I ran into the same decision when shopping for a new (to me) boat a few years back. I fish Tawakoni mainly, but also like to get back in some creeks and rivers at certain times of the year. I too wanted a tin rig for the tighter places. I ended up going with an 1860 center console. A 2072 would no doubt be better when on the open water, but there are times when it would simply be too big to get where I want to be without a PITA.

The problem I had was finding aluminum center consoles for sale used. Seems like people who buy these things like to keep them. Every one I found was either out of the year range that lenders were willing to loan against, or the sellers were basically upside down on them, not necessarily wanting more than they were worth, but wanting more than blue book which is what most lenders will finance. Lenders didn't seem to consider upgrades when valuing a boat so fish finders, upgraded TM's, jack plates, etc were not considered by lenders to add to the value of the boat even though we all realize they do to the user. For that reason I ended up buying new and paying extra on the principle every month to insure I'm not stuck with a boat valued at less than I can sell it for should I need to, and it'll pay off early. Then the problem was getting an interest rate that I could live with. It seems the lenders have our number on toys like boats, I had hell fining a lender who would get below 5% interest even though I have good credit.

My advice is, decide what you want, then be patient in choosing the boat and lender. If financing, get your lender setup and ready to go so when you find the right boat you can take advantage of it before someone else does. If paying cash, then you have that whole thing beat before you start.

Got any pics? Thanks.