Modern aluminum boats vs glass

A fella told me the other day a modern 17-18 foot aluminum boat rides better than the 20 year old aluminum boats – any truth to that or is extremely marginal ? I find it hard to believe as hull design looks the same as my 2004 to 202x but curious to what IDO says .

Also how does an 18 foot fiberglass boat hold up ride wise compared to an 18 foot aluminum boat ? I assume better being glass , but again is it worth the money and can take some bigger seas ? Obviously the 20-23 footers is a better ride but the 18s ???

15-20 year old glass boats are still 25-30 k . And a new 18 footer aluminum isn’t bad compared to price. Especially some of the deals lacannes was running . Just makes a guy wonder
. For reference riding or dying with the beat up crestliner for another 5-10 years . Scratched up rigs are fun to fish out of . Just a topic we had at camp last week .

In my opinion if you are comparing alum to glass you need to compare the Lund IPS hull with the Pro Guide tiller packages. Ride in glass is better, price is cheaper in the alum but if comparing to the Lunds it’s certainly not a wide margin. Those Lund Pro Guides are crazy expensive when you get to the 19-20′ models.

This subject is like arguing which truck brand is better. It’s personal experience and the money you have available to spend.

To be honest my buddy has a 20′ Alumacraft tiller, if I had to buy a alum I would buy that over the Lund Pro Guide. But I don’t see myself buying anything but glass.

Should have added – full windshield boat guy . No tillers for me.

That won’t matter. The hulls mostly are the same the difference is the top cap.

Or… you could just go fishing. Instead of spending 50k on a boat and worrying about ride quality. A red 14ft Lund will catch just as many fish.

There are advantages nd disadvantages of both. Obviously fiberglass can handle rougher water and will ride better in a chop because it’s heavier. But being heavier you burn more fuel towing it.

I personally have zero use for a fiberglass boat. Rarely fish big water. Plus my garage is only so big too.

As far as aluminum boats go new vs old I would say brand is a bigger determinant than age. I’ve been in some relatively smooth old aluminum hulls and I’ve ridden in some newer aluminum boats that pounded the crap out of you.

Just me but I am just as happy with my 2000 Crestliner 182 Tournament Series as the day I bought it for my fishing. As far as ride the bigger heavier sparkly boats are going to ride better. Since I do not tournament fish anymore if it takes me a bit longer to get where I am going I just sit back and enjoy the ride.

I don’t think weight has everything to do with the ride quality. It is easier in a fiberglass boat to add ridges to the hull that can catch water and dampen the bounce. In an aluminum hull one can add rivets to the hull to help add give and help dampen the bounce. Aluminum hulls can only be designed in certain ways for manufacturing. I don’t think aluminum will win until we can build a hull that has rigids like we see in fiberglass designs.

Weight isn’t what makes the glass boats ride better it’s the ability to form the hull in any manner they want. Aluminum is limited in how it can be formed so they need to use other means to control spray like rub rails and a chine. I love my boat alumacraft tournament sport 185 but we had a rough and wet ride a few times on low. It was more because of wind direction than anything we could go into or with the waves.