Looking to buy a new 1648 john boat for the creek and river

[boostr]

I use to shop wal mart until I saw that documentary with the smiley face no more, not for three years now, anyway update on the Grizzly 1648 MVX and the 30 HP Tohatsu they are a awesome pair the Tohatsu pushes the Grizzly bout 26 mph by gps loaded with two people and full gear. Boat rides like a much larger boat and takes a rough chop high and dry. The Tohatsu is so quite we talk running down the river and planes the big Grizzly with the factory sent alu prop well. She will sit on plane at 12 mph trim down. The EFI is easy start and go no BS about warming up hit the key and go. The long multi function tiller is killer with the trim switch in easy reach as well as the large forward shifter. The is the easiest boat to load I have ever owned and has no guide ons on the trailer go figure. The wifie drove it on the first time perfect while the jaw of the onlookers dropped as they did not get their laugh as usual around the boat ramp. All and all shes a keeper and a great fishing machine. Only bad thing so far is trying to buy those versa track accessories one of the reasons I bought this boat. You cant just pick out an item and buy online. In todays world REALLY ? you have to fill out a begging form and beg some one across the country to send you a pick of the items and a price so you can send them your money NOT !!! my boat sits now with all bro craft rod holders and Im now making home made accessories to fit the versatrack rail. Great idea and design but the worst marketing on items I think I have ever seen. I bought the boat and trailer online site unseen but cant buy the versatrack accessories online. OK Tracker Marine you keep your versatrack items Lund and a few more boat makers sells these items online as well and are happy to take my money. So far purchased over a grand in accessories, the brocraft rod holders work well and fit the versa track rail perfect.

Good to hear about the Grizzley. Iv'e been looking at the same boat. How is the casting deck? Is it stable when standing up there?

 

[skipper123]

The casting deck is stable, me and the 85 pound doberman pinscher fish well from it with him moving around. Great deck to bow fish from as well.

 

[boostr]

The casting deck is stable, me and the 85 pound doberman pinscher fish well from it with him moving around. Great deck to bow fish from as well.

Good to hear

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[Ictalurus]

Glad to hear you like your new boat. Can't wait to see some pics of it in action.

 

[turbotodd]

The tracker dealers want to sell them. They're a "cheap" boat. There's some markup in them. The salespeople make their money by 2 things: More markup and more volume. Just like Wal-Mart. It's a cheap boat, they mark them up considerably, "package" them, and sell the poop out of 'em to price point buyers. Just like Wal-Mart. Most war eagle dealers don't make much on the boat itself. And most war eagle dealers make their money on the accessories and the motor alone, and a lot of the dealers are multi-line dealers and the other lines many times have more commission in them than the boats-hence why the salespeople don't put a lot of time into a boat sale. Also, on that note, 90% of boat lookers don't have the money or credit to buy, in that sense, they're wasting the salesperson's time.

 

[skipper123]

The tracker dealers want to sell them. They're a "cheap" boat. There's some markup in them. The salespeople make their money by 2 things: More markup and more volume. Just like Wal-Mart. It's a cheap boat, they mark them up considerably, "package" them, and sell the poop out of 'em to price point buyers. Just like Wal-Mart. Most war eagle dealers don't make much on the boat itself. And most war eagle dealers make their money on the accessories and the motor alone, and a lot of the dealers are multi-line dealers and the other lines many times have more commission in them than the boats-hence why the salespeople don't put a lot of time into a boat sale. Also, on that note, 90% of boat lookers don't have the money or credit to buy, in that sense, they're wasting the salesperson's time.

Well that was not very nice and I paid cash for mine thank ya very much, just kidding , I know its a cheaper boat but after reading many different reviews some good some bad and fishing in a few friends boats many years old I bought a Grizzly and at this point we love it. She rides nice high and dry with the new 30 hp Tohatsu uses little fuel and takes rough water with ease, I would have to give her a good review today, as far as versa track dont buy on that because you can buy versa track items online bass pro shops or any where else with out a pain in the ass and they are way over priced. I have 10 items mounted on the rail now none of which are versa track. Somebody really screwed that up. My fault I should have checked it out better before I bought the boat.

 

[Rockhitter]

Glad you are liking your new boat and trailer. Picture please.

 

[johnnybassboat]

I dont see how any one could stay in business with a bad product now with all the social media these days exposing them.

Have you never stepped in a Wal-Mart?

:LOL2: :LOL2: :LOL2:

Maybe you should check out the Tracker transom cracking issue and what they wont do to fix it. Many unhappy Tracker 195 owners out there. They are still in business and just bought Cabelas, can anybody say monopoly.

 

[turbotodd]

Here ya'll go. Was on the water ALL weekend. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm tired of fishing. Or more specifically tired of catching fish. Kept 90. Caught probably 101-103ish total in 3 days. On the way back to the ramp, I decided to take a quick vid because I was thinking about this thread. The boat is a '1 model War Eagle 548LDV, 15' long, 48" wide. Running a 2000 model Yamaha 4 stroke 25hp short shaft. I'm cruising along at 29.9 mph in this video. Typically on water like that, I'm seeing 30.3 to 30.5 at 6210-6240 RPM. On smoother water, 29-ish at 5970 RPM. The rev limiter is on at 6300, off at 6250 but you can feel the timing go "weird" at 6250ish. 11" Turbo Hotshot, little more bowl lift than I wanted but it's a good overall prop which moves 2 of us well at right close to 27mph. I think there's more in it but it works so well as-is, I hate to mess with it. At least for what we use it for.

When I bought this boat I looked at ALL the major brands and settled on this one. One big reason was the floor and the ribs that the floor sits on. The ribs on a lot of the other boats were pretty tall, like 4" plus. These are about 2", so you have more boat interior to move around in. But what I didn't realize was how well it rides in a chop, and how dry I stay as the "captain". It rides awesome for a tin boat. Nearly as good as the 17' glass bass boat that I sold before I bought this one. I've had this boat since new in June 2012 and use it often, a lot of times on rougher water-stuff that I should not be on. I pulled the front deck off over the last winter to build a storage box and while it was off, I looked at the welds...everything perfect, no cracks or anything. I'm highly impressed with how tough this thing is compared to the 1542 Grumman I had before it, and before that a Weldbilt 1448. Both served the purpose but both rode like what I call a typical tin boat...beat you to death in any chop. A "vee bottom" would ride better but you also lose a little interior space.

Vid:
https://vid262.photobucket.com/albums/ii94/toddh687/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-08/ABE3361F-B68E-4049-AFEE-876E4A32E2B1_zpsdxtqoacm.mp4

It ain't no hot rod, but its been stone reliable for as long as I've had it. I'm told that if I had dumped the Yamaha and hung a Mercury 25hp on it, that it'd be faster. I don't think so, not a 4 stroke Merc for sure as I run one occasionally as a guide...and it is a SLUG. Reliable and I like the EFI but it's slow and torque-less.

 

[Riverrabbit]

I just picked up a late model 2016 1448 MVX with aluminum transom about a month ago. Very happy with my decision. And Canon rod holders work great with 1/4" carriage bolts. I don't bother with any of the versa track stuff. Drink holders, GPS mounts, rod holders.. it all works great with 1/4" Carriage bolts. The other day I added a console from the Lowe dealer they sell for the roughnecks.. fit perfectly and the Versatrack provided a great spot to secure the console for a nice clean install.

 

[Zum]

Glad your happy with your boat purchase....on the Internet most times you only hear bad things about products.
Happy boating

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