Complete noob here.  Looking for a smaller boat for fishing smaller lakes to larger reservoirs. Our kayaks are fun, but it's tough with the kids riding along, not to mention wind!  

We are a family of four and our two kids are smaller still (11/8).  My wife wants to be towed on a tube, too, lol.  I don't see us wanting to ski.

We looked at a Lund Fury Sport (16') the other day and really liked it.  I've been browsing a lot of websites and looking at comparable models.  We like the walk-thru glass models.

Do you guys recommend one manufacturer over another?  We have a Lund/Triton dealer in town, and a Tracker dealer around an hour away.

Have looked at Lund, Lowe, Triton, Crestliner, and Tracker websites so far.  We're moving into a new house next week, so I can't take measurements of the garage yet.  I'm hoping that a ~16' and trailer will fit in the garage, lol.    I looked up the specs on our Durango and compared that with trailer/boat dimensions, and they're pretty darn close.

Tracker Pro Guide V16 WT
Lund Fury XL Sport

You will probably be happy with either.  I'm not the best person to post an answer to this thread, but will anyway since the forum doesn't seem to get much traffic.

Brandwise, not specific boat you posted-wise, several of the people I know tend to prefer Lunds and say they are built a little better, but I am not familiar enough with non-pontoon trackers to have a firsthand opinion. My best friend from high school was a guide in northern MN for a decade and he/ guys he worked with preferred Lunds. I have an old, riveted, beat to crap 16' Lund that I primarily hunt out of, and it has done me well. However, it isn't the same type of thing you are looking at. Past that, I can't be of much help.

No worries, yammerschooner- thank you for taking the time to reply!

Good to hear Lund is popular and built well.  The only two I've ever really heard of were Lund and Tracker, and it helps that the dealer in town sells Lund boats.  

Lund seems to be the preferred rig of the "winter visitors" from up north we get every year. They seem well built compared to the Trackers I see in the marina for service.

Post up if you need advice on engines etc.

<---boat mechanic.

Oh, this forum sees a little traffic. I look at it almost daily.

Thanks!  Let me ask you right off: any brand of engines you recommend over others?

The Lund dealership has Mercurys on their stuff, and the Fury we looked at had a 4-stroke 60hp, IIRC.  I'm not biased toward any one brand, but, if I have a choice when it comes time to buy, it'd be good to have some info to go on.  She (saleswoman) said that the Mercs tend to run forever, if you take care of them.  Sales pitch?

Mercs are GTG. We have a bunch of the 50 and 90hp 4-stroke EFI's in our rental fleet. The engines are 2014 models and have an average of 800 running hours on them at this point with no major failures related to the product itself.  We are starting to see the mechanical low pressure fuel pumps on the 50's fail, but I don't see that as a major failure. The pumps are just worn out and easily changed. Regular oil changes and maintenance is all we've done.

Just a heads up- the 50hp engines are (were in 2014) made in China. The 90hp engines were made in Wisconsin, USA.

Thanks, man.  Good stuff!  

What part of Kansas?  I lived in the Wichita area for a lot of years.

Lund makes a good boat, but they are pricey.  Mine is an Alumacraft, with a Suzuki 90. An Aluminum boat is an aluminum boat, but the layout can make a difference.  I have not seen a 16.5 deep V with as much storage as my Alumacraft.

Something to keep in mind, 25-60 horse Mercury outboards are made in China.  I'm not spending good money on Chinese metallurgy.

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Striper guides here in Lake Ouachita and on Texoma nearly all run Suzuki motors now.  The sparse dealer network is the only problem with them.

Some other brands of tin boats to check out are

Ranger .. very nice boats
G3 (owned by Yamaha)

Xpress and War Eagle have been my all weld boat choices. They did very well.

Hey Warhawk,

Nice looking boat!  I'm in Wichita; we're moving this weekend, but just to the north side.  

Storage will be important for us since it'll mainly be my wife, two kids, and I plus all of our crap.  I'm going to look at Alumacraft's website again as I just glanced over it the other day.  That's a nice looking boat!  I will also check out the G3 and Ranger lines.  Thanks!

Cool, more stuff to look at!  Hadn't even heard of them- thanks for passing that along.  

Correct on those engines being made in China and I would rather spend my $$$ on something at least assembled in the USA. The metallurgy isn't an issue though as the Chinese use Mercury's own formula for aluminum castings and they are under constant supervision by Mercury engineers.

Our 50hp units in the rental fleet are testament to their durability though. Ever heard the term "beat like a rented mule"?

Still, you'd be hard pressed to find anything that's 100% USA made these days regardless of what it is.

I lived in Wichita/Derby/Douglass from '78 to '02 minus 4 years in the Air Force.

My boat is a Competitor 165 Sport Limited, the Limited gets some nice upgrades including added storage in the console bases on each side. If I were to get another one, I'd look hard at the 175 Voyageur. The newer deep v boats usually have a track system for mounting rod holders and other accessories. Very nice feature.

I don't know what marine dealers you have around Wichita these days, but a good dealer would make my decision on which brand to buy. Except that my personal preference would be to avoid Mercury outboards.

Take a look at the Ranger aluminum deep Vs.  a friend in Wichita has one, super nice boat.

A couple of upgrades I would make on any boat.

- gps trolling motor, Minn Kota iPilot or the Motor Guide equivalent. These have an anchor feature that will hold you in a spot within a few feet.  They do all kinds of other stuff too.

- big screen chart plotter/fish finder. I have a 9" Garmin (93sv) on mine with "side imaging". New boats usually come with a tiny fish finde with a screen smaller than an iPhone.

I like that tracker.  It SHOULD fit in a garage with the tongue folded away.

My dad has a Tracker (Crappie Pro) 175 and it is great for what we do.  Only complaint is I wish it was a little bigger and had the full front glass like what you are looking at.  Cold mornings and evenings are hard on the passenger!

I take out my wife and two boys(9 and 7) on it several times each year.  We enjoy it but wish it was just a tad bigger.

Yeah, I've been drooling over the iPilot stuff!  I watched a YouTube vid yesterday of a guy who had the iPilot motor and some "Link" system where he could plot a path/point on his FF, and the motor would follow the whole path.  That's incredible!  Since I'm hooked on crappie fishing now, I love that these things will hold you right on a spot.  I love fishing from my kayak, but it is SO hard trying to drop an anchor in the correct spot while trying to plan whether the wind/current will keep me over it.  Ugh.

As far as the fish finders go, you're absolutely right.  I don't know why they mount these tiny little displays on a boat's console.  I mean, I can understand it, but I'm definitely going with a larger unit for the console.  I'm planning on a second unit for the bow, but undecided on whether I want a large or small one.  I started with a small Lowrance (X-4 Pro, I think) on my kayak.  I didn't care much for it and upgraded to a Garmin Striker 4DV last season, which I really like.  I may try to go with a Garmin similar to yours, but just need to figure out if it's compatible with any trolling motors...I think Motor Guide may be??

As far as dealers go around here, I think the only in-town dealer sells Lund/Triton.  Tracker is about an hour away in Ponca City; Crestliner up in Topeka; Lowe in Junction City, and Alumacraft in either KC or OKC.  I might have to plan a weekend and circle thru some of these locations.

My wife and I are giddy with excitement!  All we need to do is close on the new house (Fri), pass inspection/appraisal, and close on our current home (April), pay off her Durango, find a boat we like, buy boat, and learn how to drive said boat.  What could go wrong?!  

I really like the Tracker as well, but I saw some concerning reviews on their Facebook page yesterday when researching.  Some people had cracked motor mounts on the transom!  Guy bought his boat new in June, and in Sept he showed a pic of a huge crack down the weld.  Sounds like their customer service is pretty lacking as well.  How has the boat been for you guys?  They seem like a really nice boat, but yeah, that review creeped me out, lol. 

Edit:  Here is that guy's pic.  Says it's off a 195 TXW, bought June 2016 and this happened by September.  

As far as I know the iPilot link only works with Humminbird locators. When I was in the market, the Humminbird mapping sucked for this area (Arkansas) and Garmin had brand new high definition mapping. My trolling motor is the non-link iPilot, but I can still do all sorts of stuff with it.  Like put it on cruise control and it will maintain a speed and heading.  That way you can fish along down a bank and only need to make occasional course adjustment.  The iPilot will not really hold position well enough to vertically fish a brush pile. An underwater dive or drop off yes, but it's not quite precise enough for a brushpile. I hear the Motor Guides are a little better on spot lock, but I haven't tried one.

Looks like The marine dealer at El Dorado lake sells G3 and Ranger. I asked my buddy about his ranger , it's a 1780 deep v.

I think Cabelas sells Alumacraft, but I'd call ahead to see what they have in stock. The one closest to me, in Rogers, Arkansas had a Voyageur Limited with a Yamaha 115 last year.  Sweet rig.

I believe you're right on the company pairings.  I think Lowrance and the Motor Guide products can talk to each other, but I could be wrong.  When the time gets closer, I'll certainly be doing a ton of research on electronics/motors.  

I'll see if I can hit El Dorado soon.  If we can get the kayaks out, I'll swing by the dealer to check out their offerings.  Our Cabelas only seems to ever have Jon boats and smaller (kayaks/canoes) in stock.  I think I'll have to hit KC/OKC to see anything larger.

I have a trip tomorrow to an airport with an Alumacraft and Lowe dealership across the street.  Hoping to sneak away for a little bit to check some out!

Also, got to get in the new house today for the final walk-thru.  A boat will fit!  Looks like I'll have a couple of feet (length) to spare, and if I really needed to, I could take out a portion of some wooden shelves and get another foot or two.  Measuring out the width, it looks like I can get all three vehicles in, but will be tight...might be just for hail and snow.  

@Warhawk - I was able to visit an Alumacraft dealer today during my trip!  Nice looking boat, inside and out! 

I hope you got to see several models, they make a bunch of them. My local dealer is so small they usually have just 2 or 3 fishing boats. Lots of pontoons tho.

As luck would have it, they had most of the stuff hauled off for a boat show this weekend.  

I got to see a couple Alumacrafts (both Competitor 165s), and a Lowe (forget the model).  Between the two, I felt like the Alumacrafts looked a bit nicer.  However, in fairness to the Lowe, it looks like it had been outside without a cover and was a 2016 holdover, so it needed a good wash and vacuum.  I like how you can pick whatever motor you want on the Alumacraft- nice option.

If you're not there already, checkout  Walleye Central for more info on the Deep V style boats.

Thank you for that- I've joined up!  (TapRack)

Haven't made a post yet.  Having a lot of fun reading.  So much recent info there!  I like how active the boat forum is.

Its kind of funny, a deep v windshield boat is (to me) perfect for big lakes, which we have plenty of here in Arkansas.  Alumacraft for example has southern boats (all welded jon boats) made in Arkansas, and northern boats (riveted deep V) made in Minnesota.  You see very few "northern" boats down here, but when you do the owners love them. Strange since we can fish year round, and that windshield and dry ride sure is nice this time of year.

Warhawk,

After reading on Walleye Central a bit, seeing your comments, and seeing one in person, I'm leaning toward Alumacraft at the moment.  One question I have, which I'll probably ask on WC, is on factory repair work (if needed).  I would probably have to buy at Cabelas KC or OKC- do these boat centers also do warranty repair work?  There are no other dealers close by that I know of.  They're each ~2.5 hours from me, but if they can't do post-purchase stuff, then I really may be SOL unless Alumacraft allows other shops to do repairs.

Seems most folks on WC say that the boat manufacturer is less important to them, but that a good dealership for post-purchase needs is much more important, which I can understand.  That still gives Lund the edge since they are in town.  

I have a '14 175 TF. No issues so far. Powered with a Merc 75hp optimax 2 stroke. I've only had it on lakes and rivers. The crack in that pic is concerning. I wonder in what type of conditions the boat was operated. If he's taking it offshore in the Gulf/ocean (and I've seen trackers off shore) in 2'-4' and running it hard, you might over stress the transom.
Would also like to know how big of a motor he mounted. If he exceeded Tracker's HP recommendation, then it's on him.

That's the downfall of buying a boat from Bass Pro or Cabelas. Their service departments range from non existent to pretty poor. I got lucky and the nearest Marine dealer is a little mom and pop that is about 80-90% service and a tiny percentage in boat sales.  And they sell Alumacraft and Suzuki motors.

Of course if you have for example a Mercury motor that needs warranty work, any Merc dealer can take care of it.

If you have a good Lund dealer nearby, then I'd probably go with them.  Have you looked at the Rangers yet?  I think they will let you mount any motor you want.

I've been lucky I guess, my boat hasn't had any problems at all, just an annual service.  Otherwise I haven't been back to the dealer except a couple of times with friends who were looking at boats.

That's a very good point.  I don't think he said what kind of conditions he was in, and what motor is on it.  

I guess I'll have to weigh my options pretty well when the time comes.    Thanks!

A few thoughts. Dealer prepped rigs are notorious for being marginally powered. Custom rig for the max HP the hull is rated for. You will never have to run the piss out of it just to cruise and the engine will last a lot lot longer. If you plan on fishing why not consider a center console? Watch out for proper weight distribution too, engine, fuel, batteries, live well and peeps all in the rear makes for an unbalanced rig. Fuel, live well and batteries more towards the front like some of the alumacrafts are rigged makes for a much better ride in a chop. Enough weight up front makes the water move and you can blast right through a chop, not pound over it.

Thanks for the good tips!  I wouldn't mind a center console at all.  In fact, I've wanted one of those for years.  I think they look cool and fun.  

This boat will primarily be for the family.  It would probably RAREly be just me out, or me and a buddy out fishing.  I may be the only one fishing when the wife and kids go, but they'll be there and my wife wants a nice place to sit and read.  Ever since she has seen the pictures of the cushions on the bow deck, she's been imagining herself laying out while I'm fishing, lol.