A good deal?

I have been reading Fish the River and Walleye Central for 3 years, but never posted. Now I need expert advise and Walleye Central and Fish the River appear to be the place to find it. I have a chance to buy a Chapparral 180 LE [97] 3.0 in great shape for $8500. I have been looking for a boat to replace my 87 Tyee which runs and fishes great, but is not at all family friendly. Two questions…1) Would this boat be trolling friendly, so I could at least still do some fishing, and 2) does this appear to be a as good a deal as I think it is?

RFahr

I’m not up on the selling prices of the rig you’ve mentioned but I’ve been in and fished out of a similar I/O and will comment on the fishablity.

You asked “could at least still do some fishing?”

Sure you can. If trolling is you’re thing, during the warmer month, typical trolling speeds will often be in excess of 2 MPH. You should be able to troll down to this speed or pretty darn close to it. Will you be able to hover motionless when trolling into a light current? No, you won’t. The boat you’re looking at will force you to make some compromises. If the utmost in fishability is paramount to you, consider adding a small 4 stroke outboard kicker. You’ll be able to troll as slow as you want and having the second motor on-board should the main motor konk out is a little insurance you’ll not regret having if and when you do ever have some motor troubles.

Best of luck with the new boat.