New Boat Suggestions?

[Scott V]

Based off that one email I would now never buy a Tracker. I've been looking at boats in this price/functional range and this one is now eliminated. Sorry about your trouble but we appreciate the heads up. I'll take my shot at a Lowe's I think.

Koffler

Just do not get a Lowe that has a riveted hull, I had mine fixed twice and then they gave me a new boat all together. I do not think they make riveted hulls any more, so if you go new you are good, but if you go used be aware. And it was not a single occurence, they had the problem with a good number of the boats, hence why they gave up and gave me a new boat.

Great customer service, but riveted is bad, welded good.

Boy do I miss my boat.

[Flys4b8]

I'm sorry Brian...we were so busy and didn't get off the water till well after dark. Then to the store for groceries for the weekend....and after rockin' all night in the wind w/little sleep, we didn't get over your way Sat AM till after you guys had packed it in and headed South I figured Dave would be at the Rusty Scupper sippin' Irish Coffee's!!

Plan on head over there in the next few weeks...some chrome searching in between, but the holidays promise some extended time searching for Stripes...hope we can hook up.

[Hairstacker]

Dabalone, sorry to hear about your experiences but really appreciate you sharing it here -- a real heads-up for those of us who may have been contemplating those boats.

Did you every send a letter to Corporate Headquarters? Not suggesting it would have necessarily changed anything but at least they'd know about it. The only other thing I can think of is to post your experience on any prominent boating sites known to be visited by Tracker, although I don't personally know of any. In any event, it's hard to imagine how they would consider this a reasonable business approach if they expect to attract new customers; after all, you would expect word to get around, as it's doing here . . . .

[Mr T]

In that size range you should consider a used whaler. I went round and round with the same situation for a numbers of years, and after 8 boats, finally got the whaler.

I can fish the bay, go outside the gate on a good day, fish flats, the delta, lakes, and rivers. It fishes two people easily, three in a pinch and the front deck is ready to go for casting.

She won't sink- she'll flip if you are a nut, but I cannot imagine my body being able to take that kind of a beating before it gets to that point.

It tows with my old 1992 jeep cherokee and gets 18 mpg doing it, loads easily with one person and hold enough gear to do whatever I want for the day.

A good thing about the whaler as well is the fact that an older one is not always a horror story like some boats after 10-12 years. Mine is a 1969 hull, and is still on the original gel coat, I had to do some wood work to make the console, but it was a fun project. For a 40 year old boat, I would be hard pressed to find another boat maker building that kind of quality

Deals are abundant right now in this economy I got mine with a kicker motor, downriggers, and a new trailer for 4500 dollars a couple years ago.