Here is my catfish boat. It's about 6 month's old now, it's a 19' G3 jon boat. I've added a few mods since the pics were taken. I liked this boat because of the vinyl covered interior which keeps it cool, easy to clean, plenty of space to move around and it has the capacity to hold 8 people. I also feel much safer than 17' jon I used to own. The kids like to tube and ski some in the summer but the primary purpose is catfishing. The current setup it does 45 mph on my gps. I still need to work on the correct prop pitch. I like it for my style of catfishing. The first trip out I landed a 15 lb. blue.

fishinrod, that IS a nice lookin boat. I bet the kids really love daddy now. It sure is clean, spit shine, even the tires. If you took that pic right off the lot or a bit after, you take good care of her.

Here mine. 18ft Weldbilt with a 115 suzuki 4 stroke.

Here is my boat, Crestliner 1860CC. It is not fancy but does everything I ask of it so far. 85 Yamaha on it.
I have told my wife, if we win the lottery, one thing I will not change, is, my boat. I love it and so does everyone that has fished in it. I got a friend that has a 19' bluewave, after he fished in my boat he wanted to put his up for sale and get one like mine(he really wanted mine and me get another one, ha ha)

Like I said, it does not shine like some boats, does not go as fast as some boats (about 38 mph), but it does fish. I also highly, highly recommed the E-Z Loader boat trailer that is available with Crestliners. Picture shows 65Merc, but now has 85 Yamaha

Obie,
The BeeReadys look great also

What a great bunch of boats!

i agree!!

obewan,

How many could you get in that boat if you had to?

Mudshark

mine is the same as obiewan's except it's a 2070 and I've got a 60 horse yamaha on mine. These boats have the cresliner name on them but they were actually made by Lowe ... they're just a Lowe Roughneck. they are extremely fishable and with the smaller motor I got mine for $11,300 brand new. I had to put all the seats and extras in it like fish finders, electric anchor winches, bait tank, rod holders, trolling motor, seats ... all it came with was the trailer, boat, motor with the center console and running lights. my main advantages is being able to fish really shallow water as the boats are so wide and long that they don't sit down in the water very far when at rest. I can actually run it through 6" of water as long as it's silt mud on bottom. with the smaller motor it doesn't weight it down in back too much and there's lots of room in them even with the big center console.. I wouldn't mind if the center console was about half the size it is but it's kind of handy when running in the rain... I can hunker my big butt down behind it and stay pretty dry.

i think i would like to try one of these but prolly a lil pricey

Tiny,

Same question. How many can you squeeze into it? I have 4 kids and am really trying not to settle for a toon. I am looking for a good cating boat i can get into shallows with but still handle the big water and carry the whole dang family in.

Mudshark

Mudshark,
You could fish your hole Family out of a 2072 pretty easy, but a pontoon maybe better suited for that. You can fish about 5 adults out of a 2072 at the most, the same with a pontoon. I will take out 5 in my 21' pontoon only if we have to, 4 adults is really all you want to fish out of any of these boats, things start getting pretty crowded after 4.
I can take my pontoon in about 24" of water maybe 18" if I was to really push it.
I've found fishing with the kids, you can take yourself out of the count, You will be helping them most of the time. The kids also don't usually fish the whole trip, this is were being in the pontoon comes in handy, the kids can kick back and play or take a nap on the couch if they need to.

I have a 22 ft xpress that I can fish 4 easy and have plenty of room. I can take it in 1 ft of water without a problem.

As long as i'm drop down fishing and not casting I fish 7 without a problem...I tried 8 and it was getting tight.

I am mostly throwing jugs anyway but the old lady is getting tired of getting left at home with the 2 kiddos that got rotated out from the last trip. I have to take turns on who gets to go and that always leaves too much crying in the driveway as I leave. I LOVE my plain ol'14ft jon but its not practicle anymore. Either way I go I am going to look like the leader of a parade if I get a boat big enough for all of them. Its not going to happen this year but by this time in '08 I am going to have to do something drastic. I hate fishing out of a boat that is to big for the job!!

Mudshark