Small fishing boat for when the toon is too much to take out

[realter]

Can somebody give me some good suggestions for a small fishing boat and recommendations for aluminum vs glass and a good brand. Motor suggestions?? Trailer suggestions?? Jon vs v haul?? I've heard roller trailers are great, but sometimes dent the botom of a boat, any truth in this? It takes all three of us to launch the 22' toon when the winds blowing, and I would like to go out by myself sometimes in a smaller boat. Thanks.

[HandymanHerb]

Your only 2 feet longer than me and I have rollers and launch by myself most times, I just tie the toons line to the trailer and back in a little deep with a little speed and it floats off and I pull forward till you ground the toon, oh your line needs to be longer than the trailer, then I get out and tie the toon up and park the truck.

But yea in a wind it can be fun

[myadvice]

No suggestions, just wanted to offer that I am in the same situation. I have a 20’ Pontoon boat (88hp) that I tow to the river and I would not attempt to launch it without another person. Actually launching isn’t bad, retrieving is the problem. Even with guides, it is just too hard to get the boat lined up to get it back on the trailer from the ramp where I usually launch.

If I was to buy a second boat, it would probably be something like a small runabout with a 10-20HP engine that I could use alone and also use to fish on some HP restricted lakes in the area. Also it’s probably overkill on a small boat, but I got spoiled and really like dual-axel trailers over single axels. I just think they are much safer.

Also, if you are considering buying used, check out Craigslist for your area. At least in my area, there are usually plenty small jon boats with motors and trailers that people are willing to get rid of for less than $1000.

[mcconnell63]

I have an 18' toon and retrieving it is the big problem since it's hard for me to walk around and my wife and I use the toon most of the time by ourselves. I also have a 17' glassmaster tri hull and I'm thinking about cleaning it up take the 65 merc off and put a 25 on for getting around the lake. It's a heaver boat then a jon but it rides good and I won't have to sit down all the time like in a jon boat.

[exospex]

Ive had my eye on a Lowe Roughneck for a couple years. What a great boat. Here is the model I want. http://www.loweboats.com/Page.aspx/page ... 56VTC.aspx

I love my Yamaha 4s, I would buy another in a heartbeat. In fact I was up at the north end of Oneida lake at a marina up there. He said he just finished tesing a 90HP tiller model on the Lowe 20'. He said it was absolutly insane. He said he had to be doing 55mph in a tiller john boat. He said when you let up on the throttle too fast it would pitch you into the front of the boat if you werent expecting it. None for me thanks

[Texoma Toon]

I picked up a 96 17 foot Tracker with a 40hp for the same reason you want one. I had to sell my 19ft bass boat with the 200 on it when we bought the Toon but the tracker does fine and catches just as many fish as the old big HP bass boat did. You can pick up a good used one for under 2000 if you look around.
Good Luck!
Bob

[neuwirth]

Probably not necessary to mention, but just to be safe - be careful where you take a small jon type boat. You wouldn't believe how many people I've seen out on our lake in them. This lake is 40K acres, and gets pretty rough. It's no place for a jon boat. But they do it anyway.