New 2 board and...

[Michael in Oregon]

loaded with questions! I'll start by telling you I know nothing about fishing. However, I did catch my first stealhead last week (33 1/2 & 12.5 lb's) while fishing the N. Santiam in a drift boat. Which brings me to my first question. I'm looking at buying a new drift boat and with all the research I have done, it seems that the Willie is the most popular..?? Not talking bad about Willie, but there seems to be other boat makers out there that offer more options, for less money. One of them being River Wolf. Would like to hear the good, bad and ugly on buying a drift boat. TIA

Mike

[Flatfish]

Do a search.

I would not buy new.

Options for a price are only a part of the story. Willie sells a lot of drifters for a reason(You row them, which makes hull design a bit more critical since it makes the oarsman either really happy or really mad depending on design.....like I said, Willie sells a lotta drifters for a reason).

Glass can be nice too, depends on where you plan on fishing.

MATD

[Michael in Oregon]

Do a search.

I would not buy new.

Options for a price are only a part of the story. Willie sells a lot of drifters for a reason(You row them, which makes hull design a bit more critical since it makes the oarsman either really happy or really mad depending on design.....like I said, Willie sells a lotta drifters for a reason).

Glass can be nice too, depends on where you plan on fishing.

MATD

So..............you must have a Willie? All other DB's you don't have to row?:bigshock:

[alanmikkelsen]

No, what he's saying is that there is a difference in the way drift boats row. I've rowed drift boats since 1974. I sold my last one two years ago, just running my open tiller sled now. My last drift boat was a Koffler, on par with the Willie boats. Go for width, stay away from 48" boats.

[Michael in Oregon]

My bad! I'm looking for a 17x60 and NOT having a DB before, I thought I would loiter on this here forum. Am I even in the right category? Thanks guy's!

Sorry Flatfish...

[Artwo]

M in O...............

I've had driftboats for a lot of years and the first thing I'll tell you is that I would look used first. There are a lot of good buys out there if you look hard enough. Her is one that I just saw today, looks like a pretty good deal......................

http://portland.craigslist.org/clc/boa/342100878.html


JK

[Drachir]

Michael,

You certainly know my opinion. Good Luck w/ your RiverWolf. :cheers:

Put me down for a rain check from your PM.:grin: :wink: