Which Boat

[Sac A Slayer]

Guys I am loosing sleep over this one. It will be a bit long but heres my story.

I have read on here by one of the members to test drive & test fish again and again to make sure I get what I want which is very good advise and I keep remebering this as I search for a new boat. Well from my searches there is not a whole lot of inventory at the dealers to pick and choose from which leaves me wondering which boat to order and not test drive or test fish it.

Anyway I live in S. LA and fish the Atachafalaya Basin which is a cypress swamp. Many of the good areas are hard to get to because of the shallow water and is rough on equipment due to mud and stumps and I will / cannot take my Bullet 21 XDC in there to fish for Crappie & Bass thus the reason for a tuin boat.

Last weekend I looked at Xpress X-19 & H-18 and was disapointed with the quality issues I saw. I am not bashing just saying I wasn't spending $25K for what I saw. Since the Xpress didn't work out I started shopping Excel and got a quote on a 1960CC Stalker but it is sitting at the factory in N. Ark.(kind of far to go and look at a tin boat).

So the same issue, no one has a boat in stock to try out to help me determine what to buy. Today I stopped by a local dealer and went into their shop and they had just finished rigging a 17' flat Alweld mud boat with a pro drive. The guy buying it was there (he is a local) and he kept telling me this is the way to go. I agree w/ the engine part for our mud and stumps but aren't these boats kind of slow?

I just don't know what to buy

[jnalley]

yes i had one with a 37hp motor it would do 22mph but you can go anywhere there tricky to drive the boat i had didnt have any chiems on bottom it was slick bottom therefore it drifted a lot when turning corners but it is the best river boat ive been in the prodrive is top line i would ask the guy to take you out and see if thats what you want if you look up utube of prodrive youll see what i mean by going anywhere hope this helps

[huntinslabs]

If you can swing it, keep the Bullet and buy a basic jon boat/ bateau, rig it with a tiller motor and trolling motor. Something along the lines of a 1448, or 1648 would be perfect with a 25-40 tiller. Grew up fishing the basin and Morganza spillways and yes it will flat trash a nice boat. I am still partial to em and in fact still run a G3 1448 w/25 and can almost clip 30 with a beat up prop. Can't speak on the mudd motors as I have never ran one. I have heard of a company called fastduckboats, might give em a look see if that is the way ya want to go.

[Sac A Slayer]

I just sold my Alweld 1544 w/ 40 Merc tiller hanlde thnking I was gonna sell the bullet too and get a tin rig. But know I just don't know

[huntinslabs]

Did ya see Kman's rig in the boat pics thread? Thats an awesome rig as well.

[Sac A Slayer]

I'm going to look now. Man I got the boat fever bad

[Shallow Runner]

That excell hull is bad to the bone it has longitudinal beams instead of ribs and it has a triple chime. I have a friend who runs wax lake. He had a 15' crawfish skiff with a mud buddy and just swapped to excell. He loves it.


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Eatin ain't cheatin

[Big H trucking]

Big River Marine on the mississippi board is a Excel boat dealer. He will help you with any ? you may have and is located in West Memphis. Shot him a pm

[goofy1]

I don't know which aluminum boat brands your looking at but I can tell you I had a war eagle predator now just got a xpress pfc18. I agree on money and would love to think it was better built than it is in detail and all. But after I looked at excel, g3, bass tracker, triton, Lowe and sea ark I can tell you I think xpress is as good if definitely not top in this category of these brands. Not saying any were bad just saying all you will find are not great detail for what I think we have to pay. Of course maybe because aluminum because glass can be so much nicer in detail. I know ride and stability this xpress is very nice. Unless you find a custom builder I think you would see that too. My xpress I just got without carpet was pretty good. Great trailer and really rides great. Big River guy helped me decide and he carries the excel and Xpress. I think my War Eagle was fine built boat too. Very nice in this category. I just like xpress layout better and trailer better. Plus ride is nicer in xpress and is about a 5 mph faster hull.

[MO QWACK]

Well, I would look at Gator Trax they will make you anything you want and are awesome people "crappie.com member" they make all kinds of models with or with out mud motors. caution on the mud motor if you really needed one you would know it. I have a 18 54 Gator Trax with a 35 Mud buddy and I dont like fishing out of it.The motor set up makes the back end swing bad and it glides bad with the troller but with that said it will go anywhere! the boat is super awesome to hunt and fish out of big stable ect its just the motor takes some getting use to. Just remember the crawfisherman still run 40 tiller yama dogs and they go though everything.