I live around the Houston area and the wife has demanded that we buy a boat, since we are now debt free.  She mostly wants the boat for skiing/general water fun in fresh water lakes.  She would like a deck boat for that purpose and to accommodate a larger number of people.  I like the skiing and recreation to, but I will also want a boat to fish out of and possibly to fish for reds in the coastal marshes.  I would like a V hulled aluminum boat that is a fish/ski.  Which would be better?  Whatever we go with will see very little salt water, mostly recreation and fishing in the fresh water lakes.  I would like a Yamaha 4 stroke outboard, but I don't know if an inboard would be a good option also.  Which engines, either inboard or outboard, should be avoided?  I've looked at Alumacraft, Lowe, and a couple of other aluminum boats.  Is there one manufacturer to be avoided?  Also have looked at Hurricanes and other deck boats.  Should any of these be avoided?  If you can't tell, I'm a boat newb.  Thanks for any help.

Stay with an outboard. Yamaha's are fine engines as are the Mercury 4-strokes. Boat style is pretty much user specific. Go look at some and choose the deck layout you like. All the brands you mentioned are ok and I haven't seen any "bad things" about any of them.
Sterndrives, I/O's, are hard to work on. They stuff that big motor down in a tiny hole and expect you to get to the oil filter, starter etc...I hate sterndrives.

Thanks for the info.  I would not have been looking at it that way.

Sterndrives are more expensive to maintain too...and for good reason. Sterndrive owners pay for my chiropractor visits!!

Aluminum will be noisy.   It is only that sheet of metal between you and the water.  This will cause you to hear the water hitting the boat very noticeably.
Fiberglass is far less noisy but other than that I don't personally have anything else to add.   I have owned both and currently have an aluminum boat.

Am i correct in saying that for a given size/shape boat, an aluminum boat will be lighter than a fiberglass boat?

That's just what i've been told...

If you use it for skiing, make sure to buy enough motor to pull the skier out of the water, alot of folks are far too under horsepowered.

Roger that.

generally speaking yes, however there are some aluminum boats that are damn heavy but those aren't recreational boats

Depends on usage, lakes, and experience too. A new boater is going to run into shit plain and simple. Aluminum is more forgiving than glass when you reach to hit the brakes and realize there aren't any.

I've had both and now have a 20ft Triton glass boat and love it but I have no complaints other than rougher ride and noise with tin.


As far as brands, Xpress and Lowe make excellent metal boats. I've owned an Xpress and it was everything I could have wanted at the time.