Buying new boat - Have many questions

[DaKanati]

saltyseadog has a point:however, you can always say that about every price range!

[Gisteppo]

Aaron, are you going to be doing the ocean thing in this boat?

Ill reserve my comments until I know where you will take it.

E

[Anonymous]

Hey Aaron,
That’s a great looking boat. Here's my two cents, loose the cannon hand crankers and install a couple of Scotty electrics. Less time cranking and more time fishing, especially if you’re fishing Lake Chelan down to 250 feet for the lakers.
Good luck!

[Anonymous]

So now I'm beginning to second guess my needs. I've found a lightly used 2007 Hewescraft 200 Pro-V with a Honda Jet 200 (with 4 hours on it) and Honda 9.9 Power Thrust kicker for just $2000 more than the new 180 Sportsman, or $2000 less if you take away the TR-1, downriggers and fish finder, which this boat doesn't have. I'm going to go look at at. I have a fish finder. I have 2 downriggers. I have a family of 6 and the Pro-V will carry 8 people, unlike the 5 of the 180. That would mean I could get 6 people and a bunch of gear on the boat for camping and no need to go back to the launch for gear.

[sickbayer]

my used boat had 24hours on it and was/is like new it is a 03. The 20 footer sounds superb. My dodge could only haul 5700lb my boat is around 4500lb so i had to get a new truck to pull mine, sounds like you will have to do the same. Stopping was my biggest problem. Oh and my mate has the tri gold and it is fantastic. i have a panther marine remote steer, it does was it supposed to do but you have to constantly correct it unlike the TR1 set it and forget it.

[Aaron]

That, sickbayer, would be a problem. I can't afford a new truck, and a new boat. My max capacity is about 6000. The Pro-V is about 450lbs heaver which should put the weight of boat and trailer at around 2500. I would hope thats enough, even for stopping.

[Gisteppo]

If you are going to get a squirter, you should definitely go to the Bay Mfg website. You can get a bay kit for that boat that will allow you to swap lower units between the pump and the prop for the water conditions you have. This way you can have a pump for running skinny water and a prop for bigger, deeper lakes.

Remember that a jet causes a 30% reduction in horsepower at the nozzle and a 30% increase in fuel consumption for a given speed.

E

[Anonymous]

That, sickbayer, would be a problem. I can't afford a new truck, and a new boat. My max capacity is about 6000. The Pro-V is about 450lbs heaver which should put the weight of boat and trailer at around 2500. I would hope thats enough, even for stopping.

The boat is heavier and so is the motor. Better really be certain about your weights and towing ability. Nothing worse than being underpowered - for both getting out of a ramp AND for safety stopping.

I had a V-6 Dakota which could barely pull my 16 ft fiberglass bat over the passes. It was not fun.

Would they be willing to let you hook it up and drive it around a bit to see how it handles? Get that class 4 hitch! (I think that's what it's called - help me here people)

Oh, and I predict if you decide to fish Chelan you'll go buy at least one electric. You might want to PM Anton Jones about your boat choices, I'll bet he would be happy to give you his 2 cents.

[G-Man]

You’re going to want to get at least a class 3 hitch which is rated for 600lbs of tongue weight and 6000lbs towing weight. Your current class 2 is 350/3500 by comparison, beef it up now and you'll not have to worry about it later. Boat and trailer weight is always a guess unless you put it on a scale, now remember that when your going camping that you'll probably load it down some more. I have surge brakes on my rig, even though it is relatively light. Overkill?, maybe, but when I have my camper loaded on the truck and extra gear in the boat, I feel better knowing I have them. The swing tongue and surge brakes on my trailer were part of the negotiation. My dealer threw them in, along with a few other things, to make the sale. My gut feeling is that your vehicle will be fine for the 18' boat but the 20' may be a bit too much. Does you vehicle have a way to adjust the suspension height if the back end is loaded down? If it does, you may be alright with the larger boat, just take it easy when you’re towing.

A quick question, do you see yourself running in shallow water or in rivers? If not you may want to look at going with an 18' Searunner. You'll get more freeboard, a wider transom and a better ride in choppy water.

[Aaron]

A quick question, do you see yourself running in shallow water or in rivers? If not you may want to look at going with an 18' Searunner. You'll get more freeboard, a wider transom and a better ride in choppy water.

The point of abandoning the 18' Hewescraft was the realization that I can't put my entire family in the boat and be safe, let alone get them AND some camping gear in there as well.

It did, however just occur to me that I own a 1969 F-100 with a Class III hitch. While it's not a 4x4 for those tricky launches, it would pull that boat with no hesitation (I think). It has a 350 in it. We only use it for hauling things to the dump, which is why I didn't even think about it before. I think if I took it in and had the brakes inspection/redone I would be fine. I'll look into that option.

[clam man]

Good rule of thumb: if you can't afford to buy a used boat "I can't save enough money to buy a used boat" you really should not be buying a new one. What is the real cost of this when you go to a payment plan....those deals are for 144 months!! That is 12 freaking years. really let that one sit in your craw for a while. I love boats...I would love a new boat...but there is no way in heck I am going to piss away my retirement/kids college/food money/medical bills on a boat contract. If I buy new, I am going to pay cash, or go through a bank loan.


Look at the housing market...buying with a "payment" in mind is the problem many people encountered. Sorry to be a tool, but it is something you should consider.

Beautiful boat though...

[Aaron]

Well for me, "I can't save enough money to buy a used boat" certainly doesn't mean I don't have the money or can't afford one, it means I'm compulsive in nature and if I'm in the market for a boat, and I get one, great. I'll be happy with that. But if I don't get one, I may change my priorities and say, get a different motorcycle, or get my wife a nicer car... or any other such thing. I wouldn't dream of paying on a boat for 15 years, but getting a loan for that long would allow me the freedom to pay a little, or a lot each month.

I think the only thing I really CAN'T afford would be a new boat AND a new truck. I have, however, in the last 30 minutes, thought of even more options than I had before. I'm also selling my other boat, and have yet even another boat to sell after that one. Those funds would certainly buy me a rig capable of towing a larger boat and I would be able to pay cash for that. Thanks for bringing this up and making me think on it.

[hewesfisher]

Hi Aaron - I'm late getting in on this, but I've been busy. As to resale value, no one, and I mean no one, buys anything hoping to recover their cost in a year. A lot of people tried to do that with the housing market under the false impression they could "turn and burn" and they got burned.

Hewescraft has one of the strongest resale values of all the welded aluminum boats out there, you won't be disappointed if you have to sell later because there is always someone willing to buy a nice Hewescraft, especially if it's well optioned. I really like the fact that not only are the boats built here in WA, but they're built 90 minutes north of Spokane. Not sure if you want to buy? Make a trip to the factory and it will change your opinion on the quallity and commitment Hewescraft puts in every boat they make and they really do build each one by hand one at a time.

You mention concern over the number of people you can have on board, and yes the 18 Sportsman is rated for 5 persons, but keep in mind that's 5 adults, not children. I know the cert plate says 5 persons, but the rating is based on adults, not children. I doubt you'd ever have a problem with your family on board.

As to power, the 18 Sportsman is rated for a max of 115 prop HP, so the 115 is the max that boat can have. It is by no means underpowered, and it should easily do 40 - 42 with a light load on board. My 16 Sportsman will do an honest 42mph with me, my wife, cooler full of ice, all our gear, tackle boxes, a kicker, bow mount trolling motor, two batteries, and a full tank of fuel and that's with a 90hp which is max prop HP on the 16.

Unless you plan to run in skinny water, I would not get a jet powered boat. Gisteppo is right, there is a significant power loss when converting an outboard to a jet. I wouldn't want two lower units to change according to the type of fishing I wanted to do, too much work.

My wife and I were in "your" 18 Sportsman Saturday, and had we bought an 18 intially, I doubt we would be upgrading now. We really love our 16, but there are times when it just isn't big enough, that and some of the water we fish can get pretty rough and we wanted a smoother riding hull. I'm sure some of what we deal with has to do with the shorter hull our 16 has, but the Pro V has a deeper V that runs all the way to the transom and that's what we were looking for.

Someone mentioned an extended transom, and it's a nice feature, but to get one you'd have to step up to a SeaRunner and the considerable increase in price that comes with that boat. It's a fine boat, but it's designed for much rougher water than most of us ever see in the Inland NW, except maybe on ID's Lake Pend Oreille or Priest or Couer d'Alene. Your only option on a Sportsman, including the Pro V, is transom mount.

As for propping your boat, Skipper Bill's has been in business for many years and they have also been a long time Hewescraft dealer here in Spokane. They've sold enough of these boats to know what props are best for the application and the odds of them propping your motor wrong are pretty darn low. My boat was propped perfectly and I've never felt the need to change it. I have a great hole shot, and the motor hits its peak rpm right where it's supposed to without any effort getting there. Matter of fact, when I take off I am at cruise rpm before I can even hammer the throttle down - yes it's that fast, but mine is a 2-stroke and the 4-strokes don't have that kind of acceleration. Now, I'm not naive enough to think you won't have to reprop, but the odds are very slim indeed, and if you needed to, I'm certain the folks at Skipper Bill's would see that it was taken care of.

I don't know what your Mountaineer's tow capacity is, but you should be able to find the info in your owner's manual. We tow our 16 Sportsman with an '04 Ranger 4x4 and it handles the load easily. My Ranger is factory equipped with a class III recevier hitch and tow package and it has the 4.0l V6 and a 5psd auto andis rated for a max tow load of 5500lbs. I will tow our new Pro V with the same vehicle since the new trailer has surge brakes and it will be about half the max towing capacity of my Ranger.

I don't know how much value you place on the TR-1, but that's an awful lot of money in my mind for the convenience of "auto pilot". I just can't justify it for my boat.

Things of biggest value to me this time around were more fishing space outside the canvas, hydraulic steering, and an 8hp kicker. There were times I wanted to pull the 6hp off our old boat and throw it in the lake. Don't get me wrong, it ran great, but a single cylinder motor has such a thump to it and it got to the point I hated it and regretted not upgrading the motor to an 8hp twin. I will not have to deal with that ever again.

If my decision to buy anything was based on my ability to save up and pay cash for it, well, I'd buy things less frequently. The key factor in such a decision is how much of my monthly income goes to service any debt other than my mortgage. I have 3 payments left on my truck, and once that's paid for, the only "debt" we'll have to service other than our mortgage is the boat payment. We can live with that, and if you're comfortable with a similar decision, you shouldn't let that affect your decision to buy new.

If you want to talk to me about your dilemma, send me a PM and I'll give you my home phone number.

[Aaron]

I don't know what your Mountaineer's tow capacity is, but you should be able to find the info in your owner's manual. We tow our 16 Sportsman with an '04 Ranger 4x4 and it handles the load easily. My Ranger is factory equipped with a class III recevier hitch and tow package and it has the 4.0l V6 and a 5psd auto andis rated for a max tow load of 5500lbs. I will tow our new Pro V with the same vehicle since the new trailer has surge brakes and it will be about half the max towing capacity of my Ranger.

You probably have the same engine I have. My 4.0 liter v6 is rated for 5500lbs max, 3800 with the stock Class II hitch. So if I have surge brakes on the trailer it will help?

[Rozman]

Aaron,

I bought the 16.5 ft Sportsman last year from Skipper Bills. They really stand behind their products. Not to mention the boat is great for going after 'eyes on Roosevelt or getting in to some backwater duck hunting areas, close enough where I can walk the final stretch in waders anyway. I love my Hewes.

[Gisteppo]

Aaron, my 3.6L V6 toy pulls 5000lbs with a class 3 hitch. Don't expect to pull lewiston grade at 70, but it does just fine everywhere else. How many semis have you seen pulling a load up a hill on I-90 that are going as fast as traffic? People obsess about having trucks so powerful "it doesn't feel like the trailer is back there". If you are pulling BIG loads 90% of the time, that might make sense. If you are towing once a week or less, why have all that extra expense when a truck the size of yours or mine can pull the boat you are talking about just fine?

So I have an idea for this thread:

When selecting a plan for a builder to construct in the custom boat world, we specify EXACTLY what the owner intends to do with the boat, where it will be used (everywhere it will be used), must haves, like to haves, must not have, and any special parameters like weight for towing.

Give a good assessment of what you want out of the boat and the above criteria, then lets go through the production boats available that best suit your needs. Many of us here may have boats similar to different types that are close to what you need, and that would help tremendously in getting you in the RIGHT boat the first time.

Also, on props, check in with Darren Proudy over at Spokane Propeller. Nice guy, and very helpful when I was propping a custom built boat that was the first of her kind.

E

[Aaron]

That's a good idea Gisteppo. We could make a template to fill out that lists everything we've answered in this thread. I'll start, you add on, when we're done I'll post it as a sticky thread.

Questions to answer for requesting help buying new boat:

1. Intended use for the boat. (Saltwater, Lakes, Rivers, Fishing, Family recreation, Camping)

2. Max persons you want to fit on the boat.

3. Current truck/SUV you will use to pull the new boat and what kind/class of hitch is currently on it. (Year/Make/Model/Engine Size/Hitch Class)

4. Towing capacity of current vehicle with current hitch.

5. Max towing capacity of current vehicle with max hitch class.

6. What MUST be included in the new boat? (Fish Finder, Live Well, Downriggers, Inboard/Outboard/Kicker/Electric, Number of Seats, Bimini Top, Hard Top, Full Curtains, Auto-Pilot, Windshield, Lights, Anchor... etc)

7. What DON'T you want in the new boat? (Fish Finder, Live Well, Downriggers, Inboard/Outboard/Kicker/Electric, Number of Seats, Bimini Top, Hard Top, Full Curtains, Auto-Pilot, Windshield, Lights, Anchor... etc)

8. Do you want a New boat or a Used Boat?

9. What price range do you have in mind? (Min/Max)

[Aaron]

So, in response to the Jet motor on the Pro-V, and it having a 30% less HP rating than a propped motor... that would put it at about 140 HP with the Pro-V having a max HP rating of 175. I don't know the first thing about Jet's, other than they don't have a prop, but you guys make it sound like a Jet on it is a BAD thing...

[A9]

That's a good idea Gisteppo. We could make a template to fill out that lists everything we've answered in this thread. I'll start, you add on, when we're done I'll post it as a sticky thread.

Questions to answer for requesting help buying new boat:

1. Intended use for the boat. (Saltwater, Lakes, Rivers, Fishing, Family recreation, Camping)

2. Max persons you want to fit on the boat.

3. Current truck/SUV you will use to pull the new boat and what kind/class of hitch is currently on it. (Year/Make/Model/Engine Size/Hitch Class)

4. Towing capacity of current vehicle with current hitch.

5. Max towing capacity of current vehicle with max hitch class.

6. What MUST be included in the new boat? (Fish Finder, Live Well, Downriggers, Inboard/Outboard/Kicker/Electric, Number of Seats, Bimini Top, Hard Top, Full Curtains, Auto-Pilot, Windshield, Lights, Anchor... etc)

7. What DON'T you want in the new boat? (Fish Finder, Live Well, Downriggers, Inboard/Outboard/Kicker/Electric, Number of Seats, Bimini Top, Hard Top, Full Curtains, Auto-Pilot, Windshield, Lights, Anchor... etc)

8. Do you want a New boat or a Used Boat?

9. What price range do you have in mind? (Min/Max)

Dont forget (Just more boat searching criteria)
1)Size of boat (length and width)
2) Type of hull
3)Layout of boat
4) What kind of accessories you are going to add on down the road
5) Type of motor and HP of motor
6) Type of Trailer

Theres probably a few other big things but I can't think of em now....Buying a boat is a lot of work, lots of things you get and can't get in a boat. Just gotta prioritize what you want most and fit it in your budget.

[A9]

So, in response to the Jet motor on the Pro-V, and it having a 30% less HP rating than a propped motor... that would put it at about 140 HP with the Pro-V having a max HP rating of 175. I don't know the first thing about Jet's, other than they don't have a prop, but you guys make it sound like a Jet on it is a BAD thing...

It's not a bad thing, its just that a prop kit on an outboard motor steals mileage and is very inneffective compared to a prop, thus the 33% loss in HP. So a 90hp turns into a 60 horse. Plus the torque of the line isn't that great...Not good for pulling tubers/skiers.

IF you run rivers mainly, you need a jet. Lots of props can stay in the lower rivers or deeper one. Out in the sound props are a nightmare.