CALLING ALL ALUMINUM BOATERS!!!

How do these fish in open, deep water when you're deep cranking or fishing brush piles and you've got white caps out on the water? Is it so noticeable compared to the same size glass boats (18-19 ft) or are they getting just as rolled? I wanna know if you can fish comfortably, relatively speaking, in deep water in 20 mph winds on our lakes in DFW. This will ultimately help me decide on either aluminum or glass. Thanks boys!

I fish a relatively heavy 17' alum....fully decked.... it's light....a 20 mph wind is practically unfishable.

An aluminum boat (I fish from a 16' Duracraft) is best suited for small lakes or river lakes. You shouldn't have to ask if they do as well as a glass boat. But still I like mine. I can launch anywhere, I can make many trips w/o refilling my 6 gallon gas tank. It's much more economical to tow. I can fish skinny water. When I'm caught in white caps I just slow way down .... takes a lot longer to get anywhere but it's dry and safe ... but not fast! So, wasn't it Dirty Harry who said you've got to know your limitations.

I hated my Xpress!!!

Constantly on the trolling motor in the slightest wind

Get an Ultrex. It solves the aluminum in wind issue

I've owned a Bass tracker pro team 175 I'm now fishing a Nitro been in lots of boats If you are interested in aluminum boats look at the gator trax.

Definitely getting an Ultrex. I figured that would hold my position but I'm just concerned about getting rolled all day in moderate winds.

If your wanting to primarily fish deep then a fiberglass is going to handle that better. I love my Tracker but I know it's limitations. Windy days I stay home or I flip bushes in wind protected creeks and coves.

I have a RT188 with a MK Terrova 80 with spotloc,..good til about 15mph, small white caps are ok,

I have a Lowe 175 FM.... excellent boat with a 80 lb MG Xi5. It will hold but trying to fish in a 20 mph wind is tough. I mean tough. The worst part is trying to cut those white caps going from one spot to another. I fished with Jerry Hancock, Mark and myself trying to do some crappie fishing. We caught fish at every location but the ride between those locations was a soaking. 20 mph wind is going to soak you. My boat is 8' wide and 22" deep to the floor so it was very stable and we were never had any fear of the whitecaps but the wind with those waves will keep you nice and wet. Aluminum hull boats don't have hulls designed to throw the water out, so it throws it up. I still would not go back to a fiberglass hull, just love my Lowe.

I too have an RT188 and like most aspects of it. But it's not for 20 mph winds in open water, regardless of the TM. Above 15, I look for coves. But aluminum is so much more economical that I'm willing to make adjustments.

Cool. Guess you've never looked at reviews for anything. I mean, what kind of dip would do that? I'll edit out the part where I said I'll buy what ya'll think is good.

...Can't find it anywhere.

Thanks for your input though!

I say if you can't say something positive why don't you just move on to the next thread? Why is it necessary to make yourself look like a douche bag with your ugly comments?

Aggie...nuff said

+1; I have a 16 ft. Bass Tracker. Wind is not my friend. But I'm a 70 year old Aggie, retired, and I can pick my days.

I'll never neglect those resident fish but I would like to become a better deep water angler which is primarily just a summer/winter pattern. I wouldn't say I would "primarily" fish deep but during those seasons I would certainly like to target them while they are deep. Spring is typically the windy season and we're all usually fishing shallow, summer usually has few windy days, and winter can be a little windy at times so I reckon the majority of the time that I am fishing deep it should be relatively manageable with some exceptions.

Have a 16ft. XPRESS and ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT with my Minn Kota Ultrex.

Yep ^^^^^^^ Ultrex is The Game Changer

Windy days and open water can prove challenging in any boat, but the shallow draft and light weight of an aluminium can make it more challenging. I don't have the newer trolling motors with an anchor mode, but I can see the advantage in having one in the conditions you mention. I have fished both aluminium and fiberglass. They each have their own destinct advantages. If you are going with aluminium then go wide as wide as you can get, try and add some weight as well. Stability helps allot when you are riding waves, weight helps center the boat. Be careful out there!!

I own a 2016 Lund 1875 Pro-V Bass! Its outstanding!

I don't fish my 17' fiberglass in open water with heavy wind unless I'm really on them. An aluminum boat would be even worse.

Boats are like beers..
Every type and style has a place but you have to know what that place is.

The 188 is 18'8". Quite a bit longer and heavier than a 17'.

I don't fish when the wind is that high in my 175 Tracker but I didn't fish that wind in my Allison either.......

aluminum boats are for folks want a bass boat but don't want to spend glass boat money. if there was an invention of an aluminum boat that fished an rode like a glass boat the glass boat folks that build glass boats would go out of business because it takes a lot less money to make a aluminum boat. in the real world not ads or net garble aluminum boats don't ride as good an when you are sitting fishing don't do that as good an their livewell systems are not up to par with glass boats until the aluminum boats maker these needs of fishermen there will be two kinds of boats boats that fish good that cost a lot of money an folks that buy aluminum boats an hope when they go fishing the wind doesn't blow very hard.

I'm not sure it makes a whole lot of difference with anything under 17' but after that glass is hands down the way to go, if you can. I cannot so I'm looking at the Tracker 195 Tourney but the Nitro 17 is comparable. Tough call

Glass boat companies stay in business because of your flawed theory and clouded judgment. I could of bought any boat out there but bought an aluminum Lund for its excellent ride and its multi species uses. All that said... you are right about the wind pushing it around on really windy days. The trade off is if you are out on big water and the waves are forcing you back to the shore... im still fishing and staying pretty dry. Yes, i do get dirty looks from some of the bass boat folks for running a "Yankee" boat (their words not mine) but I'm glad i made what i believe to be the right decision and would do the same thing again.

hate to admit this but I've got an 18 1/2 ft ranger and a 16 ft aluminum Xpress boat and I have more fun in my aluminum boat than I do the glass boat....but....I rarely fish tournaments anymore and use my aluminum boat for duck hunting and river travels/shallow water fishing...
several years ago,I traveled from Minneapolis,Mn. to Albany,Ga. in 16ft Xpress/25 hp Yamaha boat which included traveling the length of lake pepin and kentucky lake then crossing Mobile,pensacola,ft Walton and panama city bays...I do not want to travel down those lakes or cross those bays again in a flat bottom aluminum boat....

I just bought a rt 188 no complaints. Just wasn't willing to spend a small fortune on a bass boat.
Just get what you can afford go fishing fishdont care.
J D

I fished over a decade out of an Xpress X 19. A lot of the fishing was done on Lake Conroe and Lake Livingston. I enjoy fishing offshore more than shallow. The X19 fished offshore rough water in Conroe very good. The nose stayed down and kept the trolling motor in the water more than my partners glass boat did. The boat handled the rough water good while driving but I would get a little wet at times. I did have to stay on the trolling motor more than most glass boats but it was not that bad. The 19 foot Xpress has a hull weight of about 1500 lbs. that is not a light boat. It is heavier than many similar sized glass boats. I only had a few problems with owning an Xpress. One was it came with the worst costumer service I have ever seen with a boat company. The other is that aluminum does flex. As it flexes more and more over time it becomes weak. The type of weld that Xpress uses on its keel is basically a butt weld with no cap over it. My Xpress eventually cracked right down the middle on the keel about 8 feet long.

So my advice - if you are planning to run hard a lot in rough water then do not go with aluminum. If not, then the aluminum Bass boats could be exactly what you need. If you can handle repairs when needed without the boat manufacturers help then an Xpress is a good aluminum boat overall. I would also look at the Ranger and a few other quality aluminum boat manufacturers. I loved my Xpress until it cracked.

I can't comment on Xpress customer service because I've never had to use it.....my 2001 16 ft Xpress has survived 16 duck seasons on the Ark/Moss rivers.....2107 mile trip on the Mississippi,Ohio,Tenn,Tombigbee,intra coastal waterway,Apalachicola and Flint rivers,786 miles down the Missouri river.......had one tiny little crack at base of transom and welding shop charged me $25.00 to fix...
I don't know how you can use and abuse a boat more than all that....put another way,if I bought another aluminum boat,it would be an Xpress...

I fish Whitney all the time for sand bass. i am normally off shore on humps and channels with my terrova spot locked. I drive a Deep V G3 175. It is 8 ft wide, with deep sides, and is heavy compared to the mod v aluminums. Especially with 20 gallons of gas in the tank that runs down the centerline of the boat. It stays still in high wind enough to stay on a school of sandies or stripers. I have run texoma, whitney, and tawakoni in winds over 25 and it handled it fine, especially if you quartered the waves when moving around. Now that being said, it only runs about 30 mph instead of 60+ like the glass bass boats. The deep v aluminum boats are used all over the Great Lakes as Walleye boats. Now, before this boat I had a tracker 165 mod v and it was very rough when the wind was up and pretty much unfishable in the high waves.

What did you do with the cracked Xpress? Couldn't the crack be welded back up and painted? Would seem to be a much easier/cheaper fix than a glass boat that gets a big gouge down the middle running over a piece of rebar.