New AlumaCraft

The boy can make video’s.

I watched that video last night, looks like they put a lot of thought into the layout and storage on this boat.

Those new hp ratings are very impressive.

This is really cool and it’s giving me thoughts of selling me lund…

400 hp on a 205 will be pushing 70+mph! Hold on…

Anyone else wonder how hard it would be to mount a side imaging transducer with those rear floats?

Nodakk wrote:

Anyone else wonder how hard it would be to mount a side imaging transducer with those rear floats?

Looks pretty simple.

A 90 on a 175 would be awesome

I have designed and welded pods onto a few of my jon boats with heavy mud motors and based on what I see here is those pods will be pretty much clear of the water while on full plane. Typically I set the front of the pod 1/4″ up from the hull on the front edge and have a total rise of around 1/2″ towards the rear of the pod depending on its length.
They will provide stability/floatation while at rest and not create hardly any drag while running and pretty much eliminate all porpoising at the bow even while trimmed to the max.
Another benefit of mounting a side imaging transducer that far back is it will clear your outboard so you won’t need to have one on each side of the boat like some people run to provide total viewing. Also they typically don’t work at high speeds so I see it a good thing to have them up and protected at high speed creating less drag out back. I currently run a 205 Comp. Sport with a 250 SHO so I am very familiar with the prior lineup.
So based on the pictures so far I’m a big fan of the changes.

The design on that boat is actually really impressive, I really like the extended back fishing deck and the general/battery storage is nice too.

I have been lightly boat shopping for the past few years and have been totally unimpressed with the Alumacraft lineup, so good for them for making some changes.

You can throw a 90 on the current 175, so no change there, but the 185 going from a max of a 90 to a 150 is huge. Lund’s 20′ tiller has a max HP of 250, so nothing really new there. I found it odd, unless I missed it, but he didn’t mention the beam width change. The beam width on all Competitor Models is now 98″. I believe both my 185 and 205 are 95″.

It’ll be interesting to see how the 195 sells. I know the 19′ boat market is there, but does it really make sense to have basically 4 boats all separated by 1′? I guess we’ll see.

One of the biggest reasons I jumped from a 185 to a 205 was the limited HP. It’s nice being able to cruise at 40+mph for long runs, my 185 max speed was 38.

Both the 195 and 205 have my interest when I sell my current rig in a year. But I still plan on sticking to my plan, ordering a 20′ glass tiller.

I do really like how they lined the storage compartments with a closed cell foam. The carpet takes forever to dry. I have the ceiling fan and the AC in the garage going and my boat is still wet from the rain this weekend.

Super cool but we all know the price will be insane the 2024 185 tillers wont sell for 32k im not sure how the market will handle those.

Awesome layout, still on an alumacraft hull tho

Deuces wrote:

Awesome layout, still on an alumacraft hull tho

My thoughts as well. I’ve owned one for 10 years and it’s done the job. Next one will be fiberglass. I do like the extended back deck, rod storage, console, and overall look of the boat though.

Deuces wrote:

Awesome layout, still on an alumacraft hull tho

My 1988 competitor hull is still great. 36yrs and no leaks.
I like this new design. I’ll probably buy one, when it’s 20 years old.

What’s the hate on the alumacraft hull ? I personally like them, haven’t had any complaints when I ride in them. They sure aren’t fiberglass but they seem to do just fine on the rough stuff we’ve been in.

The boat/hull isn’t intended to be compared to a 100k+ fiberglass rig.
I classify it as a poor man’s fiberglass rig, which is still plenty good for most people…

I feel they slap the crap out of waves, very flat front. Sits high as well, i like fishing close to the water. Take a peak at the noses of boats and they can be quite distinct. I’ll take Crestliner all day, for tin…

The aluminum hull is what it is. I’m not comparing them to a fiberglass hull. The 2XB hull has been bulletproof for me. I could be wrong, but I don’t think the comment above was specific to Alumacraft, just that it’s still an aluminum hull. If they could somehow improve the ride quartering into waves and the fact they get pushed around in the wind a lot more, I’d consider staying in an aluminum hull.

Deuces wrote:

I feel they slap the crap out of waves, very flat front. Sits high as well, i like fishing close to the water. Take a peak at the noses of boats and they can be quite distinct. I’ll take Crestliner all day, for tin…

I guess I was wrong.

Wow. I have been in many crestliners and I would much rather roll in my alumacraft than one of those those things are something else. Many of the models have the gas tank in the back instead of centralized under the floor like alumacraft and those things are borderline dangerous in big waves. Ive been in one and a buddy told me the same thing he has since traded.

Those pods sure do put a rear trolling motor like, a vantage, a long way from the driver in a tiller boat. Or maybe not even possible? No thanks

Not to detract from the current model being discussed but whatever happened to the design Alumacraft was going in big on a few years ago with the rotax engine and the big fantail casting deck on back? They marketed them heavily, but I’ve never seen a single one on the road or water.

ThunderLund78 wrote:

Not to detract from the current model being discussed but whatever happened to the design Alumacraft was going in big on a few years ago with the rotax engine and the big fantail casting deck on back? They marketed them heavily, but I’ve never seen a single one on the road or water.

I haven’t either but they are still on the website for 2025

He must own a SmokerCraft LOL. My 2008 Alumacraft Trophy 175 had a beast of a hull, could handle any size wave and road great with the Suzuki 115hp.

Deuces wrote:

Awesome layout, still on an alumacraft hull tho

Red Eye wrote:

Those pods sure do put a rear trolling motor like, a vantage, a long way from the driver in a tiller boat. Or maybe not even possible? No thanks

There’s a reason MinnKota discontinued the Vantage. It just didn’t sell, except in a very small sector; basically MN, ND, SD & WI. Same with the transom mounted Electric motors. They just are not that popular with how efficient bow motors are these days. Now one could argue tillers are really only popular in the markets I mentioned above, but even then how many tiller guys are running a Vantage or a transom mounted electric motor on new boats? I did run a Vantage on my 185, but I no longer miss the thing.

The Rotax motor is still alive. I have seen a few on the Manitou Pontoons. I have not seen any Competitors with a Rotax. I do know the facility in Germany(where they manufacture all components for the marine engines) really struggled to keep up with demand on parts for their marine division the last few years. So, I’m guessing they are finally getting caught up to re-release the Rotax S motor.

I’m guessing there are very few weekend warrior type anglers that would ever touch a rig with a Rotax(Etec) motor on the back. While the person that is just getting into boating wouldn’t know any better of the track record of Etec motors. I know from personal experience, owned 2 Etecs that they either ran like a graped ape or were in the shop. My G1 90HO would never idle correctly. And the G2 that was on my current boat took out Cylinder 2 after I put 10 hours onto it.

I had a 2017 smoker craft pro mag 171 and now a 2022 competitor 185 and it’s night and day. The smoker would slap the waves so hard it could loosen fillings in your teeth. Constantly finding loose screws and nuts laying in compartments. Plus my alumacraft sits closer to the water than my smoker craft did which is what I wanted.

The Alumacraft above looks like it has higher sides than other tillers. Not good for boat control when fishing.

Wave Wacker will need to design something to keep all the water off the back….

If s company can build a boat, why can’t they build a quality factory installed wave wacker type of protection for their products?