Ultimate Utah fishing boat.

[dubob]

Not wishing to start a whizzing contest, but my critical thinking skills tell me to distrust a person who knows all and disparages any other opinion.

Amen

As for charging batteries, buy the charger that has a bank for every battery in your boat, including your starter battery.
A fishing boat is going to have up to three positioning motor batteries and at least one starter battery.
So, if the boat you buy has a 24 volt electric positioning motor and one battery for the big engine, buy a three bank charger.
And for pure convenience, install the charger up in front of your boat and add a charging plug port in the extreme front portion of your bow.
I beach camp out of my boat on Powell and I don’t even get my feet wet to plug in my charger to my generator at night.
Even if you just charge in your garage or at a hotel, having the charging port up front is easy, as you only have to undo a snap or two to plug in. You can do all this while not having to enter the boat (will add pics later so check back in tonight).
P.S. The best fishing boats ever are ones that are paid off.

While MrShane and I agree on almost everything, I will just say that in almost 20 years of big boat ownership, I have never had an on-board charger hooked to anything but my electric trolling motor's battery bank and I have never had a cranking battery discharge to the point that it wouldn't start my outboards.  And I run live well pumps, sonar, and boat radio all the time I'm trolling.  The outboard charging system keeps the crank battery charged well enough in my experience and I get 6 to 7 years use out of my crank batteries.  There's nothing wrong with hooking a crank battery to your on-board charger unit, but I believe it would be redundant.

I’m a big fan of welded boats over riveted.

Amen to that!  

[fishskibum]

WWJWPR?

[Bassin_Blitz]

I’m currently a bank/floatuber.  I fly fish, spin fish, worm fish. I just love fishing. I am saving for a fishing boat in the next few years. I’m curious what fishermen who have boats think would be a great boat. I want to be able to hit Willard, Mantua, Strawberry, Flaming Gorge. Price is relevant but I can buy used. More interested in length, motor size, brands to get or avoid. Gas trolling motor for trolling and electric bow? Full windshield or not. Bass boats (flat shallow hull) don’t do well when the chop kicks up so they are out. Don’t think I need twin screw 250 hp out boards but how much is enough? I had a 16 foot Crestliner with a 50hp outboard. I


loved that boat but it was a little small and slow.  I have an idea what I’d like, but I want to hear what the “pros” think.


You said the Ultimate so if your budget allows you should get a Walleye/Multy species boat like a Nitro ZV series for example. Ranger, Skeeter, Nitro, Warrior all make them.

[Therapist]

Very interesting thread. Love the Drift/raft input, but they are not for our flat waters. Like Bob, I have been doing this for a long, long time. I currently run a Skeeter, 1850DV, walleye hull, w/175 Merc. I have a 15hp kicker and a 24V Terrova on the front. What would I change to if I was going to change. Most likely a 20ft hull, Lund, Wellcraft, or other alluminum DEEP V hull. I would put the largest allowable Hp motor on it and I would go with a Suzuki 4 stroke Outboard. From what I have read about them, they always get you home !! Walk thru wind sheild, 36V Ultera on the front, and 15hp, 4 stroke kicker w/power trim. I would have a Tandem trailer, w/ EZ Step on the front, and a Drotto boat latch. These last two accessories are indispensable for those of us that launch and recover by ourselves. The EZ step allows you to get in and out w/out having to climb over the gunnels and the Drotto boat latch lets you release the boat from the trailer when you are at the console and to drive the boat on the trailer and secure it w/out trying to balance on the to attach the winch rope.

So that would be my ultimate Utah boat !!!

[quota]

WWJWPR?

Went into that museum to kill 20 minutes.  Left 2.5 hours later.  Too much to see.

[BYUHunter]

Lots of advice here, that I do not agree with.

I've owned a number of boats in my time, and spend probably 60 days a year trolling in Utah and in Washington on the Columbia:

To advise anything but Max rated horsepower is stupid. Full stop. We live at high elevation, where you lose 3% horsepower for every thousand feet of elevation. At Strawberry, you're only operating with about 75% of your rated horsepower. Plenty of guys who tried to cut corners and cost on the motor, get to strawberry and can't hardly plane with two or three people. Dumb.

As for Midwest style boats, Lund and Crestliner. Tracker is junk, cheap for a reason.

As for professional style boats: Duckworth, North River, Alumaweld, etc. I currently have a 20' Duckworth and love it.

As for motors: I'm partial to Mercury, but it's hard to go wrong these days.

[N.E.T.O.]

In todays market, you are going to purchase the boat that you can FIND.  I would start out with a few minimum expectations...such as length, material, horsepower, and most importantly, what EQUIPMENT do you want to have on it.  That said, you are going to want to hold out for one with as many of your minimum requirements as possible , and as much of the equipment already on it as possible.  If not, you will be settling, unhappy, and sell it within a year.  Ask me how I know.

It would be very nice to have an unlimited budget and be able to order a new boat, get it in 3 months, then outfit it with all the equipment you want.  But reality is that you likely don't have an unlimited budget, it's a year + to order a boat, and even then you may not get the one you want, and equipment is few and far between available on the shelves.  

There are a LOT of good equipped used boats out on KSL.com right now.

For the lakes  you mentioned...a nice 17 to 20 foot aluminum fishing boat with 115 to 150 hp main motor (4 stroke preferred), a kicker motor for trolling, downriggers (2 main brands:  Canon and Scotty), Minn Kota front trolling motor with spotlock ( not just for the spotlock, it has other features that you will use for trolling) and a good fishfinder.  35k to 50k for something a few years old.  More if newer, less if older (beware on older stuff...maintenance will nickel and dime you to death).  Look at the trailer also.  Make sure it's got good rubber and has been maintained.  Tip: Just change the wheel bearings when you get it then do it every year.

As mentioned above, I bought a "tweener" (an in-between boat, just to get me by while looking for a GOOD one) and used it for 9 months while I was looking for my "good" one.  And it took 9 months before I found one that had the size, motor and equipment I wanted. Be patient.

[Paddler]

Lots of advice here, some of it bad, dumb, and indifferent.

I've owned a number of boats in my time, and spend probably 60 days a year trolling in Utah and in Washington on the Columbia:

To advise anything but Max rated horsepower is stupid. Full stop. We live at high elevation, where you lose 3% horsepower for every thousand feet of elevation. At Strawberry, you're only operating with about 75% of your rated horsepower. Plenty of guys who tried to cut corners and cost on the motor, get to strawberry and can't hardly plane with two or three people. Dumb.

As for Midwest style boats, Lund and Crestliner. Tracker is junk, cheap for a reason.

As for professional style boats: Duckworth, North River, Alumaweld, etc. I currently have a 20' Duckworth and love it.

As for motors: I'm partial to Mercury, but it's hard to go wrong these days.

I couldn't disagree more.  It's not about cutting corners, it's about choosing the right engine for the job.  My Hewes was rated for up to 150HP.  I chose the 115HP because it was the highest state of tune for the block.  My original engine was the 2006, often referred to as the YamaMerc, 1.73L.  I repowered in early 2015 with the then new Mercury 2.1L 115HP.  The same block is used for the 90HP and 75HP, so again, the 115HP is the highest state of tune.  When I repowered I added the Smart Craft option, which allows me to control the RPMs in 10RPM increments between 550-1000RPM.

By going with the 115HP, I saved the extra cost and weight of the 150HP, which is ~$3200 and 100#, plus the cost of a kicker, which would be another $3400 plus controls and another 125#.  The total savings is in the neighborhood of $7000 and well over 200#.  It also simplifies my fishing, as I installed a Simrad AP14 autopilot.  Lower maintenance, too.

As for power, I have plenty.  I haven't paid attention to my WOT speed at Strawberry, maybe I'll check it this year, but the engine still feels torquey and the boat planes quickly.  As I said, at WB I recently hit 37MPH with 2 people in the boat and half a tank of fuel.  But by not maxing out my HP, I keep my idle speed at 2.8MPH @ 700RPM.  So, at WB or in the ocean, I can leave the marina or harbor, throttle up as conditions allow, set my autopilot to navigate to a wayppoint, which beeps when we arrive.  That could be 1/4 mile or 50 miles, never having to touch the steering wheel.  I then simply throttle back and deploy my gear.  Couldn't be simpler or more efficient.  Up at Strawberry or Jordanelle I have to take the extra step of deploying my drift sock system so I can get down to Kokanee speed, but that only takes a few minutes and works great.  Well enough that I caught 50# of fillets last year.

This is my third boat, bought my first 37 years ago.  I have fished out of La Push, Washington beginning in 2000, missing only 2020 because it was closed due to COVID.  I have been 58 miles offshore solo, no buddy boat.  My longest trip was 145 miles one day hunting tuna.  This approach works.  Now, my boat has limitations in that I don't have a bow mount trolling motor, which means I don't cruise the shoreline and cast into shore.  That's fine, I don't care to fish for bass anymore.  I can bottom bounce but prefer trolling crankbaits anyway.

So, when you've been 50+ miles offshore, or put 350# of albacore in your boat one day, or when you've run seven lines at once, and hooked up on six of them, and landed five, then we can talk about what is and what is not stupid.  Full stop.

[BYUHunter]

Lots of advice here, some of it bad, dumb, and indifferent.

I've owned a number of boats in my time, and spend probably 60 days a year trolling in Utah and in Washington on the Columbia:

To advise anything but Max rated horsepower is stupid. Full stop. We live at high elevation, where you lose 3% horsepower for every thousand feet of elevation. At Strawberry, you're only operating with about 75% of your rated horsepower. Plenty of guys who tried to cut corners and cost on the motor, get to strawberry and can't hardly plane with two or three people. Dumb.

As for Midwest style boats, Lund and Crestliner. Tracker is junk, cheap for a reason.

As for professional style boats: Duckworth, North River, Alumaweld, etc. I currently have a 20' Duckworth and love it.

As for motors: I'm partial to Mercury, but it's hard to go wrong these days.

I couldn't disagree more.  It's not about cutting corners, it's about choosing the right engine for the job.  My Hewes was rated for up to 150HP.  I chose the 115HP because it was the highest state of tune for the block.  My original engine was the 2006, often referred to as the YamaMerc, 1.73L.  I repowered in early 2015 with the then new Mercury 2.1L 115HP.  The same block is used for the 90HP and 75HP, so again, the 115HP is the highest state of tune.  When I repowered I added the Smart Craft option, which allows me to control the RPMs in 10RPM increments between 550-1000RPM.

By going with the 115HP, I saved the extra cost and weight of the 150HP, which is ~$3200 and 100#, plus the cost of a kicker, which would be another $3400 plus controls and another 125#.  The total savings is in the neighborhood of $7000 and well over 200#.  It also simplifies my fishing, as I installed a Simrad AP14 autopilot.  Lower maintenance, too.

As for power, I have plenty.  I haven't paid attention to my WOT speed at Strawberry, maybe I'll check it this year, but the engine still feels torquey and the boat planes quickly.  As I said, at WB I recently hit 37MPH with 2 people in the boat and half a tank of fuel.  But by not maxing out my HP, I keep my idle speed at 2.8MPH @ 700RPM.  So, at WB or in the ocean, I can leave the marina or harbor, throttle up as conditions allow, set my autopilot to navigate to a wayppoint, which beeps when we arrive.  That could be 1/4 mile or 50 miles, never having to touch the steering wheel.  I then simply throttle back and deploy my gear.  Couldn't be simpler or more efficient.  Up at Strawberry or Jordanelle I have to take the extra step of deploying my drift sock system so I can get down to Kokanee speed, but that only takes a few minutes and works great.  Well enough that I caught 50# of fillets last year.

This is my third boat, bought my first 37 years ago.  I have fished out of La Push, Washington beginning in 2000, missing only 2020 because it was closed due to COVID.  I have been 58 miles offshore solo, no buddy boat.  My longest trip was 145 miles one day hunting tuna.  This approach works.  Now, my boat has limitations in that I don't have a bow mount trolling motor, which means I don't cruise the shoreline and cast into shore.  That's fine, I don't care to fish for bass anymore.  I can bottom bounce but prefer trolling crankbaits anyway.

So, when you've been 50+ miles offshore, or put 350# of albacore in your boat one day, or when you've run seven lines at once, and hooked up on six of them and landed five, then we can talk about what is and what is not stupid.  Full stop.

The only person you're trying to convince that you didn't go too small on the motor, is yourself.

Congrats on your 37 MPH at Willard. My Duckworth, with horsepower maxed, goes 43 with 4 people at Strawberry. That's the difference in powering appropriately.

Your boat is underpowered because you tried to go cheap. Once again, you've failed to stay on the topic at hand and have ventured into tangents and whizzing contests. Have fun with your tuna fish, nobody cares.

[Uintaman2]

I’m currently a bank/floatuber.  I fly fish, spin fish, worm fish. I just love fishing. I am saving for a fishing boat in the next few years. I’m curious what fishermen who have boats think would be a great boat. I want to be able to hit Willard, Mantua, Strawberry, Flaming Gorge. Price is relevant but I can buy used. More interested in length, motor size, brands to get or avoid. Gas trolling motor for trolling and electric bow? Full windshield or not. Bass boats (flat shallow hull) don’t do well when the chop kicks up so they are out. Don’t think I need twin screw 250 hp out boards but how much is enough? I had a 16 foot Crestliner with a 50hp outboard. I


loved that boat but it was a little small and slow.  I have an idea what I’d like, but I want to hear what the “pros” think.

A couple of thoughts, longer is always better in big water, in rough conditions. BUT price is a tied to length.
19 ish foot minimum.   Second, 4 cycle always better.  Fuel injected better than carbureted.
Then style depends on how you fish, with how many people and where you go.

[fishskibum]

Very interesting thread.  Love the Drift/raft input,  but they are not for our flat waters.  

dont tell tube dude hes doin it wrong
it aint always ideal
but it works
and dont break the bank
so how is it that a boat that is made to run


wont work on flat water?
it could git to rough?

[dubob]

Lots of advice here, some of it bad, dumb, and indifferent.  Amen!  

I've owned a number of boats in my time, and spend probably 60 days a year trolling in Utah and in Washington on the Columbia: I'm more in the 30 to 40 days a year just trolling in Utah, Wyoming, & Idaho.

To advise anything but Max rated horsepower is stupid.  You and I get it; he doesn't and never will.  Did you also note that he hasn't figured out that the electric trolling motors can be used for steering the boat while trolling as well as for working a shoreline while casting?  Or spot locking a boat over a submerged structure for jigging as in Lake Trout fishing?   Full stop. We live at high elevation, where you lose 3% horsepower for every thousand feet of elevation. At Strawberry, you're only operating with about 75% of your rated horsepower. Plenty of guys who tried to cut corners and cost on the motor, get to strawberry and can't hardly plane with two or three people. Dumb.

As for Midwest style boats, Lund and Crestliner. Tracker is junk, cheap for a reason.  Sorry, respectfully have to disagree with your assessment of Tracker as being junk.  I ran my 16 ft Targa, Deep-V here in Utah for 11 years.  Never had anything break or need repair other than one engine tune-up (Merc Optimax 75) at year 9.  Inexpensive, yes; cheap, not IMHO.  For the price range, it is the best choice on the market.  If your budget is in that price range, they will give the owner years of good service.

As for professional style boats: Duckworth, North River, Alumaweld, etc. I currently have a 20' Duckworth and love it.  And my ThunderJet is awesome as well.  

As for motors: I'm partial to Mercury, but it's hard to go wrong these days.  Yep!  The best advice on motors is to go with whatever brand has a dealer with trained maintenance technicians near your home location.  I use Fred's Marine in Layton for work on my 2 Mercs with excellent results.

Troutster, let us know what you decide.  You have plenty of information now to make a somewhat informed decision.  Good luck in your pursuit of the 'Ultimate Fishing Boat'.

[BROWNBAGGN]

I give the max horse power a one up, only because of elevation that you fish in Utah. With that said, prop's for these motors is more important.
I have 3 different pitched prop's for this state. If you can not turn your RPM's more than 5000, you are not getting the rated horse power of your motor. I will add to the open bow boats out there, get a snap on cover for the front. This will shed the rough water you might encounter on the lake when a storm catches you by surprise.

[PBH]

Just a couple comments:

Mr Shane gave good advice. But the most important thing he did was post a picture of the best boat you can have in Utah: A Ranger Reata.


Skibum also posted a picture of great boat for Utah, to which therapist replied "not for flatwater". I disagree completely. Hyside rafts are AWESOME on our flatwaters! WWJWPR? If he had the option, he'd have rowed a Hyside!

[MrShane]

Not wishing to start a whizzing contest, but my critical thinking skills tell me to distrust a person who knows all and disparages any other opinion.

Amen

As for charging batteries, buy the charger that has a bank for every battery in your boat, including your starter battery.
A fishing boat is going to have up to three positioning motor batteries and at least one starter battery.
So, if the boat you buy has a 24 volt electric positioning motor and one battery for the big engine, buy a three bank charger.
And for pure convenience, install the charger up in front of your boat and add a charging plug port in the extreme front portion of your bow.
I beach camp out of my boat on Powell and I don’t even get my feet wet to plug in my charger to my generator at night.
Even if you just charge in your garage or at a hotel, having the charging port up front is easy, as you only have to undo a snap or two to plug in. You can do all this while not having to enter the boat (will add pics later so check back in tonight).
P.S. The best fishing boats ever are ones that are paid off.

While MrShane and I agree on almost everything, I will just say that in almost 20 years of big boat ownership, I have never had an on-board charger hooked to anything but my electric trolling motor's battery bank and I have never had a cranking battery discharge to the point that it wouldn't start my outboards.  And I run live well pumps, sonar, and boat radio all the time I'm trolling.  The outboard charging system keeps the crank battery charged well enough in my experience and I get 6 to 7 years use out of my crank batteries.  There's nothing wrong with hooking a crank battery to your on-board charger unit, but I believe it would be redundant.

I’m a big fan of welded boats over riveted.

Amen to that!  

Bob, 
I’m just glad that you agree I am one of the better-looking fisherman out on the water!

[Therapist]

Very interesting thread.  Love the Drift/raft input,  but they are not for our flat waters.  

dont tell tube dude hes doin it wrong
it aint always ideal
but it works
and dont break the bank
so how is it that a boat that is made to run


wont work on flat water?
it could git to rough?

Been there done that with TD. Fished out of a tube for many years, some with him.  He will be the first to tell you that a tube has limitations in rough water.  When you see the clouds building and the wind coming up, you get off the water.  Many people in a boat feel they can handle it and ignore the signs.  Been caught in many situations on different lakes where it was DICEY.  Three ft waves in a float tube on Utah Lake in August is NOT fun.  If you notice his posts, TD is a close follower of weather forcasts and wind advisories !!

[catchinon]

I’m currently a bank/floatuber.  I fly fish, spin fish, worm fish. I just love fishing. I am saving for a fishing boat in the next few years. I’m curious what fishermen who have boats think would be a great boat. I want to be able to hit Willard, Mantua, Strawberry, Flaming Gorge. Price is relevant but I can buy used. More interested in length, motor size, brands to get or avoid. Gas trolling motor for trolling and electric bow? Full windshield or not. Bass boats (flat shallow hull) don’t do well when the chop kicks up so they are out. Don’t think I need twin screw 250 hp out boards but how much is enough? I had a 16 foot Crestliner with a 50hp outboard. I


loved that boat but it was a little small and slow.  I have an idea what I’d like, but I want to hear what the “pros” think.

 
I'm far from a pro but that might be an advantage-I haven't adopted a lot of opinions that have hardened into facts. I would definitely go with used. There are many different options on KSL and you get the fun of shopping all the different boats. Yes, you should buy one of the better brands but try not to not get fixated on one. Keep an open mind. Test as many as you can. I know a lot of people would be happy to take you fishing in theirs and tell you what they like and don't like. (If they won't tell there's ANYTHING they don't like they are lying and it's difficult to believe anything else they say; this is aimed at sellers, not members who take you out). 

Length. The first boat I bought several years back was a 14' tin can. I quickly realized that it was too small for me to even stand up in let alone hardly take anyone along. So I never launched it. Fast forward to three years ago. I spotted a nice-looking fishing boat for sale in a field and asked my wife to pull over. It looked great and seemed to have nearly all the things I would like to have to go fishing around here. It was a 17.5' Tracker. (I didn't realize it was a "piece of junk" and I should't look further .) To my surprise my wife said to go ahead and see about buying it. I was flabbergasted but pleased and soon the boat was mine. It was great. Is it the best boat in the world? No, but I've had tons of fun fishing from it. I got a little off track there, so, back to length. It's a bit tight for active fishing. I would buy longer and wider next time. I spent some time fishing with Ice-sled and Piscophilic who have 20+ foot boats. It's impressive how much more fishing space there is in those big girls. The really great thing is that they resurrected these boats that had been parked for years. They have great skills and put a lot of sweat equity into them. But I digress. My advice: get as big a boat as you can and take along a lot of family and friends. Plus you'll be a lot more stable and secure as they can handle rough water.

Motor size. My boat has the max hp of 90. Not bad for a hull that weighs a little over 1000 lbs. It gets up on plane quickly and gets me where I want to go fast enough. It tops out at 35 mph on my analog gauge. I tend to throttle back to around 25 mph cruising speed. Ben and Jim have 115 Johnsons on their 20-footers and they get around the same from what I could tell. Some might say that I don't have enough experience to fairly judge. Just passing on what I know. What about going for the bigger motors? Can't say that's wrong at all. Having lots of power is nice. When we went to replace our old Subaru we test-drove some turbo models that turn out 250 hp. Bought one. Would never go back.
Another vote from me for a Minn Kota on the bow. Get all the fancy controls.

Brands. I would do a lot of research before deciding. The problem with dealers is that what they want to sell is best. Some boat owners will tell you that what they have is best. There plenty of unbiased reviews on the internet and I suggest you look at some of them.

Miscellaneous: There are so many options out there for what you want. Do you want to pull people around the lake? Look at getting a ski-and-fish boat? What do you want in the bow? Do you want a deck you can cast from with a bunch of storage hatches? Or seats for your passengers? How many live wells do you want? I could go on and on, but you get the idea. If I were you I'd write my whole list of wants and needs and go from there.

Oh, don't be afraid to get a Tracker. My experience and DUBOB's have assured me I didn't make a mistake. But there's a boatload of good one's out there. Have fun. I've found that planning and dreaming is half the fun anyway.

[Kent]

I chose the 115HP because it was the highest state of tune for the block.

Please explain further what you mean by this statement?  Thanks.

[MrShane]

I chose the 115HP because it was the highest state of tune for the block.

Please explain further what you mean by this statement?  Thanks.

Most outboard powerhead blocks are shared with at least 2 or sometimes 3 horsepower ratings.
The changes in horsepower ratings are determined by carburetors/injectors, fuel mapping/timing,and exhaust system tuning.
Jon’s 115 is probably the same block as a Mercury 90 hp, just ‘tuned’ to put out more hp than the 90.
No different than how Mercury, Yamaha, and Suzuki 9.9 and 15 hp kickers share the same block ( per manufacturer) but the 15 hp engines get tuned to the higher hp.

[Kent]

I chose the 115HP because it was the highest state of tune for the block.

Please explain further what you mean by this statement?  Thanks.

Most outboard powerhead blocks are shared with at least 2 or sometimes 3 horsepower ratings.
The changes in horsepower ratings are determined by carburetors/injectors, fuel mapping/timing,and exhaust system tuning.
Jon’s 115 is probably the same block as a Mercury 90 hp, just ‘tuned’ to put out more hp than the 90.
No different than how Mercury, Yamaha, and Suzuki 9.9 and 15 hp kickers share the same block ( per manufacturer) but the 15 hp engines get tuned to the higher hp.

Thanks