buddy has the 165 pro wt with a 90 merc 4 stroke, and for a smaller boat, that thing flies. That’s a 42-44 mph boat, which is pretty good for that size deep v boat. Mine is very low 40s, but jumps out of the hole stays on plane and is fishable in most conditions. I’ve taken it to Green Bay, Lake Michigan (salmon), Winnebago, Pepin, Petenwell, South Dakota etc….

I factor resale in when prices are similar. Somebody telling me I’m going to get 3,000 more back, but it’s going to cost me $7000 more initially doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.

Dutchboy wrote:

Lake Assault was bought by a company in Superior Wisconsin and I believe is still being made.

When I spoke with Lake Assault a couple years ago, they were manufacturing boats for government agencies only. Fire Depts ect. That may have changed.

* In talking with a fella that was in the upper management of Alumacraft, he stated they sell more boats then Lund. I was surprised.

As I said before in another thread, I’m not so concerned about the brand as I am the dealer.

I often laugh at the local MN/midwest love for some of these boats as proclaimed to be the holy grail of fishing boats.

“They aren’t worse, Alumacraft just stepped up their game. Lund is still the top dog in alum boats.”

Take a new Lund, Alumacraft, and Chrestliner and fish them the same amount of hours as an alumaweld, war eagle, duckworth, wooldridge, weldcraft, sea ark, etc, etc and see what the boat and hull looks like after 10,15,25 years of serious use and abuse.

There’s a reason the rest of the US and especially coastal areas have never heard of some of the midwest boat manufacturers.

You shouldn’t have to trade in/buy new every 5 years because the whole interior is shot because there is more wood and carpet than aluminum in the boat. You should be able to have one for 20 years, repower and throw in some new seats and be like new again.

I really like Willie power boats, they’s the bomb IMO.

StarCraft/StarWeld/SmokerCraft had like a 6-full-page ad in the latest In-Fisherman magazine. Seems like they would like a piece of the pie as well.

Dutchboy wrote:

They aren’t worse, Alumacraft just stepped up their game. Lund is still the top dog in alum boats.

IMO they are the ‘top dog’ simply because peep’s minds THINK they are. I am an admitted Crestliner fan (sorry but I think the forged hull is better…) but c’mon man, Crestliner, Lund and Alumacraft all make awesome boats. Not one of these brands is better than the other in my mind…RR

brian_peterson wrote:

When I bought my Lund, I had it narrowed down to the 1875 Impact, and the Alumucraft 1800 Competitor Sport. Both boats were for the most part, exactly the same and about the same price. It came down to the little things that sold me on the Lund. The fit and finish is better IMHO and the resale will be there too. I’m sure I would have been happy with the Competitor, very nice boat.

I found myself in about the spot as Brian when I bought my new boat in 2013. I ended up buying a Lund Pro V 1775 with a 150 4 stroke Merc and it was basically the same price as an Alumacraft competitor 175 with a Yamaha 150. I have had a few issues with my boat but nothing to bad or that kept me off the water much. My neighbor bought a new 2015 alumacraft trophy 165′ and I can say I think the Lund is built better, but both are great boats. I personally think quality control is a bit of an issue with both brands but nothing to bad. I can also say that I own both Alumacrafts and Lunds and grew up with one of each.

Alagnak Pete wrote:

I often laugh at the local MN/midwest love for some of these boats as proclaimed to be the holy grail of fishing boats.

Alagnak Pete wrote:

You shouldn’t have to trade in/buy new every 5 years because the whole interior is shot because there is more wood and carpet than aluminum in the boat. You should be able to have one for 20 years, repower and throw in some new seats and be like new again.

My 23 year old Pro-V is still in great shape, original Johnson 115 on it too…It gets ridden hard and put away dry (dry because it’s a Lund ).

Having owned a comparable Lund and Alumacraft in the last several years. I can assure you that the Alumacraft has a drier ride than the Lund did.

If you are looking at build quality you should look at things like bottom construction, rivets, paint process and warranty.

Lund touts a lifetime hull warranty, but it only includes double riveted seams the rest of the hull has a full 3 year warranty???????????

I have fished from all 3 and own an alumacraft but I am by no means a boat expert nor have I spent enough time in a lund or crestliner to say whether one is better or worse. I have heard others say that the Lund quality has dropped off from what it used to be but, like others have mentioned, that could be a result of other manufactures picking up their game so to speak. I will say this about Lund, they cost a lot more, to the tune of about 5k more compared to the similar model of a competitors boat. These were my findings when price shopping. What I find annoying about Lund though is that they pair them only with Mercury motors. I don’t like mercury motors at all and with different manufactures you can pair your boat with whatever motor you want free of charge. This versatility is a huge plus for the customer. If I had purchased a Lund rather than an alumacraft I would have had to work with them to outfit it with a Yamaha or a Suzuki. Its my belief, again just an opinion based off of what I hear not any in depth analyses of the boats specifications, that Lund is better because people THINK its better. Its had that mystique attached to it for so long here in the North country. I remember being a 13 year old kid just getting into fishing and having the opinion that the Lund was the only boat to get. What the hell did I know id never even been in one and always just fished from shore with worms I dug up in the yard lol. But that was what the people who I trusted said was best so it was that way for me too.

Alagnak Pete wrote:

I often laugh at the local MN/midwest love for some of these boats as proclaimed to be the holy grail of fishing boats.

“They aren’t worse, Alumacraft just stepped up their game. Lund is still the top dog in alum boats.”

Take a new Lund, Alumacraft, and Chrestliner and fish them the same amount of hours as an alumaweld, war eagle, duckworth, wooldridge, weldcraft, sea ark, etc, etc and see what the boat and hull looks like after 10,15,25 years of serious use and abuse.

There’s a reason the rest of the US and especially coastal areas have never heard of some of the midwest boat manufacturers.

You shouldn’t have to trade in/buy new every 5 years because the whole interior is shot because there is more wood and carpet than aluminum in the boat. You should be able to have one for 20 years, repower and throw in some new seats and be like new again.

Totally agree! I have pointed this exact same thing out as it relates to fiberglass boats.

If walleye guys REALLY want to know what build quality is, the freshwater brands are basically laughable. I was just at the Sportsmans show and the construction quality of boats that midwest guys think of as high end makes me want to cry. Compartments with hinges tacked on with itty bitty screws, all hardware is cheap pot metal, everything is undersized, and built about good enough to get the boat to the dealer for “rigging”.

If you want to find out what REAL fiberglass boat build quality looks like, take a look at a Boston Whaler, Regulator, Pursuit, Grady White, Parker, Wellscraft, etc.

For aluminum boats see list above. I would add North River to your list, as well. These brands are battle tanks compared to the soda cans that are being driven around here.

Sure, with exceptional care, you CAN make a midwestern brand last 25 years. As long as you have a $50k heated garage to keep it in so that it’s warm and dry every day of its life except the few hours a month that it gets used. The amount that we have to baby boats around here to make up for the poor build quality has just become factored in to the equation so guys don’t notice that the price of ownership here includes a massive overhead for storage costs to keep the cheap wood, carpet, and plastic from rotting in 2-3 years. That doesn’t happen on quality brands.

Grouse

Looking at boats as well, I was surprised to see even the Mirro-Craft aggressor series of boats look pretty nice as well. Haven’t seen them up close yet though.

Alagnak Pete wrote:

Take a new Lund, Alumacraft, and Chrestliner and fish them the same amount of hours as an alumaweld, war eagle, duckworth, wooldridge, weldcraft, sea ark, etc, etc and see what the boat and hull looks like after 10,15,25 years of serious use and abuse.

There’s a reason the rest of the US and especially coastal areas have never heard of some of the midwest boat manufacturers.

And there perhaps is a reason I have not heard of “alumaweld, war eagle, duckworth, wooldridge, weldcraft, sea ark, etc,” either. It’s not surprising that boat manufacturers tend to be regional. I do not need a coastal or salt water boat. What’s sold most commonly around here are the boats best suited for the waters and conditions around here.

Alagnak Pete wrote:

You shouldn’t have to trade in/buy new every 5 years because the whole interior is shot because there is more wood and carpet than aluminum in the boat. You should be able to have one for 20 years, repower and throw in some new seats and be like new again.

Here is a pic of my 92 Lund taken just a couple years ago. Original seats, original motor, and no, no $50,000 heated garage, stays outside during the open water season with a cover on it, stored in a neighbors unheated garage for $175 for the winter.

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Brian Klawitter wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Dutchboy wrote:</div>
Lake Assault was bought by a company in Superior Wisconsin and I believe is still being made.

When I spoke with Lake Assault a couple years ago, they were manufacturing boats for government agencies only. Fire Depts ect. That may have changed.

* In talking with a fella that was in the upper management of Alumacraft, he stated they sell more boats then Lund. I was surprised.

As I said before in another thread, I’m not so concerned about the brand as I am the dealer.

According to their website,Lake Assault is commercial only at this point.I was looking at one in 2005,their moto was”No FOOFOO”(wood,carpet,plastic).Heavy duty boat that was not “pretty”and had a hefty price tag.You rarely see any for sale,the folks that bought them hang onto them.

Boat shopping can be fun,also a headache.

Boston Whaler…LOL!!!!! Andy your take is spot on!

Crappie, not to argue your point but you actually can get a Lund with about any motor you want if you look outside the metro a bit. I was looking to get my Lund with a Yamaha 150 on it and that is what led me looking to outstate mn for boats. In the end the Merc 150 with Merc monitor gauges (troll control) was the exact same price as the same boat with a Yamaha 150 and I gained the rpm adjustment not available at the time on the Yamaha and that was the only reason I have a Merc. Looking outstate and ordering early was what brought the price of my pro v within about $1000 of a comparable alumacraft competitor. Definitely had to invest a lot of time into research though. I do like that alumacraft is a lot more flexible locally though as Yamaha and Suzuki are great motors.