small boat for early teens

ishoot308 · 08-10-2017, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thinkxingu

A friend mentioned avoiding fiberglass and going with aluminum instead, so as not to have as much maintenance. Thoughts?

Sent from my XT1528 using Tapatalk

I would agree! A heck of a lot less money, easier to beach or drag on shore for winter and you won't mind as much when they ding it learning how to dock!

Lund and Starcraft come to mind when talking about decent aluminum boats....

Good Luck!!

Dan

Little Bear · 08-10-2017, 01:19 PM

Another vote for an aluminum boat. When I bought my island place in late 1998, we purchased a former rental boat from Winnisquam Marine. It was a 14' aluminum with a 9.9 horsepower engine. I repowered it with a 9.9 hp four stroke a few years after, and am still using it to this day.

Winnisquam still shows aluminum boats on the boat rental page of their website, so maybe they still sell the rental fleet at the end of the season.

winni83 · 08-10-2017, 01:43 PM

I do not know much about aluminium boats, but one advantage to the Whaler is that it is literally unsinkable and even when filled with water, it is still relatively stable. I think the hull designs have changed, but the older whalers do not have a true V hull, which makes them very stable when overloaded to one side. That hull design makes for a rough ride at speed through large wakes and waves -- sort of speed limiter of sorts for kids.

WJT2 · 08-10-2017, 01:44 PM

I know where there is a sweet 15' Penn Yan 1957 exc cond. on a usable TeeNee Tilt trailer Mid 60's Johnson O/B 25 or 30 HP. I am waiting to have pictures sent and I will forward. This is an awesome fun boat complete with steering wheel instead of tiller type steering. Boat is ready for the water.

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08-10-2017, 01:19 PM	#2
Little Bear Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 589 Thanks: 134 Thanked 252 Times in 136 Posts	Another vote for an aluminum boat. When I bought my island place in late 1998, we purchased a former rental boat from Winnisquam Marine. It was a 14' aluminum with a 9.9 horsepower engine. I repowered it with a 9.9 hp four stroke a few years after, and am still using it to this day. Winnisquam still shows aluminum boats on the boat rental page of their website, so maybe they still sell the rental fleet at the end of the season.

08-10-2017, 01:43 PM	#3
winni83 Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Moultonborough, NH Posts: 439 Thanks: 17 Thanked 218 Times in 138 Posts	I do not know much about aluminium boats, but one advantage to the Whaler is that it is literally unsinkable and even when filled with water, it is still relatively stable. I think the hull designs have changed, but the older whalers do not have a true V hull, which makes them very stable when overloaded to one side. That hull design makes for a rough ride at speed through large wakes and waves -- sort of speed limiter of sorts for kids.

08-10-2017, 01:44 PM	#4
WJT2 Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Foxborough MA Posts: 177 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 4 Thanked 50 Times in 31 Posts	I know where there is a sweet 15' Penn Yan 1957 exc cond. on a usable TeeNee Tilt trailer Mid 60's Johnson O/B 25 or 30 HP. I am waiting to have pictures sent and I will forward. This is an awesome fun boat complete with steering wheel instead of tiller type steering. Boat is ready for the water.