water or hours???????????
 

some you fruits know i'm ramping up my search for a new vessel. may look for something at the end off the season or maybe something into early winter. so here's my question. should I look for something coastal with lower hours or maybe something landlocked that's been in fresh all it's life? I skimmed search tempest in Michigan for boats that have never seen salt. some look ok. so here it is...... fresh water or lower hours??? which is best??

Ive got to ask, have you ever ridden in a Montauk? They are small and don't ride that well. I think they are highly over rated(I've run three different ones this week)They are good boats for a couple of kids but thats about it. My 16 Mckee is the same size, but I have a much smaller console and my layout is better, its still a three person boat at max. and I despise the nut buster high rails on whalers.The 17 outrage is a whole nother story.

To answer your first question, fresh over salt any day off the week. i don't like low hour boats, they are rarely maintained and usually have a lot of undiscovered issues. 300-500 hours seems to be a good average. I'll take high hours over age any day(figured its been maintained and serviced)

Spare, i'm looking at BWs in 17, 18, 19 or 20. would rather an outrage if I can find one. I think my tippy top to be almost $15,000 or so. I figure if I wait until after the season I may get a better buy. in terms or ride quality I like the Montauk for buzzing around the bay and maybe a 2 or 3 mile reef on a nice flat day. I guess it depends on what the best deal of the day will be.

here ya go chuck, pick your poison

https://panamacity.craigslist.org/boa/6185542300.html

I'm 100% with Spare. Fresh over salt any day of the week. The real find would be a freshwater with low (but used) hours. I'd check out any area around any of the great lakes, or New York 1000 island area. Anyplace that has an abundance of fresh water.

Boston Whalers are pretty much unaffected by salt. The motor is another story. We used BW 22 revenge's at work & they would last forever, we'd just hang a new mercury on there ever 1000 hours or so. No issues with the hardware that I can recall.

Fresh or Low-Hours
 

Obviously an only freshwater or brackish water boat will see less wear and tear than one swing ocean service every day, but I would weigh more heavily the quality of maintenance than the type of water used in. An ocean boat that was pristinely maintained will hands down beat a lake-boat that was just used Season after season and forgotten about in between.

That all said, if you're getting an ocean boat, make sure to leave room in the purchase to do a change-out of all the sacrificial components... zincs, water pump impeller, etc. make sure you have a fresh point for maintenance tracking.