Family Fishing Boat

Starting the search for a new fishing boat to take the family out in and eventually use it for some watersports as well. I have read a lot of the previous threads and 100% agree with buying a fishing boat (as that will be its primary function) that can pull double duty as a watersport boat.

We have 4 little ones from 5-1 so we need a fair amount of space to get everyone in. Therefore, we are looking at 17′ as the minimum length. A few requirements are, fold-out bench/seats, deeper (so nobody falls over), and potential bow seating (less important if there is adequate space in back). Most lakes that I fish are small northern WI lakes in the 500-2500 acre range, but do fish the Madison lakes <10,000 acres from time to time as well. I would say big lake fishing (Mille Lacs, Leech, Winnebago) would be rare so not necessary to have a glass boat.

I have identified a few models that include:

Lund Crossover
Lund Impact
Alumacraft Competitor Sport
Mirrocraft Dual Impact
Mirrocraft Holiday – Like this one the best thus far based upon a full bench in back and affordability.

Does anyone have experience with any of these models or others that you care to share? Very, very early in the search here though. TIA

With 6 people you’re going to want as big of a boat as you can get.

I’d look at used twenty footers if I were you. Something like a Reata.

What’s the price point you’re looking in?

I’d take a close look at the Crestliner Sportfish. Even some of the older models.

One of the main reasons I like it is the convertible bow. Ours goes from platform (with removable pedestal seat) to open (with padded side seats) in seconds. Love that feature.

I’d be looking at 18’plus with 4 kids.

Don’t forget the swim ladder

We have a family of four with a 17 1/2 foot. I would not go any smaller. With your family size I will second going 20’. As they get older they may have friends and relatives with also.

We bought it assuming we’d be fishing 90% of the time and skiing occasionally. We ski more than we fish in it. I’m glad I didn’t get strictly a fishing boat thinking could ski occasionally. Better buy yourself a floating mat while you’re at it.

Agree with others I would look at a bigger boat. I have 3 young boys and with my wife and i it can get cramped in my alumacraft competitor 175 sport. Nice boat and it works for us but space gets taken up quickly

I just bought an 1850 Reata and it’s been a game changer for the family. Having a glass boat is so much more comfortable than the Lund we had. Plus, it has great family features like bow seating, integrated cooler, etc.

The biggest difference for us has been on some of the smaller local lakes that get heavy boat traffic. The glass boat cuts through wakes of the larger ski/wakeboard boats. The aluminum boat jarred over the top of those wakes.

I would look at glass – not so much for fishing big water but more for family comfort.

Good info so far. I hadn’t really considered glass boats, but how is their durability with beaching on sandy, gravel launches without piers? Is it something you even want to do?

Impact XS or Crossover

jake47 wrote:

Good info so far. I hadn’t really considered glass boats, but how is their durability with beaching on sandy, gravel launches without piers? Is it something you even want to do?

Sand and gravel is fine, especially with a keel guard.

Big jagged boulders will scratch up your gel coat, but they will also scratch up an aluminum boat too.

Check out a alumacraft trophy. Mike at Lacannes is great. Jump seats in the back are nice. I have a 205.

It’s way easier to repair a glass boat back to original appearance. Glass scratches, but is also absurdly durable. The only advantage of aluminum is weight; maybe a smaller camp boat setup you need to pick up with a couple guys.

Almost all the glass boats have the keel guard. I was worried about that since I’m in the river a lot but it’s been no big deal to this point. I also have a talon and that allows me not to run it up as much.

Check all of them out you can….hit up The Boat Center and they’ll treat you right as you do your research.

Make sure you check the specific Maximum Capacity Coast Guard rating before you buy a boat that will be used for so many people. A doubt a 17.5 foot boat will legally even allow 6 people in it. Exceeding the Coast Guard ratings not only could get you into legal trouble, but if you ever get into an accident, there will be even bigger trouble from a lawsuit or your insurance. Like Matt said, a fiberglass rig is built to handle a lot more weight/people so you may want to look into that instead of aluminum.

A lot of good suggestions above, but add the Alumacraft Edge 185 to your list to look at. Capacity is 8 persons, dependant on weight. Wide gunwales with a height that is a good balance between fishability and safety IMO. Only knock on them is the livewell under the seat. Can’t say that bothers me too much, but then again, maybe I don’t put enough fish in there. We’ve had one for 3 years now and overall I am pleased. Not a glass boat ride, but not a glass boat price either.

I have a Alumacraft Trophy 175 and I use it for fishing and family tubing. Great boat but you may like the 185 better with 6 of you. Mine works good for a family of 4 but would go bigger with 5 or 6 people. The trophy has the taller side walls and does not have that lower rod box that kids can get up on and fall over board.

That’s a good list. Look at them carefully and buy the one you like the best! Don’t buy based on brand image or past perceptions of quality. The quality these days is so hit and miss that you can only judge the boat that’s sitting in front of you, nobody can generalize and say brand x is better.

If you want to look at other similar styles of boats, you can also look at:

Smokercraft Ultima
Crestliner Sportfish

gimruis wrote:

A doubt a 17.5 foot boat will legally even allow 6 people in it. Exceeding the Coast Guard ratings not only could get you into legal trouble,

Read your USCG plate carefully. There’s an “or” in there. X persons OR x weight. You aren’t going to exceed the weight rating with a bunch of kids that weigh less than 1 adult.

Grouse

I’d second the recommendation for the reata. We just bought a 2005 Reata 1850 and it’s been great for us. We are a family of four, but we’ve been out with the in-laws a few times and it’s handled that group of six pretty well. I’m sure the Skeeter Solera/Triton Allure are setup pretty similar too.

There is seating in the bow if you fold down the platform, which is pretty handy. But four pedestal seats + 2 jump seats in the back makes it a comfortable ride for everybody in the back. Ours is rated for 7 people or 955 pounds I think, but the newer ones might have greater capacity.

My favorite thing about the boat is the size of the cockpit + width, it’s like 101″ beam and there’s just so much room in the back, which puts my mind at ease with our 3 year old running around back there.

Glass is a much softer ride than aluminum, I wouldn’t undervalue that. Get a keel guard and you’ll be more than fine to beach it.

Where in WI are you located? If you are close to stillwater I might be able to take you out in mine sometime, but I won’t be available for a few weeks with some vacation coming up.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>gimruis wrote:</div>
A doubt a 17.5 foot boat will legally even allow 6 people in it. Exceeding the Coast Guard ratings not only could get you into legal trouble,

Read your USCG plate carefully. There’s an “or” in there. X persons OR x weight. You aren’t going to exceed the weight rating with a bunch of kids that weigh less than 1 adult.

Grouse

I’m sorry to hi-jack the thread but I’m curious about this. my boat says 6 people or (X) lbs. lets just say its 1000 pounds since i cant remember the actual number. My understanding was one or the other whichever is met first. Are you saying i could legally put 7 people on my boat as long as the total weight is under 1000 lbs?

I have a Crest liner Sport fish 1850 and it has been amazing for us.

Great all around boat!

You can find 17′ boats with Coast Guard ratings of 6-7 people, but even if you max out the motor, you could find performance less then desirable. This would be especially true if you do water sports. Your children will only get bigger.

FDR

Again, not sure of your budget, but this would be a sweet ride for the family.

I’m guessing it was originally sold with a smaller motor, since the motor doesn’t match the age of the boat.

It’s set up decent with electronics. Asking $37k. Not sure how long it’s been up, but I’m sure it could be bought for less.

Since you’re in Wisconsin remember that you’ll have to pay sales tax whether it’s private party or not. Have an itemized invoice that subtracts any removable items so you don’t pay tax on used trolling motors, graphs, rod holders, accessories, etc. You only have to pay tax on the boat, motor and trailer. In Minnesota we’re lucky and only pay tax on the trailer if used.

https://www.walleyecentral.com/classified/adviewer/209994

I’m sorry to hi-jack the thread but I’m curious about this. my boat says 6 people or (X) lbs. lets just say its 1000 pounds since i cant remember the actual number. My understanding was one or the other whichever is met first. Are you saying i could legally put 7 people on my boat as long as the total weight is under 1000 lbs?
[/quote]

You can not have more then the number of people in occupancy that’s on your plaque. Even if your 400 lbs shy

Bearcat89 wrote:

I’m sorry to hi-jack the thread but I’m curious about this. my boat says 6 people or (X) lbs. lets just say its 1000 pounds since i cant remember the actual number. My understanding was one or the other whichever is met first. Are you saying i could legally put 7 people on my boat as long as the total weight is under 1000 lbs?

You can not have more then the number of people in occupancy that’s on your plaque. Even if your 400 lbs shy
[/quote]

Thanks that’s what I thought as well. Maybe i was misunderstanding what grouse was saying

I’ll throw my option out there as well.
We’ve had an 1850 Lund Tyee since 2013 with a 175 Verado (plate max is 200).
It’s deep, has a built in skiing/tubing post, jump seats, bow cushions, swim ladder and is a great platform to fish out of.
We moved from a 2000 17’ Lund Prosport and the difference was huge.
An 1850 sized whatever would be the minimum I would consider for a family of 6. You will want some horses to pull kids on water toys with the rest of the family in the boat.
Ours is used to camp the islands of Rainy and Namakan up in Voyageurs Park a lot so I needed to go with aluminum, and I fish Superior too. But I can still head over to the local 800 acre lake for an afternoon of skiing when I want.
Good luck with your search, tons of good options out there.

X2

Thanks for all the great info! My wife and I haven’t really discussed this yet, so we don’t have a hard budget yet. I’m guessing it will be somewhere in the 20-30k range. May have to look at a boat that is a bit smaller with the goal of upgrading in a few years when the kids get bigger. Although, I’m convinced they take up just as much room now as when they get older…

Lots of good stuff to look into here!

jake47 wrote:

Thanks for all the great info! My wife and I haven’t really discussed this yet, so we don’t have a hard budget yet. I’m guessing it will be somewhere in the 20-30k range. May have to look at a boat that is a bit smaller with the goal of upgrading in a few years when the kids get bigger. Although, I’m convinced they take up just as much room now as when they get older…

Lots of good stuff to look into here!

I’ve been looking for something similar both boat and price wise and that seems to be the most competitive used market. Anything 18’+ and less than 10 years old seems to be more expensive, and spending 20-30k on a decade old boat with decade old boat problems would take the right boat imo. There are a lot of used Impacts out there, a few Crossovers, and Reata’s but not many Tyee’s/ProV’s or other glass boats. Good luck in your search, we are probably another year out, so post what you end up with!

Reviving this old thread since life happened and I never got into a new boat last year. Looking at new boats again after the kids had a great time on the water this summer, both fishing and cruising. Based on the information above, looking at 19’ and longer boats. Really like the Crestliner Sportfish models as they seem like 70% fishing 30% pleasure, which would be about the breakdown of usage I would expect.

One question I have, is it an issue to get on plane with 6 people seated behind the bow? I remember when we had a Bayliner, dad always wanted a few people up front to help get the bow down. Is this something to worry about or does the positioning of batteries and trolling motor help keep it down?

That depends somewhat on the boat and more on the HP. There are a lot of boats that are rigged to hit a price point and are under powered. If you plan on taking out 6 people often then make sure the boat has the max allowed HP on it. The other option is to prop down to help with the hole shot, but you will sacrifice top end. Tracker is a company that puts out a lot of under powered boats to make them cheap. As an example my neighbor had a 19′ that the base model came with a 115. He had a 150 on his and it was under powered, but worked fine with just two people in it, but with a 115 it would have been brutal with 4 guys in it.

jake47 wrote:

Reviving this old thread since life happened and I never got into a new boat last year. Looking at new boats again after the kids had a great time on the water this summer, both fishing and cruising. Based on the information above, looking at 19’ and longer boats. Really like the Crestliner Sportfish models as they seem like 70% fishing 30% pleasure, which would be about the breakdown of usage I would expect.

One question I have, is it an issue to get on plane with 6 people seated behind the bow? I remember when we had a Bayliner, dad always wanted a few people up front to help get the bow down. Is this something to worry about or does the positioning of batteries and trolling motor help keep it down?

It shouldn’t be. We seat 6 behind the windshield in our Reata. The seating for the boat at plane out no one in front of the windshield. Max out your hp and you’ll be fine.