Bigs

Ya I agree the motor could be an area of concern too but I'm worried about the transom more for the haul home. The motor I was just gonna do a compression test before the test drive. I read about a guy that bought a 99 blazer off of ebay and on the tow home the transom started to break. I dont want my motor to end up on the side of the road or anything like that. I will take your advice tho and carefully think this one thru.

But will I be able to see if the wood is rotted at all ? I thought the wood was sandwiched inside the fiberglass? I dont know much about older boats since I havent been around many. And if it has been cared for then how long is the lifespan of the transom ?

So Im thinkin bout buying a 1998 Blazer 202 Pro V but Im worried bout the transom since it has wood. The owner passed away and his son is selling it. He doesnt know much about the boat other then what he can see upon visual inspection. But since he's not a boat guy , it's hard for him to tell me much with confidence. I have many pictures of the boat but its 300 miles away. The price is hard to pass up at 7 grand but I'm worried about all the unknowns. He says the gelcoat and hull are in excellent shape and the pics illustrate that. Its as clean of a 1998 boat for that kinda money I have found. Looks can be decieving tho and I dont wanna make a 7 thousand dollar mistake. Does anyone have experience with these boats or wood in general. I do know the boat was never stored in the water, it was kept in a 3 sided carport and he was the original owner. I also know the owner was a gearhead who had a custom chopper and truck which he spent alot of time customizing and caring for. Sounds like the boat might be perfect but how will I be able to tell when and if I go to see it this weekend ? Also he doesnt know when and how it was maintaned in terms of waterpumps, etc.. So what should I do ? Should I just forget about ? Are blazer bass boats made before the year 2000 known for transom problems ? I know they didnt go all composite till 2000 and the 2000+ models are more desirable according to what I read on the blazer owners forum. Help!

Sorry , I should have been more specific. All I really wanted to know is what marinas have a good selection. I just talked to two more ppl selling and both boats have stress cracks around the transom. I just cant seem to find a quality boat for a good price that doesnt have some kinda issue or story behind it. And I want something heavy, narrow, stable and long. Thats why Im thinkin ranger, bass cat or skeeter. Triton or stratos would be next choices. Think Im gonna go check out a skeeter 202C , does anyone know anything bout those ?

so u show me links for 3 cheap old boats and what ? I dont want a piece of junk. I have searched every listing you can think of on there within 400 miles of my house. In fact I buy and sell stuff all the time on ebay and craigslist whether it be campers, trailers, landscape equipment, musical instruments,collector items, the list goes on. I know theres tons of boats on craigslist but right now theres no decent 20 foot bass boats at all anywhere between raleigh and NYC that Im aware of.Most are aluminum , or they are old or they are 17 feet long. Then theres a ton that have stories like repair work or whatever. I have spoken to probably a dozen ppl selling bass boats in the last 2 weeks and alot have stress cracks, previous repairs, havent been maintained proper , look worn out or dated, ugly paint scheme, under sized motor, or are just flat out over priced. I know what Im lookin for which is along the lines of a late 90's or later 20+ foot boat made by either bass cat,ranger, skeeter, stratos or triton with a 200hp motor. Altho all tritons only have 2 seats and I fish 3 ppl in my boat sometimes. I want a boat that handles rough water AND has a stable fishing platform. The best choices for that seems to be ranger, skeeter, bass cat or triton. I have been to that repo lot already next to green top, checked there a few weeks ago and first off they are a complete and total ripoff and second they usually only stock center consoles and yachts. They never ever have bass boats as bass boats are almost never repossesed from what I have seen. I have looked at pops marines inventory and they have nothing that even comes close to interesting me and neither does anglers choice. Im either gonna buy a boat for 10 grand outright or put 10 grand down and buy a 15-18k dollar used boat. If only I could find a marina that had fair prices and the right kinda boats, no such luck.

man Im on craigslist trolling 3-4 times a day looking.Both the boats I own now I bought off of craigslist actually. There isnt one decent deal in va or md right now unless its on a small boat or older boat. There was tons of deals before tournament season but now they are few and far between.

They have nice stuff but wow are they over priced!!! Selling 9 thousand dollar boats for 13 grand geesh. I guess most dealerships are gonna be that way, same as buying a car. If they would gimme alot on trade for my tracker I would drive down there but somehow I doubt they will gimme anything even close to a fair trade value.

I already have outgrown my tracker pro guide v16 and I wanna get a bass boat. I should have bought one to begin with but whats done is done. I cant seem to find one single place other then pops marine that sells used fiberglass bass boats. And pops is closed on the weekend, total BS. I found a list of marine/marinas in va and called every single one of them with no luck. Seems like all of them sell ski boats and crusiers. Help!

If you been fishing the potomac all summer and you wanna go somewhere like Burke lake instead then something is wrong here . I fish the river with my roomate 3-4 days a week and we catch as many as 40 bass a day out there in grass beds. Average 2-3 pounds. I wont ever get tired of fishing that river, there are many grass beds that no one even really knows about. Plenty of 4-6 pounders to catch out there too. I had one that was between 8-10 pounds that I lost right in front of the boat after about a 3 minute fight 2 days ago. If you really want something different then go to lake anna and launch on the public side. Theres way better fishing there then any other lakes between DC and central VA. Also consider the James River and Chickahominy lake and river too. Good luck

Aluminum boats in general are not stable imo. I own 2 and have been on others and none are stable and they get blown around in the wind. I just bought my 2004 pro v 16 a month ago and Im already selling it. I hate it. Me and the guys I fish with are all 220 pounds plus and when someone moves I go flying across the deck. Plus when I get in a nice spot and Im fishing, I constanlty have to buzz the trolling motor. I end up goin in circles. I see the guys 200 feet away from me in their 19 foot fiberglass boats and they dont move an inch hardly. An 18 foot isnt gonna be that much more stable then a 16 cuz they are both still extremely light. I personally wouldnt ever waste my money again on an aluminum boat or anything less then 19 feet. Just my 2 cents.

I have heard they ride very rough but I havent been in one. I found a 1998 gambler outlaw for pretty cheap that I thought bout buyin but Im gonna hold out for something with a smoother ride like a champion or basscat. Plus they look very very dated in general. Good luck.

just to update my thread, I bought a 1999 Eddie Bauer Expedition tonight with 92,900 miles . Burgundy on very clean tan leather. Got it for 6400 out the door all fees included. Has the 5.4 liter triton engine, 1 owner local car and the carfax showed the same dealership did every oil change and service to the truck since it was new, no accidents either. So Im happy. Now my question is , how hard is it gonna be to wire in a 4 and 5 prong out back since it only came with that weird lookin round thing on the hitch. Alot of fords I have seen have the 4 prong but not this one, oh well. Im bout to pick up a champion I think and it has 5 prong on the trailer, and my other trailer for my tracker pro guide has a 4 prong.

Ok so a few more votes for the crucial. I need to find a local store that has both the powell and the crucial so I can handle both and see what feels better in my hands. They are the exact same price which makes it tougher for me to decide. Who even sells powell rods in va/md?

I use power pro on my bps woo daves rods. I have 2 of em and one has 15 pound power pro and the other has 50 pound power pro goin thru it and no problems with the guides so far. I'll check from time to time tho out of paranoia I guess. Also keep in mind that even tho braid is expensive, you only need 75-85 yards or so on your reel so you can do 3-4 reels with one 300 yard spool. Plus it lasts alot longer then other types of line and performs much better esp in grass and heavy cover so the value is there.

ok easy on the lexus bashing. I have owned 3 of them over the last few years and they are by far the best vehicles on the road and alot more then glorified toyotas. My gs400 was the fastest production sedan in the world when it came out in 1998 and still hauls like a bat out of hell. I really want a lexus lx450 or 470 or a land cruiser but for the money I could have an 05 expedition with low miles or a tahoe. I looked at a 2005 tahoe today with a bullet hole in the door, fun times lol. I also looked at a 2001 2 wheel drive crew cab f150 with the triton engine for 7500 out the door, best part was it has 70k miles and looks almost new. Bad part is it has a rejection sticker on the windshield and needs 4 new tires to pass. Also stinks like smoke inside and I am not a smoker. Tires cost a fortune , not to mention I dont buy cars unless they have current inspection. Plus I dont want the 5.4 engine, I want the good ole 4.6. But it is the best deal in my area I can find , or at least the best deal that doesnt seem shadey. I also found some nice expeditions and tahoes with high miles for under 5 grand but I rather not take any chances. Esp when dealing with domestic cars which are not reliable after 100k miles. I have ruled out mitsubishis, dodge, 4runners, and anything with over 80k miles. Pickins are slim for what I want, at least in my price range. I'll keep lookin till the right one comes along. Thanks for all the feedback.

nah we were fishing a grassbed out in fort washington. Launched out of leesylvania and took the boat up river about 30 minute ride. Was my first time goin up river and wow the fishing up there was amazing. But even where u are its still great and u catch em on the same kinda stuff more or less. We stayed in the same area for 5 hours or so and never left that spot, it paid off. You should get up river some and get a taste for yourself. Dark color senkos with black, blue, smoke and red were what we caught most of em on. Light colors werent workin at all.

went out yesterday and caught 14 bass on nothing but 5 inch senkos texas rigged. My buddy caught 15 and my "female friend" caught about 7 or 8. We also lost about 10 between the 3 of us due to bad hooksets and/or bad luck :-[ We had a few between 3-4 pounds and most of the rest were around 1-2 pounds. So ya , them bass are slammin senkos right now. I wouldnt bother with 4 inch tho, they dont have the same kinda action under the water as a 5 inch plus you can use a bigger hook with the 5 inch and 5 inch are heavier which means they penetrate the grass better and cast further. Good luck

Anyone else before I make a purchase? Not alot of feedback so far.

Oh and I just scored a used Quantum tour edition 7'6 heavy flippin stick for 48 dollars on ebay. Figured it would work for now till I make up my mind on what I want. Plus I need 2-3 flippin/frog rods anyways.

well I could care less about the extra 6 inches when it comes time to transport my gear. My gs400 takes my 7 foot rods anywhere I wanna go fine with more then 6 inches of headroom to spare, plus soon I will have an SUV to put my rods in when Im towing my boat far. Right now I live 3 miles from Lessylvania Park so so I'm out the door at 5:45 and on the water by 6 am 8-) Whenever I go there I put my rods in the boat for the 3 mile trek and no prob of course. The powell is very tempting right now. Have u used the crucial or anything else with a split handle to compare it to ?

I fish heavy heavy cover and grass on the tidal potomac. And my current 7 foot rod isnt enough and I want a seven and a half. Its just a shimano teramar inshore series heavy rod. But what Im wondering is if I should get something with a split handle such as the shimano crucial heavy flippin, dobyns champ, phenix flip rod, powell 766h or wait for the new g loomis frog rod to come out next month ? People who have handled it say its lighter then the last ones they made and more balanced. And whats the advantage to having a telescoping butt end ? I kinda wanna split grip just for the weight factor. I want my rod to be as light as possible, shortest handle possible which the crucial seems to have(my current rod always bumps my hip or gut when popping frogs), soft tip for launching frogs a mile, and a backbone to pull 7 pounders out of 10 pounds of grass and hoist em right onto the boat. My hooksets wont be anything too crazy btw. My budget is $250 or less. The crucial for 169 shipped on ebay seems like a good option. My crucial drop rod is my favorite even over my st croix avid. Plus shimano has the best warranty on rods. What would be the disadvantage to having a split handle if any ? Btw Im using a daiwa fuego and a 7.3:1 zillion for my 2 frog setups. Power pro 50 pound braided One reel for horny toads and such and one for popper frogs, etc.. And should I consider switchin to a heavier setup like this for my buzzbaits too or is my 7 foot st croix avid medium heavy enough for buzzbaits over heavy grass beds ? And finally would the same rod and reel setup for frogs and buzzbaits also work perfect for punching one and a half weights thru grass ? Thanks in advance.

Im havin luck with senkos and buzzbaits early. Im headed out tommorow at 5:45 and throwing nothing but frogs and senkos. Good luck.

Obviously I'm using braid for frogs but for buzzbaits, senkos, punching mats, etc... As of now I have floro and braid for my senkos, braid for frogs and mono for my buzzbaits. These are the three main things I been throwing since I just started fishing out there. What brand and lb test is everyone who's having success using and plz be specific for each application. Right now my current setup is 4 baitcasters, all daiwa: Sol(braid), Fuego(braid), Zillion crazy cranker(floro) 4.9:1 , zillion 7.3:1(braid) , 2 tierra spinning 3000's(mono) and a Daiwa TD pro 3000 (braid) also. Using fairly heavy rods(m-mh-h) all the way around with the exception of my crucial drop shot rod that I throw senkos in the grass with sometimes. I had been using 10 pound braid on that senko setup and wondering if the visibility of it is spookin fish. So now Im gonna start throwing senkos with my crankbait reel since it has 15 pound floro on it already. Would floro be the norm for throwing weightless plastics in grass ?

The main guy I fish with swears by this lake. And usually he's right when he says a place is holding big fish. I'm gonna go check it out sooner or later, been way too busy fishing grass beds on the potomac in my boat lately to even think of goin anywhere else.

Heck no buddy. You can get a brand new in the box daiwa sol or fuego for around $145-155 shipped. Tons of no reserve auctions for these all the time. These are $250 reels we're talkin bout. The sol is all aluminum, not just the frame and the fuego is magnesium!! A new fuego just went for $147 on there, I was at the lake and got home about a half hour late and someone beat my bid by 3 bux to win it > These are even nicer then the curados that sell for 200 bux and blow away the citica for just 30 bux more! My buddy has nothing but curados and I have thrown them, they dont even compare to the sol or the fuego, it's not even fair to compare them infact. If you feel like waiting a week for an auction to complete then be patient and get a pro level reel for cheap. But whatever you do don't waste a dime at any store like dicks or bass pro, they sell everything for retail or right under retail. Been there done that. Just my 2 cents, good luck.