First boat purchase ever. Could use some advice

[Cover Dog]

Originally Posted by rdiddy

I have been looking, and between the 4 manufacturers I listed, I don't think any of them offer a full vinyl flooring install. From what I see, it is mainly vinyl in the cockpit with carpet in the bow and on the rear casting deck. I would like full vinyl, personally.

The AlumaCraft in my signature has all vinyl on every horizontal area except the small area at the front of the bow where the trolling motor is mounted and front running light plugs into.

Good luck in your search.

[rdiddy]

Originally Posted by Cover Dog

The AlumaCraft in my signature has all vinyl on every horizontal area except the small area at the front of the bow where the trolling motor is mounted and front running light plugs into.

Good luck in your search.

Ah, thanks for the correction - admittedly, Alumacraft is the one manufacturer out of the 4 I am considering that I have spent the least time researching. I should take a deeper dive in to their offerings.

How do you like the full vinyl floor? Do you have any complaints with it, or does it ever get slippy?

Thanks again

[mikear]

Originally Posted by rdiddy

Ah, thanks for the correction - admittedly, Alumacraft is the one manufacturer out of the 4 I am considering that I have spent the least time researching. I should take a deeper dive in to their offerings.

How do you like the full vinyl floor? Do you have any complaints with it, or does it ever get slippy?

Thanks again

My impact has full vinyl floor. Not sure if Lund still offers that?

Pros:
EASY clean up
Virtually snagless
Good traction when dry
Hides spots you didn’t clean up really well

Cons:
Hot - Over about 85°F on sunny days it’s hard to stand on bare footed, a towel where your standing works well
More slippery than carpet when wet
Can tear on edges where it sees a lot of use
Can lift off in corners if factory didn’t glue properly

To me, the pros outweigh the cons and I’d do it again. Carpet IMO wears too easily, stains, and is a bear to clean at times. Hooks are also difficult to dislodge.

Others probably have their opinions on this matter as well. If my boat saw more recreational days with the family I’d probably go with carpet due to it getting really hot.

[Cover Dog]

Originally Posted by rdiddy

How do you like the full vinyl floor? Do you have any complaints with it, or does it ever get slippy?

It is a little slippery when wet but it has a slight pebble finish. No hooks get caught in it like they can in carpeting. And in direct sun it does get pretty warm if you’re barefoot. A quick wipe down with a sponge and any slime that was accumulated during the day is gone.

With all that said I still would not have carpeting.

[therealjoeblow]

Originally Posted by rdiddy

Thanks for the recommendation on the hydraulic steering, I will put that on my must have list. I didn't know what advantages it offered, but now I can see it's value so thanks for the explanation.


What is wave pro or smooth moves? From your description I am going to have to assume it's a seating option?


I was leaning towards doing my own rigging for two reasons, one because I enjoy technical installs like that and secondly, for example a humminbird helix or a minn kota ulterra seems to warrant a large markup in price on Lund's factory boat build website.


If I source those units and buy them myself, it seems the prices are considerably less. Frankly, given I am already purchasing boat, motor etc from them I would have expected that they would at least not price gouge on the accessories and electronics... but maybe I am somewhat naive as I have never done this before.... or am I missing something?

If you factory order your electronics and trolling motor, you will get them with the boat as Lund has huge buying power and as far as I can see Humminbird pretty much ships everything they have there first. Then to dealers and retailers in the US. And lastly to dealers and retailers in Canada. Many of their most popular products have been vapourware and perpetually back-ordered here in Canada since last October (Terrova 80lb 60" iPilot Link; Helix 9 MSI+, etc). So you will be sadly disappointed in waiting forever for these to be available. I would just bite the bullet and get them factory installed.

Also on the boat builder pricing... it's a guide only. You really need to go see a couple of dealers and get competetive quotes. And note that the prices do NOT convert directly from the boat builder pricing which is in USD to CAD using market currency conversion. The CAD to USD conversion rate is currently 0.79, but when I ordered my boat (Lund Adventure 1775 Sport) a few months ago and compared the printout of the boat builder options and pricing to the Canadian price build sheet the dealers gave me, the conversion on the pricing for each line item was between 0.65-0.68, so a lot more in CAD than a simple currency conversion. But then after everything tallies up on the build sheet to the "retail" price total, the dealers all make their own decision on how much to cut as a "dealer adjustment" to actually sell the boat for. This is where they factor in their profit margin, and the 3 final quotes I got ranged from 10-20% off of the raw total. So you need to factor that bit of confusion into your final pricing on the options and electronics as well.

Example, if the Boat Builder pricing totals $50k USD "Your Price", then you need to divide that by approx 0.67 to get $74.6k CAD as the total base price on the Canadian build sheet (NOT $63.3k which you would expect with a simple currency conversion at 0.79), then take $7-14k off of that in CAD for what the dealer will sell to you, and expect to pay somewhere between $60 and $67k CAD plus taxes. Obviously try to find one who is less greedy and is closer to the 20% off than the 10% or less.

Cheers

[320bull]

Lots of good information here. I can add from my experience with owning an 18 ft boat with a 150 on it. It was fiberglass but I don't see that making a difference here. I fished walleyes trolling with the boat mostly and it had a 24v terrova and it would do fine for a full day trolling at 1 to 1.5 mph with the wind. The batteries are heavy and take up allot of room. IMO a 36 volt system would be overkill not to mention another charging bank needed. Lots of additional cost and weight with 36v system.
I did not have a kicker on that boat and never felt like I needed one. Again more weight and cost if you don't really need it. My current boat has both the 36 volt and a kicker and it needs it. My 18 foot just didn't require it.
I have done both in regards to rigging and you will likely do a better job than the dealer would.
Also I strongly encourage you to do whatever it takes to get in the boat model you are interested in as well as a second pick. I drove a couple of hours each way twice to do this and it changed my mind on the last purchase. Best thing I could have done.

[therealjoeblow]

Originally Posted by mikear

I have had Minn Kota with great luck on my last two boats, so can’t speak to other manufacturers. However, I do hear good things about the RealPro chargers, just not particularly the recreational series Lund utilizes. The professional series are supposed to be excellent chargers and are fully factory repairable, unlike a lot of other brands (Minn-Kota included). Plus, the pro series is available in higher amps/bank than the recreational series.

Technically I did have the factory Recreational series RealPro with my Lund, but removed it for a higher amp/bank charger within about 2 months of buying the boat. No issues with the charger, batteries just weren’t ready on the 2nd day after fishing hard the first day.

Lund dumped the green RealPro recreational series chargers that had 6A per bank as the factory option for 2022 models now due to the number of problems with those over the past few years. The factory offerings are all Minn Kota PC models with 10A per bank (MK 220PC for the 2-bank, MK 330PC for the 3-bank). Same pricing as the old green ones as far as I can tell.

Cheers

[therealjoeblow]

Originally Posted by rdiddy

Oh - I thought it was a complete replacement for the pedestal and seat. So you would opt for those pedestals rather than buy an air ride or pro ride set up from the manufacturer? Are they that much better?

Thanks for the recommendation on the charger brand. I am strongly leaning toward buying individual components of my own choosing and rigging things myself... I still can't understand why buying a minn kota trolling motor directly from lund coupled with a purchase of a boat is more expensive than buying it on my own from a separate retailer. Same with a fish finder.

Re: Pricing... Same reason a Kicker stereo unit that sells for $199 and a couple of Jensen speakers that are worth $50 a pair are priced in at $450; and same with seats, and bimini tops, etc. etc. etc. You can buy just the basic boat with no options and then spent months trying to find all the add-ons and install them yourself to save money. Or you can just go with the convenience of having it all factory supplied and installed and enjoy your boat on Day 1. See my other post above regarding availablilty of some of this stuff after-market these days. Also, in that post I mentioned the pricing - you need to factor in that the dealer who sells you the boat will cut a whack off the total base retail price (ie, the boat builder pricing), so that same percentage needs to be factored off the price of the accessories too, which makes them more reasonable compared to after market retail in the end. Not exact, but needs to be considered against the convenience factor.

Cheers

[FlyNorth]

If you are deciding on which options to get, make darn sure you get the drawers by the driver and passenger seat, these are low cost options that are worth their weight in gold! Also, same with the Stow n Go rod holder tubes on the sides.

FN

[mikear]

Originally Posted by therealjoeblow

Lund dumped the green RealPro recreational series chargers that had 6A per bank as the factory option for 2022 models now due to the number of problems with those over the past few years. The factory offerings are all Minn Kota PC models with 10A per bank (MK 220PC for the 2-bank, MK 330PC for the 3-bank). Same pricing as the old green ones as far as I can tell.

Cheers

Awesome! The green 6A wasn’t cutting it for me.