Who makes a better aluminum boat that will go with a.....say 60hp outboard? Not sure about Lund....Seems, looks like Walmart quality, but I could be wrong. Looking for something relatively inexpensive (< 10K) that I could take on a large lake (without getting swamped in a storm) and fish / swim off of. Size would be around 17' or so. Maybe 75hp would be more realistic....Anyway, who makes a quality aluminum craft, with a center console style.

 

Alumacraft, Starcraft, Mirrocraft, are some of the names I can think of. A deep V aluminum boat is, in my mind, the best boat for New England's rocky waterway. I've seen enough fiberglas boats get torn up on the rocks to like my aluminum boat. Bass Pro Shops have the Tracker series. Also good boats. The Lunds are very good quality boats. I have an uncle who fishes the Connecticut River for northern pike regularly out of a Lund. Loves it. Sea King, and Lowe are the last ones I could dig up from my memory. Our boat is an old 69 Starcraft, 14' aluminum deep V. Rated up to 35. We have a 25 Evinrude. Doesn't leak a drop even after 41 years.

 

Allweld,and alumaweld are good ones. A lund is a nice boat. 3g makes a nice boat also.

 

Around here, one sees lots of Lund and Starcraft alum boats, and i disagree with your opinion of WalMart quality on the Lund (I do own a 16ft Rebel with a 30hp Merc tiller). Your preference for a larger motor will probably put you into an 18ft'r, and maybe a deep-V for the larger lake (i lose options for lakes when the wind is more than 18-20mph). IMHO, you're inching above that 10K pretty quick, unless you get an older model motor.

 

Tracker makes a nice V hull.

 

Lund is what most people where im from rely on. that's saying something, considering here in wisconsin we have more lakes than minnesota (we just don't brag about it hehe)

 

I call Minnesotta the Land of 10,000 ponds.

 

Not only are they ponds they are all so polluted there are no fish left in them that you would want to eat..I miss Alaska for fishing that is truly a land of a 10000 lakes and they are all crystal clear and full of fish.

 

Any brand as long as its rivetless. Show me a rivet and I'll show you a future leak.

 

Same reason I love fishing VT, NH and ME. Clean cold water. Surprisingly, the Concord River, here in Mass. is coming back. I lost a huge Northern Pike last summer when I forgot to put steel leader on... UGGH. But, it tells me that the river is slowly cleaning itself out.