Looking for opinions on getting a new tiller boat for the 2017 season

Hey everyone, well I am starting to consider shopping around this winter for a new fishing boat. I currently am using a 1984 SeaRay 18.5′ Seville with the 3.0 mercruiser. Good solid boat, but I don’t water ski and neither does the wife. I pull a tube at low speeds every now and then during the summer at speeds 15 mph and less for my 2 boys which are 3 and 5. So I am looking to go more towards strictly just a fishing boat and I can still pull a tube around for the kiddos when needed. My old man owns a 2012 Skeeter MX1825 so if I need something when the weather is gonna be real crumby, I have that to borrow on occasion. I am looking into getting a tiller, because I like the room and storage and the ease of fishing out of them. I primarily troll cranks and spinner rigs. So, I am looking at lund, alumacraft, and crestliner. Would like to stay with aluminum because with the kids, I end up beaching the boat a lot so they can go and play at the beach. I fish Lake sakakawea the Missouri river. Those are the only 2 bodies of water that I fish. If the lake is too rough, I head to the river. So what would you guys recommend as far as models, length, engine size, etc? What would be best for the times that I have myself, my wife, and 1 or both of the kids with? Or myself, my dad, and the kids? As far as for powering it, I was raised around Yamahas….but I like the yamahas, Hondas, and merc 4 strokes, I feel they are all adequate and good powerplants. Also if you guys have recommendations as what I should outfit one of these new boats with as far as electronics, accessories, etc…..feel free to chime in on that as well. Thanks

1875 Pro Guide
90hp Merc 4 stroke(man these things purrr and nice to have the extra ponies for tubing)
80# 24v Xi-5 GPS(anything rougher I’m backtrolling)
2-9-10″ screens of your choice(One GPS/sonar, other side/down)
Couple wind bags

Drool.

Also looking to stay $27000 or way less out the door sale price! Lol

175 Competitor should fit in there. Look for a 2016 model that needs to leave the dealer.

Same goes for a 1750 Pro tiller from Crestliner. The command center kills me but you may dig it. Like the separate bait well for those who just ice our fish we bring home and use live well for storage.

Myriad of 16′ tillers in that range but with the big waters you fish would imagine at least a 17′ is starting point.

Either way that’s a good price range you’ll find something really nice.

I fish the exact same bodies of water plus a little more. I run a Yar-Craft 2095btx with a Mercury 200 verado and love it. For your price range and wants I don’t think you can go wrong with a Lund pro guide. I would get one with power steering so you would have to put a Mercury on it. It makes it way nicer to drive. I would also get a vantage and ipolit. I favor Lowrance so two or three HDS’s would be on list linked together. If you could swing a little more you could with a 20′ boat and it would open up a little more fishing weather. Also I wouldn’t go any smaller then 18′

Take a look at backtroller boats. They are built to order and I think may fit in your price range.

nhamm wrote:

175 Competitor should fit in there. Look for a 2016 model that needs to leave the dealer.

Same goes for a 1750 Pro tiller from Crestliner. The command center kills me but you may dig it. Like the separate bait well for those who just ice our fish we bring home and use live well for storage.

Myriad of 16′ tillers in that range but with the big waters you fish would imagine at least a 17′ is starting point.

Either way that’s a good price range you’ll find something really nice.

Yeah, I like the look of the Crestliner, but I do not care for how the command center is setup at all!! I’ve kinda narrowed it down farther to the just the Lund Pro Guide or the Alumacraft competitor 185. I have been around a lot of Lunds over the years and have never seen anything bad with their products. My dad owned a 08 1825 explorer for a short time and it was a wonderful boat to fish out of. Can anyone tell me some out the door prices on the pro guides?

MIKE METCALF wrote:

Can anyone tell me some out the door prices on the pro guides?

Well, rigged fairly nice with TM and electronics id imagine your budget will be real close. And when I say real close I mean $2-5k over budget

Cmon, that increase barely is noticeable on the monthly payment

Walleye central classifieds have quit a few most of the time. It would a few dollars.

I’m a tiller guy too. But with a much smaller budget!

My Dad has a 2007 2010 Lund ProGuide. All he fishes is Lake Sakakawea and it’s great for that. Those ProGuide’s are amazing fishing boats. Only down side is the 20 footers blow around a lot in those N.D. winds, so invest in a good trolling motor. Doubt you’ll be able to get a 20-footer new in that range but a used one maybe. And as others have suggested, the 18-foot version is also sweet. Good luck!

biggill wrote:

Take a look at backtroller boats. They are built to order and I think may fit in your price range.

X2…great boats!

I bought a 175 Alumacraft January of 2016 from LaCanne’s. Had a sweet deal on brand new 2015 models. May be worth a look for a good deal. Mine is rigged with Yamaha and have absolutely no complaints. I put 130 hours on it this summer and it performed flawlessly. Not a speed demon by any means but I was able to pull a tube up to 28 miles per hour. Like another guy said, don’t skimp on trolling motor, you will regret it. I did that with my last boat and I went to the 80lb right away with this one and haven’t looked back.

One note:My previous boat had bunk trailers and I loved them so I decided to do that with this one as well. It was priced originally with a black roller shorelander, I switched it to a Eagle with bunks and color matched to the boat and it actually was a couple hundred dollars cheaper

There’s a 1999 Lund Pro-v 1800 tiller on CL right now. Doesn’t show much for electronics, but the price isn’t terrible. Looks to be in really good shape.

I have the 1675 proguide with a 70 merc on it and love it. Would have rather had a Yamaha but the price difference was large due to a boat show package. Think it was around 26k for my setup. Would have liked the 1775 but could not make it work in my garage. So for I have been happy with both the motor and boat.

Good luck

FWIW the max hull is .16″ on all three options. The freeboard is .08″.

Looks like you got some test driving to do

A few decent options on Mpls Craiglist right now IMO, would very much consider the Pro-V in Ely for the power steering. Good luck with what you decide.

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ram/boa/5801027109.html
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/bod/5870002083.html
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/csw/boa/5840930595.html
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/boa/5812745106.html

After weighing the options and going and sitting in a few tillers….I don’t think it would be a good fit for my family….my 2 rambunctious boys….just think a walkthrough full windshield boat would be best. I have looked at a 2016 Larson 1750 FX with a 115 mercury 4 stroke. Nice boat. Anyone have any info or experience on these? Also looked at a 2017 g3 angler v17 with a 115 Yamaha. Really like the g3 and the Yamaha. Not much info on these from my searching. Any info or experience with the g3? Are they a decent boat? The price on this one with no sonar. Trolling motor, etc…is $24,700. For a brand new boat from the dealer. Let me know. Thanks!

Mike,

You might want to check out the Dual Impact from Mirrocraft. I have a cousin with one and it does pretty good double duty as a fishing/pleasure boat. The rear casting deck folds down and exposes a rear bench seat for cruising and it does something similar up in the bow. If I was in the market for a family/fishing boat, I probably would be checking them out. Not sure what the price tag is, but I’m sure you could call a few dealers and see if they have any of last year’s model that they are trying to move before the spring.

Just found this one in a few minutes online. Would leave you a fair amount left over to rig it up nicely.

2016 Dual Impact