Aluminum v. Fiberglass

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kalninm
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Aluminum v. Fiberglass

Post by kalninm » Mon Jul 23, 2018 12:25 pm

My question revolves around the "new" bass boats from Crestliner and Lund. The 20' aluminum rigs with 200hp on the back. I ran into a guy with a Crestliner PT20 this weekend on Oneida after a tournament that due to rough water had many soaked anglers and broken boats. This guys boat was the only one completely dry and the beam on it is massive, I couldn't believe it. For years if you wanted a big comfortable bass boat you went fiberglass. If you wanted something smaller, cheaper, tougher, that can access skinnier water you went aluminum. Now though you have aluminum options that rival the fiberglass rigs but still in the $40k range which isn't cheap but it's not $80k. So my question here is why go with an aluminum rig like the Crestliner PT20 instead of one of the other fiberglass brands? I'm just a tad confused about the market these huge aluminum rigs are after, I think they are awesome but why should I look at one of those instead of a fiberglass rig. Also I put a link to the PT20 below.

https://www.crestliner.com/pt/pt-20/

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Re: Aluminum v. Fiberglass

Post by ShimanoFan » Mon Jul 23, 2018 4:31 pm

Aluminum will outlive you if you take care of it and keep it out of salt water.

Aluminum is lighter. Aluminum is stronger if you have a nice thick hull.

Go with the Crestliner and all weld boats.

I will never again own a fiberglass boat.
Why is there a concerted effort of hate? And why is it allowed?

kalninm
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Re: Aluminum v. Fiberglass

Post by kalninm » Mon Jul 23, 2018 7:05 pm

I got to talk with the owner of the PT20 briefly and he said he has had fiberglass boats and would rather have one, but he also was the only dry one on the lake that day out of 70 boats. I'm not looking to buy right now just curious about the pros and cons to these larger aluminum bass rigs that rival the fiberglass ones that have had the market for so long.

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Re: Aluminum v. Fiberglass

Post by bpettus2 » Thu Aug 23, 2018 9:08 am

I have both . I love the stability on the water a heavier fiberglass boat has but my tin rig has its purposes to stumpy narrow passages . I’ll never be without either

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Re: Aluminum v. Fiberglass

Post by Bronzeye » Thu Aug 23, 2018 4:21 pm

kalninm wrote:I got to talk with the owner of the PT20 briefly and he said he has had fiberglass boats and would rather have one, but he also was the only dry one on the lake that day out of 70 boats. I'm not looking to buy right now just curious about the pros and cons to these larger aluminum bass rigs that rival the fiberglass ones that have had the market for so long.
Not looking to buy, but perhaps looking to sell Crestliners? I see that you joined the forum just a month ago, and your 6th post looks like a press release with a link to the product followed by a request for others to talk up aluminum boats. Maybe it's in earnest, but.... :-k

I went with fiberglass after considering aluminum. A fiberglass boat burns more gas to tow, but its greater weight means it blows around less when one is fishing from it in a wind, and it pounds less severely when one is running waves. It is also quieter when one inadvertently bangs something on it while, for example, switching rigs.

kalninm
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Re: Aluminum v. Fiberglass

Post by kalninm » Thu Aug 23, 2018 4:55 pm

Wish I was in the boat selling business but no. just intrigued by the bigger aluminum boats that are trying to grab a piece of what has long been fiberglass boat market share. Hadn't seen one in person till the other day when we were at weigh in and one of the anglers had the PT20, I posted a link because not sure how many of the guys here keep up with the new boats and I thought it was an impressive rig. Point of the topic was to get guys talking about why if they were going to buy a 20' bass boat with all the bells and whistles they would go with aluminum instead of fiberglass.

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Jason Penn
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Re: Aluminum v. Fiberglass

Post by Jason Penn » Tue Jul 30, 2019 3:20 am

i'm sure the reason people are buying bigger tin rigs is due to the prices of glass boats, as well as fuel costs. i would love to own a vexus 1980, but it's just not financially possible for me right now, plus the tracker 175 i currently have is really as big of a boat as i need for my area.

the only large aluminum boat i have fished out of is the ranger rt198p. i have a friend that lives on a 22,000 acre lake in north central arkansas. when i go visit, he's kind enough to let me use the boat like it's my own. it is a very comfortable boat to fish out of, handles rough water pretty good, and runs as fast as i need to go. i haven't tried to dropshot on main lake points in 15-20 mph winds in the thing, but i have fished some main lake bluff walls when the was some serious weekend boat traffic. i was surprised at how well it did take the wakes.

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