Well for starters its missing an outboard and a trolling motor

didn't allison start out as a racing hull?

just got back from Fork fishing from my friends allison.Awesome boat,handles water very well and hauls azz.

I look at my Allison like you might consider a Corvette or Viper. They are somewhat of a compromise, but you will never forget the first time you drive one.

how would you say your 521 is better? more stable? more durable? easier to fish out of?

all of the above except for speed

As I get older and the doctors says it time to sloooooooow way down and relax, I would consider a Ranger. Until then, I'll stick with the Allison. Both are great boats, just different strokes.

Oh yes.... The Allison bassboat. There is really no other bassboat in the same category with an Allison bassboat. I have owned two of them. One was their XB2002 which is the 20' 2" bass hull that holds most of the world speed records with outboard motors in almost every horsepower class. I saw one run over 60 with a 90 Honda 4 stroke. All you have to do is Google Bassboat Speed Records and you will quickly see what I am talking about.

Ben, I would say it is the Ferrari or Lambo or the lake with regard to bass rigs anyway. The Bullet is like a Vette or Viper in my opinion. Allys are sleek, sexy, and fast as all get out. Properly set up the XB2002 will run in excess of 100 mph with a STOCK Merc 250 ProXS. You will of course need Merc's Sportmaster gearcase in a 1.62 gear but it is the same price as the other Torquemaster gearcase.

They will also shock you with their ride quality. For being a lightweight all hand-built hull they ride Amazingly well. They are expensive. This is not just a "hand laid" hull. It is truly an all "hand made" hull. There is a difference. They also utilize the very latest in resins and glass mat technologies. This allows them to use much less resin to bond the glass mats together and still obtain the structural strength it takes to withstand 100+ mph speeds across the water.

The downside of an Ally XB2002 is their fishability. The wind blows you around like a kite. The boat is very tippy at rest. If your 300# partner jumps from one side of the back deck to the other really quick, it pitches the boat pretty badly. The storage is pretty sparse on this hull as well.

The boat pictured above is the XB21 and is a much better fishing boat than the XB2002 and has remedied many of the shortcomings such as lack of storage, lack of interior space, stability at rest, and amenities. But this comes at a price. The XB21 is not nearly as fast as the smaller, narrower XB2002 and by a wide margin. The XB21 is an extremely good compromise for the guys that want something different than the cookie cutter bass rigs on the market with superior performance. Speeds from the XB21 should be right on par with the Bullet 21's.

Allisons have long set the bar for Ultra High Performance with an outboard and will continue to do so. However they are not for everyone. And yes, you do have to drive them but what boat don't you have to drive once they exceed 80 mph??

I for one, Love em! I will own another one day....

There is a white yellow and red one that we saw several times on Amistad. My partner and I were drooling over it every time we saw it!

I use to see Ken run that Allison around Fork Back in the 90's. That Merc Drag motor or whatever it was called would scream and throw a rooster tail for half a mile. He took the cowling off the motor for some of us there at Oakridge to look at after loading up. I got drool all over it. That was one neat set-up. Ken, what was your top speed in that thing?

I love the looks of those but my wife would never go for small of a rear deck.

Wouldn't that boat be hard to maneuver around places like fork? You sit so low in it. I like to sit up so I can avoid stumps easier while idling.

Ken, after driving that Allison at 115 mph, what does it feel like to slow down to around 75 mph in a Legend. I on the other hand, am trying to speed up to 75 mph so I don't know what 75 mph feels like yet.At 115mph. I would suspect that all tackle not nailed down would no longer be in your boat along with any passengers that that you didn't like.

i'll put the other seat in mine and take ya for a ride.

I owned a XB2003 for about 4 years. Had a 260hp Merc EFI and would fly!. I agree with everything Ken A. said and have one other thing to add. My boat did not have the Tournement Hull which was thicker and added extra weight to the hull. The problem with this was fishing in Texas there are a bunch of stumps in most lakes and with the thinner hull it was not a good thing. After knocking 3 holes in the bottom of the boat on 3 different occasions, one of which while only under the trolling motor power and getting stuck on a stump at Fork, I decided to get rid of it. My boat insurance was going to be cancelled due to 3 claims. If you can avoid fishing in the stumps then a Allison is a awsome boat. I am not sure if the new XB21 has a thicker hull or not. I would love to have another one someday even after all the
fiberglass work I had done, I just would be very careful with it. For now I will happy with my ole stump jumper.

There is no "perfect" bass boat. If there is one, please let us know so we can call all other boats pretenders.

I would like an Allison when the key is turned to the run position. When its in the off position I'd like a Ranger.

My boat has been on stumps since I've owned it. A few gel coat problems on the back edge from rocks but other than that its tough.
I saw an Allison boat with a 7 foot gash in the bottom once. It had come to rest on the top of an oyster reef in Virginia. The motor had sheared the lower unit off. The steel transom was not damaged. The gash and gel coat damage still did not let any water in the boat. The bottom of an Allison has a poly core sandwiched between different composites. Very sturdy and light.

Well, I like a few others here have an XB2003, not the XB21 Bassport Pro pictured in the OP.

What's wrong with them? Everyone stops you and wants to know how fast does it run. No one ever asked me that in the two years I owned the Ranger R77.

Allison's are neat boats but they are a far cry from being the perfect bass boat, if they were so great all the pros would be running them, basically they are a race boat with a trolling motor mounted on the bow. I wish I had a bunch of money so I could own one of them along with a regular bass boat, dream on.

I have a ss motor on mine, i had a guy at the dock tell me i needed to get one of those big mercuries instead of the little one i had on mine when i was undoing the trailer straps lol

The pros run a certain boat because the boat manufacturer pays him to run a certain boat. KVD would fish from a Bayliner if Bayliner paid him more than Nitro. Allison is a specialty boat manufacturer much like Bullet, Stroker, or Sterling. You do not see pros in those boat either. That is because they do not have the budget to make a superior quality boat and also pay pros a lot of money to fish out of their boats.

You did get one thing correct. There are no perfect bassboats. I have owned them all, and they all had shortcomings. There were things I did not like about all of them, but there were also redeeming factors in all of them. Different strokes for different folks.

I love those SS Mercs. They are becoming like dinosaurs. I had the Drag SS on my Ally 2002. Is yours the Drag motor or 280?

I would like to add to that Ben. Darris Allison and Bill Hill (Bullet) could not care less about sponsoring bass tournaments. They are specialty boat manufacturers and sell all they can build every year, which is about 150-200 boats. Compared to Triton's 5,000 a year, it is a drop in the bucket.

As you may recall Roger, I owned three Tritons and they were all good boats. But comparing a Triton with an Allison is like comparing a Camaro to a Lambo. And you're right about the best of both worlds. If I could own both it would be cool.

I know.. The way an Ally handles and accelerates with a 2.5 high rpm mota is SICK!! You just half to experience it to understand.

If they just "fished" like a Ranger they would be the "perfect" boat. LOL

I have been in a Bullet once, was pretty impressed, never been in an Ally, would love to drive one, after about 85 I would probably have to get out of it, my slow Triton has only been 79, maybe my new one will crack 80.

I know.. The way an Ally handles and accelerates with a 2.5 high rpm mota is SICK!! You just half to experience it to understand.

If they just "fished" like a Ranger they would be the "perfect" boat. LOL