i have fished 1860 alwelds for years

they are great for ferrying waders, running over stuff, crashing shell pads, banging into docks and missing the trailer, leaving outside unprotected..

downside is , they are rough and won't run as fast as a glass boat for very long or you will eventually stress crack them.

upside , normally take less HP, clean easily, single axle trailer, easy on fuel, low maint.

can't beat em, but you won't look cool ............


an 18' vee hull with a 90hp and a jackplate and a scooter prop will get you plenty skinny

 

CO said it pretty well..If you want purdy and keeping up with jone's &like waxing and polishing.. go fiberglass..IF you like fishing and ain't trying to impress anyone go Alu..Cheaper right off bat.. take less HP..Float shallower..less gas...less care..I've owned lots of both..I am back to alu..

 

I won't be buying another boat for a couple years but I think my next will be aluminum. What are the acceptable brands and stuff to look for? I see lots of them have tunnels in them, do they perform fairly well in terms of shallow running? How about crossing the bay in rough chop?

 

My aluminum boat is hot to the touch during the summer. I need to be careful where I kneel or sit. But I wouldn't trade it. It's light weight, so tow vehicle doesn't need to be as big - I get 16mpg towing with my 4Runner. I do preventative maintenance, but not much on washing my boat. Rough riding in open bays on a windy day. A boat is all about tradeoffs and how you intend to use it.

 

No more plastic boats for me. I routinely crash oyster reefs, get into places I shouldn't be, and most important, get out.

 

I keep wanting someone with one of he new aluminum bay bias to come is and say it is the best of both worlds, light, shallow, and handles chop well.

Anyone with an Xpress H22B or similar?

 

I own an 18 foot Alumacraft with a 70 Yammy. It has a tunnel and the pontoons on the rear. The positives are: Very cheap to maintain, although I do wash off after every trip which is not much different than a fiberglass boat. Just don't have to wax. As another poster has said, I have been stuck on oyster and sand reefs. Very easy to get off.
Just use a push pole. You will never get a fiberglass boat unstuck in some of the places I have been. I would have torn up a fiberglass boat. Light and easy to pull to boat ramp. The pontoons help run shallow and will help getting on plane faster.
Negative: Rough ride in a 3' chop and waves. Just have to learn what speed and slow down and then it does very well. Just cannot goes as fast through the waves as a fiberglass boat. With the tunnel, reverse does not work very well, very slow and tough to go against the wind in reverse. Slow but doable. The rear pontoons create a lot of turbulance. Therefore, a depth finder does not work very well. The depth finder works when sitting still, but when moving depth is all over the place, 50 to 300 feet and in only 3 feet of water.
I have owned 3 fiberglass boats until this one. I would certainly recommend an aluminum boat, if you just want to fish the bays. Nine years ago, I owned a 17' Skeeter bass boat and before moving to the coast I sold it. After moving to the coast, I bought this aluminum boat, thinking that after a couple of years I would purchase a larger fiberglass bay boat. But, I like my current aluminum boat for fishing the bays and will not purchase a fiberglass boat.

 

So if looking at purchasing a used Aluminum, are repairs a big deal. Say if it had a crack in the transom area and it's been welded/repaired, etc? I guess what I'm asking is can you just tear a hole in them and weld them up and be off and running or what?

 

Depends on the hull... If it is a riveted hull, not many welders will want to touch it - the metal is thin and hard to weld. If the hull is a welded hull, the plate will be thicker, and usually fixable.

How about crossing the bay in rough chop?

Anyone with an Xpress H22B or similar?

Handling a chop is about 60% how much V the hull has, 20% hull weight, and a bit of 'other'. Aluminum boats tend to not have a lot of V, and are generally lighter than V hulls. The H22B has a V closer to a bay/bass boat, but is still on the 'mild' side.

Boats are all about trade-offs. Light weight = lower power requirements = less cost, but also = harsher ride.

 

Aluminum vs. Glass

I've been running a weldcraft 1860 with tunnel, float tabs on the back and jackplate and powered by a 115 . This boat will run in ankle deep water, if you want a boat that runs flats and you don't run choppy waters, aluminum is the cheapest and less to power than any other boat. If I had to do it all over again , The Shoalwater Cat 19 or Haynie Cat would be my choice for all around boat.

 

I have a 19 ft boatright . It's flat bottom makes it a rough ride but the weight does seem to help . I always plan my launch points according to the wind . Once you learn how to run the boat in the chop it's not bad . I'm rough on a boat and I've had glass boats before . I nose in on banks in the marsh, pole it while flounder gigging . It really depends on what you fish for . I'm never to far from the bank because I flounder fish . I will occasionally take it out on the reef because my son likes to trout fish . You just have to pick your days for open water.

 

You wouldn't want to park here with a fiberglass boat .
2070 Weldcraft, modified V, pontoons, w/a 115 Etec. She will run 45 WFO. Excellent all around boat. The hull is 18 yrs old and no problems with it. If going aluminum, I would suggest having a Perko installed to avoid any electrolysis or corrosion issues.

No experience with Xpress or Excel, but other brands to consider are Alweld or Weldcraft. Or the bulletproof Boatright.

 

boatrights aren't bullet proof, we welded a 3' split right down the keel line of one, it sunk at the dock, bow down, darn lucky it was shallow.

if you can order one in w a factory alum. floor , it would be a good option, that way you don't have to deal with a wood one and can have the console set from the factory.

18' , get a 90hp a 70 hp is kinda underpowered, they aren't speed demons, don't plan for them to be .

 

There isn't a boat made that can't be broke. With some of them, though, the pieces float...

My boat is also a Weldcraft. 15'x60 with tunnel and pontoons. Weldcraft uses some of the thickest plate in the business, excluding those rock-jumping jet boats from up north. I think mine is .125 bottom, with .10 sides. We also ordered it with welded in floor and gunnel covers. This adds a bit of weight, but also adds a LOT of stiffness. Quartering into a chop, there is NO visible flex in the front of the boat. People in the boat take a he!! of a beating, though. :fish:

 

Take a look at the Alumicraft Bay Series boats. Aluminum hulls with fiberglass consoles and are made for our bays down here in South Texas. Comes with a tunnel and sponsons and these boats will run very shallow and have a V up front to cut through the chop.

 

Bought a 22' Baystealth 10 yrs ago due to big family and thought I would fish W. Matty more than I have. Big boat, good ride, dry & comfortable. Have missed my alminum boat ever since. Most of the water around Freeport is shallow and I cringe every time I even think I'm close to an oyster reef. Gonna go back to aluminium soon. I don't have big water to cross but many shallow oyster reefs to deal with. Goodbye Big Bertha!

 

I have the Xpress 20HB and I love it. First aluminium boat for me, and I don't think I'll go back to a glass boat. Fishes and rides great. Only downside is that I wish it was a little wider. I run a 2 stroke Yammy 150 with a four blade prop. Gets up shallow and tops out in the low 50's.

 

the last boat i owned was a 19ft bluewave, very nice boat, just way to much up keep for me,as well as not to friendly on oysters and other objects. that was the 1st glass boat i have owned in about 12 yrs, and will be the last. monday i signed the papers on a 2012 H20 bay, so far very nice boat but due to the liquid sunshine this week i havent got to use it. i took out last week on a test ride and seems to handle pretty well . got into a couple of tugboat wakes handled well and no pain in my lower back {i wasnt putting when i hit them ** if you go ride in xpress be sure to ride in the hyperlift hull ..

 

You're the man I want to hear from. If it ever quits raining and you get to take her out, start a new thread and let us know how she handles chop compared to you Bluewave and a more common flat bottom aluminum. I would also be curious how much it drafts.

That pad hull has my interest.

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i'd rather have glass and it has nothing to do with keeping up with anyone but myself.

I like to cross big water and I tend to have folks with me. it gets rough in my blue wave can't imaging what an aluminum would be like.

 

Or you could go all out and get a lagoon cat. All welded 3/16 plate aluminum, and its a cat so it cuts the chop like a champ


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I have a real soft spot for aluminum boats. I like em. The thing i don't like is that (generally speaking) the aluminum boats are not self bailing, and don't have the positive flotation to stop it from sinking if the bilge pump(s) quit, or can't keep up.

On the other hand, not all fiberglass boats are self bailing and foam filled, but most of the modern ones are.

I've had enough close calls with boats full of water, i like to know the boat can be swamped, and not sink.

 

I have a real soft spot for aluminum boats. I like em. The thing i don't like is that (generally speaking) the aluminum boats are not self bailing, and don't have the positive flotation to stop it from sinking if the bilge pump(s) quit, or can't keep up.

On the other hand, not all fiberglass boats are self bailing and foam filled, but most of the modern ones are.

I've had enough close calls with boats full of water, i like to know the boat can be swamped, and not sink.

Not sure what you mean by sinking, but all recreational boats under 20' and mfr'd after 1978 are required, at least in the U.S., to NOT sink. They may become swamped and float at water level, but will not sink unless it is a commercial-rated hull or the previous owner removed the floatation. Doesn't matter what it is made out of.

 

I've had my excel 21ft since September and couldn't be happier. Been in some spots that I could of never pulled off in a fiberglass boat . Safe floor is a must . Worth every penny. With 115 I top out at around 40 loaded.

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Express

I have the Express c20' this boat runs skinny in 3" and has great hole shot. Buddies have been grounded trying to follow me in there Haynie's and Shaolwater. Takes rough water better then any of the cats ive been on only wish I would have got 150 hp. I did have problem with hull cracked and Express was horrible with repairs, I was without a boat for 7 months and had to even get an attorney to get them to fix it. The boat was only 10months hold when developed crack along a weld. If there service was anygood I would rate them the best. But service sucks I even had to drive to Arkansas to get my boat back.

 

I have the Express c20' this boat runs skinny in 3" and has great hole shot. Buddies have been grounded trying to follow me in there Haynie's and Shaolwater. Takes rough water better then any of the cats ive been on only wish I would have got 150 hp. I did have problem with hull cracked and Express was horrible with repairs, I was without a boat for 7 months and had to even get an attorney to get them to fix it. The boat was only 10months hold when developed crack along a weld. If there service was anygood I would rate them the best. But service sucks I even had to drive to Arkansas to get my boat back.
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That's a good looking boat and I love the looks of that Excel posted above too. I'm looking at a used aluminum boat (Alumacraft) and it had a crack in the back of the transom just above the tunnel (not along a weld) that he had fixed/welded. The seller said cracks are common in all brands so I've been looking at all these aluminum boat threads for indications of such and yours is the first one I've seen. I guess this is as good of a thread as any to ask in, are cracks at all that common on these things?

 

No cracks should not be common if properly built.

 

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And here is my ride, a Pacific23CC [www.pacificboats.com]with 1/4" plate one piece bottom and 3/16" sides with an 18* dead rise. She can carry a 4000lb load.

 

And if you want Killer beef from Louisiana check out , www.metalsharkboats.com

 

Here is a SWEET Pacific23 that just sold used, wish it was mine.