Aluminum boats

[mriversinco]

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking for a new (to me) boat and am thinking I'd like to get an aluminum boat with a cuddy. I've currently got a Lund Alaskan but with my young kids and the type of fishing, I need a cuddy.

So it looks like I've got my choice between Starcraft Islanders, Crestliner Sabre/Eagle, and Sylvan Offshore.

I really like the idea of the crestliners being welded but my main question is this. I'd like to get one with an outboard since I do alot of fishing in the early season, and really late season. Starcraft made a few Islanders with OB's, but I haven't seen any Sylvans, and it looks like the Crestliner Eagle is an OB boat but the Sabre isn't. I don't know if I want a walkaround cuddy, or the fully cuddy, and the Sabre is full while the Eagle is walkaround. Does anyone know if they made a Sabre with an OB or am I limited to the Eagle? Also, any ideas what years they quite making the Sabre and Eagle?

Thanks

[jerryriggin]

a buddy of mine has a saber with outboards. it has twin 75 mercs on it. and there is 1 that is docked in grindstone michigan with an outboard. you could always buy one and repower with a transome bracket and the outboard of your choice. propnut has pictures of a starcraft they did this on.

[IRon]

I've got a Crestliner Eagle. When we looked at the boat the thing my wife liked the most about it was the walk around feature, because she wanted to be able to more easily use the front deck area for lounging in the sun. And we use it quite a bit when anchored for a front casting area. And it does make things easier to access the front.

The down side is you lose some room in the cockpit and the cuddy upper area is narrowed down by a couple of feet. And to make matters worse I hated the floor plan. It had a huge live well and also a bait well, too. Which left very little free floor space.

So luckily (I guess) the floor was bad because of former owner neglect, and I replaced the floor. First thing I did was tore out the live wells and re-did all the seat pedestals, steps to the walk around and storage areas. So it opened up a lot of floor space, in the back especially. And also gave me a bit more room in the walkway to the cuddy.

And like you I liked the idea of the welded hull and outboard for the same reasons you stated. They're both good ideas. The only down side there was despite the good intensions, you can't beat someone else's neglect. So any moron with a drill can install an outboard, but it takes a little care to seal the mounting bolts, which unfortunately the dealer didn't do. A leaking transom caused the wood inside to rot which weakened it and the weld cracked. So once I get that, replaced/fixed with a non wood core I should have everything the way I want it.

But I really like the boat, good design, but if you want them to take care of you ya gotta take care of them. Good luck in your quest

[prop nut]

Hewes craft

260 pacific cruiser

all welded all metal transom and front deck

1/4" thick bottom

[mriversinco]

Oh trust me Frank, I'd love to get one of those but I don't think the price of selling my Lund and an old Jeep Scrambler would quite pay for that so for now it's a used Islander/Sabre/whatever.

[Grant Sadler]

Thats a very boat Frank; I think you should just let me pro-staff that boat for the 2012 fishing season in lake Huron for the turnments the 220 would work good also.

I think when I get rich enough to replace my Off shore it will be to much moo laa. LOL

[prop nut]

The boat alone is not the expensive part

base price on a 2012 26' with a hard top and decent amount of standard equipment is only

58'500

A lot of guys buy decent used stuff for a lot less and by the time they have it sea worthy and dependable they will have spent 3-4 times as much

I am not complaining in these tough times @ 90 dollars a hour labor we need this kind of work as well as new boat sales

our root product is FUN

we sell andservice boats motors but what the customers realy want when they hand over thier hard earned dollars is the most fun they can get for a buck

The real cost of a boat is more math than the purchase price

try this equasion

price of the boat + cost to maintain and or make it reliable

+cost to operate

devided by hours of use

minus what it is worth when eventually you sell it scrap it sink it

= cost per hour of fun

There are a lot of ways to keep this dollar per hour number down

for this very reason there are a lot of realy nice boats for sale because they cost so much to keep and run

the dollar per hour fun equasion is off the chart

if all is considered some times new effeciant is a better investment

you can get some great deals on 30' plus of all teh big luxurious brands list goes on and on

and yet a 26' hard top aluminum safe off shore in big water with a nice ride will burn 1 gallon of gas in two hours of trolling

put 500 hours on one in a year vs a carburated 30' glass boat with a pair of 454s and the gas alone just more than made the payments for you

at the end of the day the best boat for any one. Is one he or she can afford to run after he buys it there is nothing wrong with a good used boat we can only hope to add more people out there enjoying our great fishery teaching young people how to have fun on the water

it realy is all about the FUN!!

Thanks for looking at my boats they might not be as far out of reach as a lot of guys think

A new boat should not be totally out of the question.

[silver one]

Just had Derik Martin send me a quote for the 18' sportsman last week. I was acutually supprised to find that the same boat in a lund or a crestliner with the same set up is almost 12k more. Not sure why that is as the Hewes is twice the boat either of those are. Lund and crestliner are both good boats but for the money once you start looking Hewes is not overpiced.

I am really leaning towards the Hewes right now but the wife is a battle as she likes the Champaign look of the crestliner. As far as the set up I enjoy doing that myself.

Are you guys bringing anyboats to any of the shows in michigan. would love to get my wife a first hand look without driving to Illinois. We plan on looking at the up and comming boat show at Devos Place in Grand Rapids.

Its been too long without a boat for the big lake.

[jay d]

joe,get her out for a ride on one,might change her mind.frank has another showroom here in michigan too,so you dont have to drive all the way to chitown.it is quite a suprise when you see the actuall price of theses boats.

[silver one]

joe,get her out for a ride on one,might change her mind.frank has another showroom here in michigan too,so you dont have to drive all the way to chitown.it is quite a suprise when you see the actuall price of theses boats.

Where in Michigan is there showroom?

[MY2SONS]

Hewes craft

260 pacific cruiser

all welded all metal transom and front deck

1/4" thick bottom

Man looking at those pictures had me drooling all over my keyboard! That is a saweeeet ride.

:thumb:

[jay d]

Where in Michigan is there showroom?

frank has a showroom at

fairview sales 2516 fairview rd eau claire mi.

[prop nut]

Calumet Marine

is renting some space from

fairview sales

2516 Fairview Road, Eau Claire, Michigan 49111 ph: 269.944.1566

Gary the owner there wants to sell me the place

He ha a great piece of property with a wonderfull heated indoor showroom

We need to know we can get people there to look at and buy boats before we

spend 3/4 million dollars on this facility and close the place we been doing business out of for over 50 years

We are trying to do two things here

#1 make sure this location will work well for every one

#2 get out of Illinois where or property taxes are just insane

(really is no other way to describe the taxes and fee we pay here to do business)

Gary is showing the boats for us call him let him know you are coming

If you are a serious buyer and would like to meet with me personally i can be there in hour and a half

we currently have on display In this location

27' World Cat HT model t/ 225 honda power fully rigged for gl fishing

Hewes Craft 26' pacific cruiser (used ) there on display t 225 honda power fully rigged for gl fishing the biggest boat Hewes makes

a brand new Hewes Craft 16' sportsman no motor (you can choose any or no motor) we sell Honda mostly and Evinrude E-tec The smallest boat hewes Craft makes

{{{{{ Hewes craft is the only boat manufacturer i know of that has a Life time Hull warranty that is tranferable for a period of 10 years from the point of sale

this is a life time + ten years }}}}}

a 16' check mate sport boat 115 johnson

a 22' pontoon boat 15 hp honda

so far for this area the big draw has been the pontoon boat

If there is any thing else we have or sell you want to see at the Michigan location

just let me know i can easily haul it up there for you

Eau Claire is just a little east of Benton harbor rite off of I-94 between exit 29 - 30

[Hooked Up]

I believe it's in Eau Claire, MI...

[jimcr]

Calumet Marine

is renting some space from

fairview sales

2516 Fairview Road, Eau Claire, Michigan 49111 ph: 269.944.1566

Gary the owner there wants to sell me the place

He ha a great piece of property with a wonderfull heated indoor showroom

We need to know we can get people there to look at and buy boats before we

spend 3/4 million dollars on this facility and close the place we been doing business out of for over 50 years

We are trying to do two things here

#1 make sure this location will work well for every one

#2 get out of Illinois where or property taxes are just insane

(really is no other way to describe the taxes and fee we pay here to do business)

Gary is showing the boats for us call him let him know you are coming

If you are a serious buyer and would like to meet with me personally i can be there in hour and a half

we currently have on display In this location

27' World Cat HT model t/ 225 honda power fully rigged for gl fishing

Hewes Craft 26' pacific cruiser (used ) there on display t 225 honda power fully rigged for gl fishing the biggest boat Hewes makes

a brand new Hewes Craft 16' sportsman no motor (you can choose any or no motor) we sell Honda mostly and Evinrude E-tec The smallest boat hewes Craft makes

{{{{{ Hewes craft is the only boat manufacturer i know of that has a Life time Hull warranty that is tranferable for a period of 10 years from the point of sale

this is a life time + ten years }}}}}

a 16' check mate sport boat 115 johnson

a 22' pontoon boat 15 hp honda

so far for this area the big draw has been the pontoon boat

If there is any thing else we have or sell you want to see at the Michigan location

just let me know i can easily haul it up there for you

Eau Claire is just a little east of Benton harbor rite off of I-94 between exit 29 - 30

Ever consider Wisconsin? its still close enough to Illinois to service the boats but a whole lot cheaper to do business. I really like that 160 sportsman.

[silver one]

Is that 18 footer the one you have currently in stock with trech track already on the gunnel. I belive this is the one Derik Martin sent me pics of.

[HONDAM]

I believe that the 18' that they have in stock does have the track on it.