Originally Posted by
KneeDeepChowder
For your budget and purposes I’d be looking at a 19 - 21’ fiberglass boat with a windshield and a small cuddy. Arima, Trophy, Striper, Glasply, Whaler, Gradywhite, etc. You should be able find something that’s a 90s or early 00s hull with a newer 4 stroke outboard (or maybe a fresh rebuild inboard but you’ll want to really understand what you’re getting in to with one of those, especially if run in the salt…)
Aluminum boats are more expensive, and a lot of them are very flat bottomed/flat water oriented.
Plus they are lighter weight relative to a fiberglass boat. My buddy has an 18’ Thunderjet that rides like absolute dog shit in chop, whereas my old 17’ Arima rides significantly better.
If you go aluminum, go all welded, not rivet construction. And really research the hull and make sure you’re getting a deeper v hull, not a river/lake design.
Another thing to watch out for on smaller aluminum boats - they typically have floatation foam (legally required) that can get waterlogged and start causing all kinds of corrosion issues.