If you were going to start again from scratch...

[pab1981]

Interesting questions about buying used. Will most folks let you get it to the dealer, and have it checked out at your expense if you can make a deal? Secondly, will a good dealership really check everything over? I can run a basic compression test myself. I would want someone that knew the common failure modes and how to find them ahead of time. I'm not looking for anything beyond 18' for storage concerns. I've never owned a big purpose-built aluminum, so I'm a bit in the dark about them other than what people say about them blowing around in the wind more than glass. My main concern with glass would be transom failure in hulls that are out of warranty.

If you really read/research or are around people that use aluminum boats a lot on big water, there's no shortage of transom and weld failures on aluminum boats. To me fishing on big lakes like Ky and Barkley and actually at one point having and running aluminum and glass at the same time, I would choose a glass boat every time. They are just more comfortable to ride in and are more stable and fish better with the trolling motor down. I am blessed to have a decent job and spend more time on the water than most but there is no way I would pay what they are asking for a new boat these days, glass or aluminum. The only caveat to that would be if you have enough money to buy a new boat with cash and not affect any of your other financial goals in life, then its a no brainer to buy one new with warranty on everything. If I was starting from scratch in my reality where I can't fork over $75,000 cash for a boat I would do my research and find a well cared for used glass boat that was constructed 100 percent from fiberglass and have it checked out by a mechanic you trust. I wouldn't buy a used boat from someone that wouldn't agree to let a mechanic check it and also probably more importantly, test run on the lake. There are quite a few problems that can't be seen with just a compression test or idling on the muffs. I would also try to buy it for a price that I could live with repowering when the motor does fail to a point it doesn't make financial sense to repair.

[tnduxcaller]

I found my boat on Facebook marketplace in MO. We drove a few hours to get it. It has a 97 115 Johnson on it and a 96 boat for $5,000. I would look for one of them again. If you are a project guy you can find them sometimes for $3,000 or so, but they need a lot of work. Good luck.

[claytonsdad]

Lots of useful information and advice here. We don't really have a good glass boat dealer around here, so aluminum seems to rule the day, but I'll keep poking around Marketplace to see what I can find within a reasonable distance. Being as close to the gulf as we are, I've realized you have to be aware of potential salt water damage and corrosion as well. I'm a techno nerd, so I will end up with FFS of some kind. Having fished with a great guide that used it, I realized pretty quickly that it would be worth their daily fee to get them to fish in your boat and help you set it up if they would.