Future Boat

I'm currently fishing out of a kayak and truthfully I'm getting too old for it and am tired of the limitations. So, I'm starting to research a new boat. Here are some of my requirements and additional info:

I live in South Central PA. Most of the places to fish in my area are lakes under 500 acres and don't allow gas powered motors. There are two exceptions. The first is a 1200 acre lake with has a 20 HP max allowed motor. The other location is a river with several dammed lakes and this river system has no HP restrictions. I would like to take at least one road trip a year to fish and am also considering retiring somewhere south which may would a longer fishing season.

I fish for panfish and crappie a lot. However I do sometime fish for bass and would like to fish for flathead catfish in the river. I mostly fish alone. Currently I have 2 fishing kayaks so can provide one if someone wants to fish with me.

I've started looking at stick steer boats. The reason I am looking at them is that since I fish alone most of the time it would allow me to control everything from one location. I also want to sit low in the boat since am mostly by myself and want to ensure my safety.

So here are my questions:

1. Anyone have a stick steer boat and can provide feedback?
2. I think I want a front mounted trolling motor with spot lock and auto deploy. I know they are pricey but a MinnKota Ulterra seems to offer what I want. Anyone have experience with one and have feedback?
3. I would probably want Garmin Panoptix LiveScope. Anyone else using it?
4. You can get the Ulterra with a built in transducer for Humminbird. Is there any significant advantage of having Garmin LiveScope and Humminbird?
5. I probably want pedestal seats so I can upgrade to Smooth Moves seats. If anyone knows anything about these seats, maybe they can tell me if they could replace seats in the non-pedestal boats such as Tracker, SeaArk and others?
6. This one may seem silly, but I would probably want some space to have one of the little Dometic RV toilets on the boat. They don't take much space, but nature calls. Anyone have one on their boat?
7. Since I mostly fish alone, I have been looking at a Dakota Boat Retriever. Anyone have one?

Other items on the wish list:

Storage including rod storage
Built in fuel storage instead of the plastic onboard units. This may not be available on any boats in this class.
Versatrack (I have lots of track accessories that I could reuse from the kayak)


I know this is alot, but I'm gathering info. The Alumacraft Crappie Deluxe seems the closest I have found so far. Other boats in the same class seem to be the Tracker Panfish 16, SeaArk 1652 Crappie, War Eagle 648VS, G3 Sportsman 1610 SS and Xpress Crappie Stick Steer. Any others I should look at?

Would a 20HP motor be adequate? I don't have any interest in flying around the lake at 40 knots, but if I take a trip to larger lakes I may need to cover some ground. So far, my fishing trips have all been fishing from shore. Last year I went to Santee-Cooper in SC and am still hoping to go to Guntersville in the fall. I would take my boat once i purchase one.

Thanks for reading and providing feedback

I have the wareagle 754 vs and wouldn’t trade it. Everything in reach once I get in boat. Use Humminbird to find your fish and spots and for maps then live scope to fish for them. PM Alphahawk on here he has a really nice setup stick steer with smooth ride type seat. He can give you a bunch of useful info. My wareagle has a slotted rail on it I’m sure you could use your track stuff in

Make sure that the Ulterra has down imaging. When we bought our boat a couple years ago the built in transducer did not support down imaging. What a dissapointment when we found out that it did not. Aside from that we love the Ulterra especially its ability to record a track and then run the track forward and backward and be free to do what ever. Even catch a fish and have to boat stay on course.

Don’t over look mom and pop boat builders....they’re a lot of good ones out there that build a great boat. I had mine built and am very happy with it. I have the Smooth Moves....there are other suspension systems also. I would not own a SS boat without a suspension seat up front....no matter the brand. I too fish alone and am very happy with the ease of launching and retrieving. I kayaked for 4 years until I just got tired of loading them and went back to fishing out of a boat. Here is short video of my boat.

Regards


YouTube


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Alphahawk,

I actually saw the smoothmoves seat on your channel since I have been subscribed for a while. Love the channel, keep it up.

I assume the smoothmoves and other suspension seats will only work pedestal seats. Is that correct? Most of the boats I listed seem to have the flip up seats with storage underneath.

Cray

Thanks for the info. I will look at it closer.

Ranger,

Thanks for the info. If I go with the Ulterra I would want the Mega Down/Side Imaging.

Not sure if you would want side imaging. The trolling motor turns right and left and that could be a problem. Also, that is a different transducer and probably does not come in the Ulterra.

They list it as an option on the MinnKota website (You can pick either down imaging or down/side imaging). I'm not sure I would even do the Humminbird. I'm pretty sure I would get a Garmin Panoptix and I'm not sure I would need both.

I know some people run 2 different fishfinders/chartplotters. I was hoping someone would post the pros and cons.

"Alphahawk ... "I have the Smooth Moves...."
NOW you're just braggin'.

Sent from my SM-T580 using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

I’’ve had two stick steering boats. The first was a 1972 Skeeter Metro, sweet boat the other a 2001 G3 not so sweet. The Skeeter was a fiberglass tank of a boat I could swivel around without hitting my knees on the controls or the steering. The G3 was a tin can, the flooring and everything else was carpet covered wood. The G3 would soak up water and became heavy and I couldn’t swivel around without hitting my knees. It was very annoying hitting my knees all the time. The G3 wasn’t a boat for me, sold it within 6 months of buying it. If it was up to me I’’d climb in every one I could find to check the knee room up front. Old knees don’t take a beating well.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by markedman1132

They list it as an option on the MinnKota website (You can pick either down imaging or down/side imaging). I'm not sure I would even do the Humminbird. I'm pretty sure I would get a Garmin Panoptix and I'm not sure I would need both.

I know some people run 2 different fishfinders/chartplotters. I was hoping someone would post the pros and cons.

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I got the Garmin 93sv w/o tdx ... just for Livescope. I use my Hook 7 for DI & mapping. I bought a Cumberland Crappie Fishfinder Mount for the Garmin and mounted it behind the Hook 7 ... it's about 12" high but has an inner section that can be raised (probably close to 22-23" high).
The 93sv does come with a tdx that's DI/SI .... but a 9" screen split isn't what I wanted, so I got the unit w/o a transducer ... since I already had my Hook 7 (DI) tdx on the bottom of my trolling motor.

One other thing you might want to consider is that the LS power wires & the Garmin unit power wires are only about 6' long. So you'll have to wire them into connections to your starting battery or purchase another battery just for the LS. And since the LS pulls about 5amps per hour ... you might want to consider a battery with a good amount of amp hours. I purchased a AGM with 68ah just for the LS & Garmin unit. Some have even gone to Lithium Ion or Lithium Iron batteries for their setups, just because of the high amp hours they provide.

1. Anyone have a stick steer boat and can provide feedback?

I had a stick steer boat years ago, it took a little getting used to but now I prefer it to a steering wheel. I just ordered a new boat and specified stick steering, I'll be fishing s couple of local rivers that can get skinny in a hurry so I wanted the instant response.

Markedman1132, Welcome to crappie.com. Hope you check out the Pennsylvania board.

I think if you build the boat you are describing you will have one of the best outfitted rigs around you. Not sure the hull will matter much or at least it would not to me. I definitely wouldn't overlook the customization of a Mom & Pop build. I fished a SS early on and am in the process of a build for my son for all the reasons you listed. Just not with the caliber of equipment you are considering.

Welcome to crappie.com from North Alabama and hang around to keep us posted how this turns out

Sent from my E6810 using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Quote:

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Originally Posted by markedman1132

I know this is alot, but I'm gathering info. The Alumacraft Crappie Deluxe seems the closest I have found so far. Other boats in the same class seem to be the Tracker Panfish 16, SeaArk 1652 Crappie, War Eagle 648VS, G3 Sportsman 1610 SS and Xpress Crappie Stick Steer. Any others I should look at?

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Of your choices, I really like the SeaArk brand as they are overly built and very solid, and the 1652 is a little wider than the others you mentioned.

I have been impressed with what Excel has been putting out recently. Their side console Catfish Pro 21' and 24' are beautiful boats, I would think either with the biggest thrust trolling motor you can get would be the way to go, and since you don't need much speed, maybe a smaller outboard. It's such a massive platform that would be very comfortable and has plenty of room to add all those great custom crappie accessories or even some custom storage boxes. Probably way more boat than what you're looking for though.

Attachment 380009

That may be, but I could figure out what to do with it!!

Get your shopping list of desired features in hand and shop the used market. The right deal will show itself and you can add some of what it doesn’t have and still have money left over.