<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Alagnak Pete wrote:</div>
I often laugh at the local MN/midwest love for some of these boats as proclaimed to be the holy grail of fishing boats.
“They aren’t worse, Alumacraft just stepped up their game. Lund is still the top dog in alum boats.”
Take a new Lund, Alumacraft, and Chrestliner and fish them the same amount of hours as an alumaweld, war eagle, duckworth, wooldridge, weldcraft, sea ark, etc, etc and see what the boat and hull looks like after 10,15,25 years of serious use and abuse.
There’s a reason the rest of the US and especially coastal areas have never heard of some of the midwest boat manufacturers.
You shouldn’t have to trade in/buy new every 5 years because the whole interior is shot because there is more wood and carpet than aluminum in the boat. You should be able to have one for 20 years, repower and throw in some new seats and be like new again.
Totally agree! I have pointed this exact same thing out as it relates to fiberglass boats.
If walleye guys REALLY want to know what build quality is, the freshwater brands are basically laughable. I was just at the Sportsmans show and the construction quality of boats that midwest guys think of as high end makes me want to cry. Compartments with hinges tacked on with itty bitty screws, all hardware is cheap pot metal, everything is undersized, and built about good enough to get the boat to the dealer for “rigging”.
If you want to find out what REAL fiberglass boat build quality looks like, take a look at a Boston Whaler, Regulator, Pursuit, Grady White, Parker, Wellscraft, etc.
For aluminum boats see list above. I would add North River to your list, as well. These brands are battle tanks compared to the soda cans that are being driven around here.
Sure, with exceptional care, you CAN make a midwestern brand last 25 years. As long as you have a $50k heated garage to keep it in so that it’s warm and dry every day of its life except the few hours a month that it gets used. The amount that we have to baby boats around here to make up for the poor build quality has just become factored in to the equation so guys don’t notice that the price of ownership here includes a massive overhead for storage costs to keep the cheap wood, carpet, and plastic from rotting in 2-3 years. That doesn’t happen on quality brands.
Grouse
Grouse, now you’re on the mark 99% of the time, but this report on our boats sounds pretty dire. Rotting in 2-3 years? Cmon. I don’t spend a dime on storage.
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