Hey Folks,

I am looking in to my 1st bass boat and was really leaning towards buying a used glass boat. But i seem now to be leaning to aluminum (better deals on craigslist and my truck is only rated for 5000 lbs (2wd with 6 cylinder engine). I fish somerville, gibbons creek, granger, and lake belton. If anyone has any input on to which material would be acceptable for these areas that would be great. I currently use a flat bottom jon which gets blown around like a tin can, which was why i was leaning toward glass at 1st.

Thanks- KP

Its all personal preference glass seems to handle big water better and ride a little smoother I have had both and enjoyed them about the same until I got my newest boat 20' skeeter now I think I could never go back from glass

I think a tin boat of any size is going to act about the same in the wind. If you get a good trolling motor it will help. You're going to have pros and cons of each. Fuel efficiency running and towing will be the biggest advantage of aluminum. I think you'd be OK in an aluminum boat on Granger and Gibbons. If you want to run far on Belton or Somerville in windy conditions you'll be hurting in most tin boats. I'm not sure your price range but I've heard good things about the Express hyper-lift hulls performance and ride if you do go aluminum.

You would be in an 18 ft or less glass bass boat with that tow rating. I have an 19 ft bay boat I pull behind a v6 explorer that tows well. A good bass boat is much heavier than my bay boat per foot. It's not terribly hard to find a used 17ft bass boat from Ranger, Triton, or several other manufacturers.

I use to have a 17ft aluminum boat that I used on Beltin. The wind blows the aluminum boats due to the fact they are so light weight...this means your trolling motor is always running. Then you have the big waves from the wind that just pounds an aluminum boat making the fillings in your teeth fall out. However, they are easy to tow. If you get aluminum, make sure it is a V bottom.

My girlfriend's Tacoma with a V6 yanks my 20 and a half foot Blazer with a 3 liter around great, it also towed my 19 foot Basscat PII around great too. Even a big bathtub ranger 20 footer might weigh 3500-4000 at a maximum, just make sure you have good brakes and a good transmission cooler and buy a glass boat, as big as you can afford. Won't regret it.

First thing I'd say is, not all aluminum hulls are built the same. If wanting a bass rig that would have the best performance and ride in rougher water, the Xpress "X" series would be about the only thing I would consider. There are some really impressive numbers being tossed around with those hulls. That being said, they still aren't glass hulls and never will be.