Aluminum Fishing Boats. Way Better Than Fiberglass Boats - If you're thinking of buying a fishing boat you have a number of choices. Basically you can buy an aluminum fishing boat, a timber boat or a figerglass fishing boat.
Personally I'm a huge fan of aluminum boats, and would never buy a fiberglass boat. He...
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Aluminum Fishing Boats. Way Better Than Fiberglass Boats
If you're thinking of buying a fishing boat you have a number of choices. Basically you can buy an aluminum fishing boat, a timber boat or a figerglass fishing boat.
Personally I'm a huge fan of aluminum boats, and would never buy a fiberglass boat. Here's why.
You're buying a boat because you want to be fishing, not working on boats. If you want to be working on boats buy a timber fishing boat and I can guarantee you'll spend many hours working on it. If you love that then fine, but for me I want to be fishing, not working on boats.
So timber is out. But what about fiberglass compared to aluminum. After all you see a lot of fiberglass boats out there.
What do you want in a fishing boat? Well you want it to be tough. Water resistant. Impact resistant. Low maintenance. Long lasting. Light. Easy to use.
Aluminum is all of these and more. It's extremely tough. It is welded not riveted, so is totally waterproof. It is highly impact resistant. That doesn't mean that it can't be holed, but it's pretty hard to do. Rather than get a hole aluminum tends to dent. This is great. If you hit something, as I recently did, you end up with a dent and head home feeling silly. If you hit something in a timber or a figerglass boat chances are high that you end up with a hole, and someone needs to come and get you because your boat is sinking.
Aluminum has a very high strength to weight ratio. So it's light and easy to handle, both in the water and onto and off a trailer or even a roof of a car. It's incredibly strong and will take a stack of punishment. It needs very little maintenance and will last forever.
A fiberglass boat on the other hand, has some drawbacks. It is heavier. It is less resistant to impact, and more easily holed. It takes a little more maintenance, although much less than a timber boat. And if treated badly it can absorb water. Be careful not to damage the gellcoat, or if you do repair it before you go out again.
And whereas an aluminum boat retains a very good resale value because they are so tough and durable, fiberglass boats can be more easily damaged and for this reason may not retail their value as well.
So for me it's an aluminum fishing boat every time. I've had all 3, timber, fiberglass and aluminum, and will be sticking to aluminum.
And the best thing about aluminum boats is that they are so tough and durable that it is far better to buy a used aluminum boat rather than a new one. A new boat is expensive, and like all things new will lose a lot of it's value as soon as you buy it. So a used aluminum boat is much cheaper, and will retain it's value to when you sell it you'll probably get most or all of your money back. I bought a used boat 2 years ago and it's worth as much or even more than when I bought it.
So if you're pondering your choices between the different types of fishing boat, make it a used aluminum fishing boat. You won't regret it.
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