Boats: Fiberglass vs. Aluminum

Hello everyone, I am looking to buy a new boat in the next year and a half. I have a dilema though. I am a tiller guy and in my opinion you can’t beat a Warrior with the Pro-tiller system. My concern is durability of fiberglass vs. aluminum. Being that the river can be full of debris or some of the launches I use don’t have docks, meaning the boat has to be beached with the possibility of rocks, will a fiberglass or aluminum boat put up to more abuse? Anybody with experience or knowledge on this subject would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Mike T.

AS for the overall durability I will leave it to others to answer, but I have a Hamby’s beaching bumper on my Ranger and I slide it right up on any concrete landing and it doesn’t get a scratch. As long as the surface is realatively flat so only the keel hits when you pull into shore, you don’t have to worry about scratches or chips with the Hamby’s on fiberglass. Now, I wouldn’t want to try floating across a shallow wingdam or anything with it!!

If I only fished the river, I would definately go aluminum. Especially if you frequently beach the boat. Another peril you may want to consider is ice in the river from late Nov through Feb/March.

I ended up owning both an aluminum jon boat for the river and a glass boat for summer fishing mostly on Mille Lacs. I love how a glass boat handles big water. Overall I believe glass is as durable as aluminum, except in the area of beaching. I can count on one hand the number of time I have beached my glass boat in the last 2 1/2 seasons. (Like once or twice) Both times I got dinged.

Jon J.

Jon J

I guess I have owned both fiberglass bass boats and aluminum boats. For my two cents worth if your a speed nut and that is what really matters you can`t beat fiberglass. An aluminum hull will never run the same speed as a glass hull with the same horsepower. Glass will scratch and show more damage ( and have more damage ) in a hard hit on a dock or rock ( and more costly to fix ) If you are looking for durablility and a good ride and handling it is really tough to beat Crestliners. I was totally impressed with the handling and ride of both James`s and Deans Crestliners. To me it is the closest thing to glass in an aluminum boat. I own a Lund now but I garauntee you my next boat will be a Crestliner FishHawk. To me it is the total package in an aluminum boat. Just my two cents worth.

Good Luck

For my money its fiberglass.If you buy a tin boat and scratch it you you have a scratch forever,same with fiberglass,so both should be reapaired for resale value,although I do use my tin duckboat during winter months on the river I can use a paint brush to fix scratches and JB weld to fix any holes.

I think Jon hit it right.

If you are fishing small water mostly, go aluminum……no questions asked………..

Even if you are running big water, a tiller is going to give “YOU” a smooth ride. The passengers might get bounced a bit, but you can upgrade seats with air ride.

I think the biggest draw back with aluminum is that you get wet, compared to glass is VERY dry rides.

My buddy has a 18′ deep water Triton. Beautiful boat and extremely smooth and dry. @ 60 mph, it feels as though you are sitting in your recliner at home. HOWEVER, last fall, he was trolling LOTW for musky. This guys spends alot of time on that water and knows it well. Anyways, he ran right up on top of a rock while trolling. The boat got stuck and he and his father were out there alone (no other boats around). They couldn’t get out of the boat, into the water to push it off, because it was deep all the way around (pinnacle style rock). So after many attempts of trying to get the boat off the rock, they had to get pulled off by another boat (thank God that someone came by). The hull had to be taken into the shop for serious repairs. They hit this rock at 5mph and it did this damage.

My opinion, like Jon’s, is to go aluminum, unless most of your fishing is going to avoid the beach and rocks.