I recently got back into fishing and have been just hitting the ponds around where I live.  I am planning on joining a bass club as a non-boater next year to learn a few things before venturing in buying a boat.  I have settled on that I am going to buy an aluminum boat with no more than 150 HP motor as my first boat.  I am leaning towards a Vexus, most likely the AVX1980.   Are they any other manufacturers I should keep an eye on.  I like the look of the Lund but it will most likely be a touch out of my price range.  

What Lund are you looking at? The Lund Renegade is less expensive than an AVX. 

Lund's are worth the extra cost, but having a dealer you trust close to where you live is as important as the brand of boat.  There are many excellent aluminum boat manufactures, but not so many excellent dealers.

5 minutes ago, king fisher said:

Lund's are worth the extra cost, but having a dealer you trust close to where you live is as important as the brand of boat.  There are many excellent aluminum boat manufactures, but not so many excellent dealers.

I agree, the proximity of the dealer and their service should play an important role. Hauling a new boat 2 hours away because they have to address an issue is not convenient by any means.

10 minutes ago, king fisher said:

Lund's are worth the extra cost, but having a dealer you trust close to where you live is as important as the brand of boat.  There are many excellent aluminum boat manufactures, but not so many excellent dealers.

 

3 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I agree, the proximity of the dealer and their service should play an important role. Hauling a new boat 2 hours away because they have to address an issue is not convenient by any means.

Yes and yes.

 

Former Lund owner. Crappy warranty experience with the dealer AND with Lund. Overall design/quality of boat...OUTSTANDING!

1 hour ago, 12poundbass said:

What Lund are you looking at? The Lund Renegade is less expensive than an AVX. 

The PRO-V Bass X.  Vexus has a dealer close to me, Lund does not.  

1 hour ago, king fisher said:

Lund's are worth the extra cost, but having a dealer you trust close to where you live is as important as the brand of boat.  There are many excellent aluminum boat manufactures, but not so many excellent dealers.

Are there any that I should stay away from?  I also like the look of Xpress

The Xpress has good lift and a nice ride.  

6 hours ago, mww982 said:

The PRO-V Bass X.  Vexus has a dealer close to me, Lund does not.  

I figured that’s what you were proving out since you said it was more. The Pro-V and the Vexus AVX are two completely different boats. To be fair the Renegade and the AVX are different as well but closer in comparison. X press is probably going to be your closest comparison to the AVX. 

A 3 part review of the AVX1980

 

12 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

I figured that’s what you were proving out since you said it was more. The Pro-V and the Vexus AVX are two completely different boats. To be fair the Renegade and the AVX are different as well but closer in comparison. X press is probably going to be your closest comparison to the AVX. 

If I still lived in Michigan, it would probably be a Lund.  The seem to be more popular in the north than they are down here in Texas.  

A friend of mine has the AVX189, its the non pad hull. This hull was discontinued but new ones can still be found. Its an 18' 7" with a 94" Beam & a 115 hp. Handles chop very smooth & dry.

 

An friend has a AVX1880, it is a pad hull. This is 18' 10" with a 95" beam & a 115 hp Suzuki. The boat corners very well, handled 2 1/2' chop smooth & dry.

 

The AVX1980 should fit you needs.

Gonna get a lot of opinions here, pros and cons, etc. 

 

My $0.02....

• Find a boat you like (layout, length, storage, hull, color, etc.)
• Find a good dealer relatively close
• Get the biggest motor you can afford
• Get the best electronics you can afford
• Do it all up right, the first time ("buy once, cry once...")
• Put the dang thing in the water and fish...no regrets! 

Good luck with your search!

Vexus boats are sharp looking. I don’t see many around here, but I check them out every January at the boat show.

 

Lund, Alumacraft, Crestliner, and Smokercraft are all very popular here. Deep V hulls outnumber bass boats by a fair margin too.

When I've looked at them the below were on my list

 

Crestliner MX (huge deck)

Lund Pro-V

Vexus AVX

Ranger Alpha (new, over your HP limit)

Xpress

40 minutes ago, Functional said:

Crestliner MX (huge deck

Every time I see John Cox on the front deck of his boat, I think of a scaled down aircraft carrier. 😁

2 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

Every time I see John Cox on the front deck of his boat, I think of a scaled down aircraft carrier. 😁

They really are massive. I'm curious how the boat rides though being able to have a deck that large. 

On 8/20/2024 at 6:58 PM, DaubsNU1 said:

Gonna get a lot of opinions here, pros and cons, etc. 

 

My $0.02....

• Find a boat you like (layout, length, storage, hull, color, etc.)
• Find a good dealer relatively close
• Get the biggest motor you can afford
• Get the best electronics you can afford
• Do it all up right, the first time ("buy once, cry once...")
• Put the dang thing in the water and fish...no regrets! 

Good luck with your search!

Great idea if you know what you really want.  Poster mentioned he was new to the game, big expense to make a wrong guess as to what he really needs.  My opinion would be to grab something used, fish for a couple years before making a big jump to an expensive new boat

I'd go with the Vexus. Founded and run by the same leaders that built the legendary Ranger boats (before they were sold to Bass Pro Shops).  They don't skimp on quality and standards.

There's a bunch of good aluminum boats on the market now.  A good friend of mine has a Vexus AVX1980.   It's super nice, and rides/fishes like an aircraft carrier.    Some of the earlier aluminum Vexus boats had problems with the hulls cracking.  Vexus repaired that, and took care of the people who had problems.  The newer ones don't have those problems.  

Friend of mine has an Avid 20XB with a 200 that he really likes.

I’ve got a Polar Kraft, got as a basket case, stripped down to the ribs. I was impressed on how it was built and the welds. 
 Don’t know of you have a dealer near you, might be worth looking into. 

Quite a few people complain about the downgrade in quality of the Lund Pro V Bass on the owners' Facebook page.  Nothing terrible and it's still my boat of choice the next time around but the reports are a little disappointing.