Opinion on boats, engine

Lund has a good reputation. Haven't heard any complaints about Alumacraft.
Honda makes a good solid engine, because it is a four-stroke it will be
legal to use it on most waters that don't have HP limitations. It is more
expensive than some. I was not aware that Honda was making a jet outboard,
but they are not new comers to jet propulsion. Their PWCs are big guys with
rock solid reputations and few problems with their motors or jet pumps.

All that being said... there are some disadvantages to your selections.
The biggest being that not all Honda dealers have a competant marine
mechanic on staff. While you would hope that shop service requirements
would be few and far between you want to make sure that you have somembody
nearby who can service it if needed. The other is the efficiency of jet
outboards. Jet pumps are less efficient than propellers. As a result a jet
outboard will either transfer less force to the water, or the motor will be
bigger and heavier. Speed may suffer.

Jets will definitely run in shallower water. In rocky clear waters they
really shine. In sandy rivers they tend to wear out impellors more quickly
as they are continuously taking small bit of grit and forcing them over the
blades. Its much wore of you plan to skip some sandbars. On the positive
side, if you plan to skip sandbars regularly the only way to go is a jet as
you will make it over them. In waters that get weed choke in summer be
prepared to swim. You plug up a jet pump with weeds and you can count on
having to get in the water and clean it out.

I wonder about the combination of a deep-V with a jet outboard. Seems to me
a pad bottom design or even a flat bottom would take the most advantage of
the shallow water capabilities.

--
** Public Fishing and Boating Forums
** www.YumaBassMan.com


"Sergio Ramirez" wrote in message
...
Hello all:

I'm considering buying my first boat, and wonder if any of you folks have

any advice/opinion on the following:

- Lund boats or Alumacraft boats. I want a light 16' deep-V boat that I
can
trailer in my small Toyota pickup, which is rated for 3500 lbs trailering.
Around here there are a lot of Tracker boats, but I've heard complaints on
Tracker customer service and problem with leakage through the welds. They
tell me Alumacraft is a good quality boat, and Lund is top of the line.

- The jet propulsion engines from Honda (BF35 or BF65). They really look
interesting because it allows access to shallow areas and it's quieter,
but
I wonder if this new technology (or perhaps not new, I don't know) is not
that well developed that it's best not to get into it at this moment.

I'm in central Texas and I'm looking to do mainly bass fishing around the
Hill Country lakes (some of them pretty large bodies), and perhaps once in
a
while go to the Gulf coast to do bay fishing or close-to-shore fishing.

Thanks in advance for your help
Sergio