I've got 5k to spend. What would you guys look for?

another $5000. really, unless you stumble up on a once in a life time deal.

I would be looking for a bay boat with a tunnel with a small draw so I could go skinny and handle some waves. That would be pretty good for port mans.
But seriously you're gonna need to use that as down or find some more cash.

You might find a decent scooter for that, wait until october when the market drops out, and keep your eyes peeled. There's some real junk out there, so you don't want to throw your five grand down a hole either.

Zing!!!

Well with 3 kids that's about all I can spend. Other wise I would look at buying a new one.

Avoid anything that says:
Cajun
Bay liner
Redfin
Bay liner
VIP
Stealth
All of those are bottom of the barrel cheap built hulls.
Any brand that's been abused or neglected is a money pit, so be careful and know what you're looking at.

You can find a center console w/motor for around 5k, but your not going to find a a tunnel hull, or any other skinny water boat for anything close to that. That being said, you can fish a lot of water without a skinny water boat, I've been fishing San Antonio, and Esperitu Santo bays for 5 yrs in a boat that is anything but skinny. But what do I know, I fish for Reds, and trout on 10lb mono (:

I feel your pain. I've been nursing the same boat and motor for 14 years. I can't afford anything new for a few more years.

In fact, I have to take mine to the shop Monday because the d&@#!! motor alarm is going off even before I start it. Be careful getting a cheap boat if it means a lot of expensive repairs on top of the normal expensive maintenance.

Just build a center console in a jon boat. That's what I did. If you find a good, used boat 5k will easily cover it.

Not to hijack your thread, but I decided I couldn't afford to have the boat guys work on old Betsy so I hit the Internet and spent a day diagnosing the problem myself. I did a temp fix but if I had taken it in it would have been $300-400. That's a relatively cheap problem.

I fish quite a bit but man, it can be an expensive hobby.

And Capt. Mac, I like your boat. Can you actually catch fish without a $2000 power pole?

Thank you sir.
LOL, yes and you can run across a flat with an engine smaller than a 200 and catch them on a fly rod that costs less than $700 as well.

get with your local boat dealership, tell them what you're wanting and check back often, they don't make much off used boats, and will usually let trade in boats go for around what they gave them. Finding a used boat is easy but 5k is a stiff budget. but you may be able to find something decent with a lot of hours on it for that price.

plus side, I have yet to find a dealership that will sell you something that is going to explode first trip