Jim,
I have had a few of those types for the same reason you are wanting it. They do pose a few downsides you may want to consider.
1. The ad mentions it is heavier alum, not the thin stuff. This means heavier in weight also! By the time you add a floor, battery, TM, and gear, I promise you will either need to invite two buddies with you each time to help you get it in the water or you will get tired of packing each item to the water and back again.
My personal experience is as follows:
-"hey man, you wanna' go fishing in old man Miller's pond"
-"You mean the one that is 400 yards from the road?"
-"Yeah, that's it..."
-"And we'll be taking your boat?"
-"yep"
-"I don't think so (hangs up laughing)"
-Put all the equipment in the boat and get attempt to heave it in the back of my truck
-Remove all the equipment and set it to the side, taking a break to regain my breath
-Load the empty hull into the truck
-Load the equipment back in the boat
-Get in the truck and pull off
-Stop and back up
-Get out and put the battery in the boat that I forgot I had taken out and placed on the passenger side
-Get back in and drive off
-Arrive at the field where the pond is. "Old man Miller don't care if you fish, but don't track up his rye grass and dang sure don't leave the gate open for the cows to get out."
-Try unloading the boat with all the equipment in it
-"What was that twinge in my back?"
-About half way out the truck I realize I'm on gravel and don't want to drop the boat, knowing I can't hold it up
-Push the boat back in
-Unload the stuff again
-Now the boat...
-"Man, it sure is hot out here...(looking across the field where I have to drag all this stuff to)"
-One hour and 6 trips later everything is at the water. Time to go fishing!
-Make one more trip back to the truck to get the rod I left by the fenderwell.
-Get in the boat and start working the pond over.
-Catch three bucketmouths over 8lbs each (kinda makes all this worth it now!)
-Cows show up for a drink of water.
-Cows don't like getting spooked by a spinnerbait!!
-"Wonder how I'm gonna make it back to the truck with that big ole bull standing there looking at me like that?"
-Cows finally leave
-Water smells like a sewer treatment plant now.
-Fish turn off.
-"I sure wish he would have came with me..."
-Drag everything back to the boat
-Load each item up one by one. Too tired to try the other way.
-Head back home
-"Hey man, you should have come with me. You won't believe these fish"
-"That's okay...by the way, Old man Miller just came by to drop off the TM you left in the field and wanted to know what time you would be back to help pen his cows back up."
-Unload the boat, grab a beer, start thumbing through that G3 brochure again........
2. As mentioned, be wary of narrow boats. They WILL flip. I have been in some that made it hard to set the hook for fear of doing a barrel roll!
3. I have always wanted one but never bought one, but the plastic boats do fish well. They only weigh 100 lbs(without gear) and can be handled by one person. My buddy(not the one above, I don't take him fishing anymore!!) had one and it was great. You may want to consider looking at them.
Sorry for the long post...
