Fish/Ski/Family Boat

[chromechaser]

Well the time has come to start looking for a boat. I have never owned a boat but have run many small runabout style boats for saltwater fishing, cruising and skiing. I am looking for one that does all of these things well. Or at least as well as one boat could do them. The ones that have caputred my imagination to date are the Campion Explorer 542 and 552, Malibu Tyee 182 and Lund 1950 tyee (possibly the Lund fisherman series as well). I like the idea of the cuddy cabin in the first two (small children and wife) and the lightweight and durability of the aluminum lunds. The majority of the fishing that I will be doing will be the Vancouver saltchuck with a couple trips a year over to Bamfield. I would like to be able to head off shore in good weather/relatively calm seas.

I know this topic was discussed on here a year or so ago and a lot of people advised against open bow boats for reasons of stability and water coming over the bow. Would these same concerns apply to the Lund or for that matter a dual console boat such as the striper 1851 or the grady white tournament?

If anyone has any input here or any other suggestions, it would be greatly appreciated. When the time comes, I will be buying used so if anyone has a line on something that you think may be of interest, post it up.

 

[TenMile]

I owned a Striper 1851 Walk Around and it was a well made boat. Had a cuddy and port-a-potty with a Yamaha 115. Thing is with a 19ft cuddy, they do all the things you want to do... but doing it well is difficult. I've got 2 small kids as well and we simply found it too cramped for the 4 of us to cruise and overnight. You could ski behind that boat, but you'd want to go up to a 150 or 175hp (175 is the max). We eventually moved up to a Striper 2600 as it is the better compromise between fishing and cruising (we don't ski or tow this boat).

The 21ft Stripers are widely owned and I know lots of guys who take them off the West Coast for Tuna. The cuddy is about the same size as the 1851 -- the added room is all in back. There is a great owners group for Stripers www.seastriper.com that is maintained by the owners not the company and you can ask any question you want and get an honest answer.

TenMile
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[chromechaser]

Thanks Tenmile. I had looked at the striper as well, but kind of thought that the Campions were a little more sleek and my be a better watersports boat. I would definitely want power in the 150 to 175 range (or higher if rated for such) in any boat that I would get. I need to get on one of the stripers and see what the space is like on board.