What is best boat

sbw1

sbw1

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Oct 10, 2006
8,185
West Michigan
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View attachment 70248 Number one son just bought a weekend home on the Nappa River. Upriver a is a town with places to eat and shop. 18 or so miles down river is the SF Bay. House has a floating dock with water and power. What style of boat makes sense? This will be a to and from boat not used for water sports. Is a Yellow Fin overkill? Radar is probably a must have given weather. River is reportedly tricky with lots of shallow water but a channel that is maintained.
 
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Brett H said:
Check out the following:

Nor-Tech 340 Sport (http://nor-techboats.com/nor-tech-340-sport/)
Nor-Tech 390 Sport (http://nor-techboats.com/nor-tech-390-sport/)
Scout 355 LXF (https://www.scoutboats.com/model/355-lxf/)

I'm thinking a gently used 340 Sport would fit the bill.
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Both good looking boats. Not heard of the Nor-Tech before. Are they in the same price range of the Scouts. We have Scout here and they seem to have a good reputation although not a lot of them are sold. I do like what I see in the Scouts. Other may be just fine as well.
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Little Ducky said:
If I lived on or near the inland water where I wanted to day boat I would look into a really nice pontoon boat.
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I'm thinking that would be unsafe in the Bay especially near the Potato Patch. Looking for something that could be safely run on the Bay with an occasional venture underneath the Golden Gate Bridge. So more for putzing around but not afraid to hit some big water on occassion.
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sbw1 said:
Both good looking boats. Not heard of the Nor-Tech before. Are they in the same price range of the Scouts. We have Scout here and they seem to have a good reputation although not a lot of them are sold. I do like what I see in the Scouts. Other may be just fine as well.View attachment 70259
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I believe the Scout is priced higher.

Nor-Tech made their name and a great reputation with the go fast crowd and have made larger 40'+ boats for quite some time. Lighter, faster.

Scout has more creature comforts, perhaps too many creature comforts for the use you described and only recently started building the 40'+. Heavier, more plush. Just depends what you want.

For rougher conditions, perhaps bigger is better... lets also include the Scout 380LXF.
 
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Anyone heard of Yellow Fins and have an opinion based upon experience wth them?
 
'the best boat' is one that is owned and maintained by a good friend who likes to have company while cruising....:cool:....

cliff
 
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CliffA said:
'the best boat' is one that is owned and maintained by a good friend who likes to have company while cruising....:cool:....

cliff
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I'm beginning to see the truth of that observation.
 
sbw1 said:
View attachment 70290 Anyone heard of Yellow Fins and have an opinion based upon experience wth them?
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No opinions, however I believe Barretts sells them locally if you wanted to go take a look. They could probably hook you up with a few folks who've purchased them as well.

-Tom
 
Other than location, you leave many important details out of your open ended question, most importantly is budget of course. Therefore, any answers here will be nothing more than conjecture and opinion - something the internet is well versed in.

So to that end, yes, Yellowfin makes a great CC. Probably near the top for the offshore fishing crowd. That said, they have their roots as serious fishing machines and my observation is they lack some of the creature comforts the day boat crowd has come to expect.

Scout, on the hand, is the opposite in my opinion. Chock full of creature comforts like high-end upholstery, built in fridges, bbq grills, etc. I think they are too nice to go offshore and cover in tuna and mahi blood.

So, if it’s in number one sons budget, and he’s lookong for a wine & cheese dayboat, a Scout (or a Pursuit) would be my opinion.
 
Scout is a well made boat. They are made in SC so we see a lot of them in this area.
 
One thing to consider is that the Napa River does not really have much in the way of anchorages. Also worth noting is that there is some really skinny water to watch out for. These factors should be considered when choosing the style of boat.
 
bobeast said:
One thing to consider is that the Napa River does not really have much in the way of anchorages. Also worth noting is that there is some really skinny water to watch out for. These factors should be considered when choosing the style of boat.
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My understanding is the channel is always navigable even at low tide. Finding it can be tricky from what I have heard. My son is about 15 minutes by boat from Napa and the Bay is reportedly an hour the other way. I believe he will enjoy running to the Bay as his brother has a home in the city and he is on the other side. The Yellow Fins I've been on are comfortable but not posh. I'm inclined toward them because of the way they go through the water. My son tends to be performance oriented and I could see him doing something along those lines or a Pursuit. I do like the Scouts also.
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