My nephew is having a fit to get out on the water near where he lives.  He's not wanting a high end boat at this point since he is only 16 yrs. old, and can't really afford payments and insurance right now.  

To make a long story short he is contemplating buying the pontoon style trolling boat from Bass Pro Shops, so that he can get out on some 50 acre ponds, and strip pits around his place.  I wouldn't know the first thing about these boats since I have never even looked at one, but I was hoping maybe some of you have.   I was trying to talk him out of the 14 ft. Jon boats since he needs to trailer them, and the one he was looking at costs around $800 plus another $600 or more for a trailer.  With these little Pontoon style boats he can throw them in the back of his truck, and go on his way.  

Just in case some of you aren't familiar with them I will post a link at the bottom of the page.   Opinions?

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_30339_200004001_200000000_200004000_200-4-1

Again, the places he will fish will be calm / no wake ponds and small lakes.    

Those little boats are fine but I don't see any thing wrong with a 14' aluminum, it can fit in the back of a pickup, can up grade to an outboard with a trailer late.

I would rather have the 14 john too.  They are more stable, have lots more room for gear and moving around in, and they hold their value better.  Aluminum never rots.

I just looked at craigslist.com for Louisville and am now aware of how spoiled I am here in FL.  You have about 5 boats list a day in your area.  I have 50 lists a day in mine.  It makes it easier for me to find a good deal.

Here is a link to a boat on craigslist.com for $550.  The motor doesn't work, but it's 15ft with trolling motor, trailer, titles.  This add is only a few days old.  It might still be available.

http://louisville.craigslist.org/boa/364787504.html

We have a lot of 'free advertised' deals around here too.  I ran across a lady the other day who had 3 ski boats for $75 each without motors, and one inboard that looked really rough without a lower unit.  When I went to look at them all of the trailer tires were rotten, the trailers didn't have a speck of paint on them from all the rust, but the boats would float.  The only downside is that I would have to spend $400 on upholstery, $300 on carpet, and another $4000 to $6000 on a new outboard, or a complete overhaul on the inboard which would be roughly $2500.  I suspect he could get one of the boats I am talking about and put a 100 lb. thrust trolling motor on it, and have a fixer upper for later.    Now that I think about it one of the ski boats was a 16 footer.    I just got a new perspective on the whole idea.    

a friend and i fish out of a bass buster and its great. its super stable and fits all of our gear perfectly. we just lift it out of his truck and drop it anywere any time. i wouldnt buy one new though. he got his with a trolling motor for 300 used. just look around. i really recomend one as a first boat

If you look around you can find a deal on a bigger boat. I have a boat I'm trying to sell right now for $650. Its a 14 foot starcraft v-bottom with a 4.5 horse evinrude and a 40lb thrust minn kota complete with trailer. Both motors are good, put the trailer tires on last year, upgraded it to bunk boards back in the spring.

I am making a few assumptions about the $75 boats.  Those $75 boats sound like a big headache to me.  The price + the rust on the trailer (to the point of no paint remaining) shows complete lack of maintenance and it has most likely been sitting outside uncovered and I wouldn't be surprised if it collected water inside the hull from rain.  Every piece of wood in the boat would be suspect for rot.  This boat will never be brought back up to a respectable sales value.  Any money you use to repair or upgrade one of those boats will be lost when you get rid of the boat.  

The trailer sounds like it would need $400 just to make road worthy or replacement with a better trailer.

If you were able to buy this boat, make it safe, and get it to the lake for $600 it might be an ok deal and you might get your money back.  That $600 doesn't include a trolling motor batteries or motor.  You will probably want to take those things with you when you are done because they will hold there value better.

It will be less work and similar money to get a john, plastic pond prowler type, or what kybass just said..

PS.  a 100# trolling motor is a big expensive one.  From the way you are approaching this I think you will probably want something closer to 45#.  No offence intended these are just my frugal and lazy thoughts of how I approached boat buying.

I will tell you what I can, which should be a good amount, as I am 14, bought my own boat, and have participated in a few boat restorations.  

To start.  Lets knock restoration out of the question.  A 100 dollar fixer upper will just about equal, and often surpass the price of an equivalent used boat.  People restore boats for the fun of doing it, and your situation doesn't seem like you would want that kind of thing.  Stay away from that.

Second, I wouldn't go with the bass hunter thingy.  Get an aluminum.  

I personally have a 1997 12 foot Grumman Vee, with 1988 Evinrude 4 deluxe (which is identical to the 4.5 listed previously - in the mid eighties, the ratings were changed - ABSOLUTE best motors around.  I know people who have owned 47 outboards, and this was their best)  We bought it for 500 bucks, and that included a shorelander jon boat trailer that was made for a 16 foot jon.  The pricing gets goofy here, as we swapped trailers as we had a 12 foot jon trailer already, and sold this trailer with our old jon.  But, in the end, the boat, motor,trailer,and much of the wiring was 600 bucks.  Then, I spent another 80 on a used Eagle fishmark 320.  And another 325 for a lightly used MK 50 pound powerdrive.  This is where I spent extra, as I wanted the same motor to be used on the Lund we are restoring as well.  A cheaper 30 pound woulda dun just fine on this boat.  Bow mount used 30 pound motors can be found for less than 100 bucks.  I then spent another 75 on an interstate Group 27 deep cycle battery.  (I get them cheaper than retail, as dads shop sells them.  He orders whatever we want at factory price)  Add in another 100 for other stuff I have added, I am still under 1200 bucks.  And, I splurged on a lot of this stuff.  Good 12 - 14 jons with good motors and trailers can be found cheap if you spend enough time and ask around.  Ours came from a widow who was selling off her husbands stuff and didn't know market value.  Ugly don't matter.  Still catches fish.  Start with just a jon and TM, and add stuff as you get the funds.  I spent the first 600 that I had been saving for 4 years, in January and starting using the boat/motor/trailer.  Then, I got a good job opportunity in the spring (spread a few hundred bales of pinestraw) and worked my butt off for a few weeks and got the money for the TM and fishfinder, and a few smaller doodads.  As I get the money, I have future plans for it, but it has been a functional boat ever since we first got it.  

Sorry for being long winded.  But, I would recommend going aluminum, and starting simple, and working your way up.  You can still do just fine and stay under 1000 bucks, if you only buy used, and wait for a good deal.  Even your bass hunter boat will cost you close to that as the boat you were pointing at is 700 bucks, and a 30 pound TM and battery will be about 150, fishfinder will be 100, and you will need other accessories.  Getting one used will be cheaper, maybe 500 bucks once you get most accessories that he will want.  And, you can only expand one of those so much, before being stuck.  A jon or vee gives SO MUCH more expansion room.  

Take it from someone who has a lot of experience in this.  Wait it out to afford what he really wants, as opposed to getting something that is not great, but all one can afford now.  Go with the jon.

BTW, when that plastic boat leaks, (and it will), you are in for a headache.

surfer - I hate it when I see what people have done to some of the classic alumicrafts.  Being a 1959 15 footer, I would guess that it was a covered bow type (my favorite runabout) Seeing as they put in a casting deck, they probably removed the bow cover, and I absolutely hate that.  It just ruins the boat for good, and there are less and less each day.  I just hate to see people trash boats like that, cause there are plenty of boat hulls that can be fishing boats just fine, but people have to trash great classics.  

If he is a stout lad the boat in the back of truck would work alright. I started with a 14 ft John boat in the back of my truck and it was strenuous at best. A 4wd truck would be ideal for that situation if he would be alone. Without the extra pulling wheels a person could end up in the lake with a truck. Its been my salvation a time or two. A trailer will put easy into getting it in the water and it can be transported "ready to fish". If he gets the love for fishing as I have his residence will be on the water. I almost get my mail there. ;D

If you look around you can find a deal on a bigger boat. I have a boat I'm trying to sell right now for $650. Its a 14 foot starcraft v-bottom with a 4.5 horse evinrude and a 40lb thrust minn kota complete with trailer. Both motors are good, put the trailer tires on last year, upgraded it to bunk boards back in the spring.

And you can turn that to this!

It's the exact same boat.....