I've had the same skeeter for a couple of decades, it's good, but after a while, there's more to fix than time/money to fix it.

I've never been a threat to win tournaments, but was actively fishing tournament when I bought it. I don't fish them much anymore. Anyone have first hand experience on pros and cons of aluminum? I was looking at Xpress and they have some $30k boats the size of my Skeeter. I have a 150 and I've read an aluminum boat with a 115 will perform as well or better than a 150 on a fiberglass boat.

Bonus question, what's the maintenance look like on a four stroke engine? I've only ever owned 2-cycles motors that burn oil. How often do you change the oil? Is the lower unit the same?

No. I fish tournaments out of a Tracker aluminum. Pro 195 with a 150 pro xs. Maintenance is easy. Every 100 hours or once a year, change oil and filter and change gearcase fluid. Both easy. Other maintenance is fuel filter, fuel water separator, things like that.

Personally, I'll never own another fiberglass boat. Fuel economy in my 1990's Tracker with 40 horse was insane at cruising speed. I have to guess it was near triple what I get in my skeeter. Sure, I won't be able to go 70mph down the water, but with age, I've discovered that I don't really need to. I don't think I've driven above 50mph in the last 5 years.

I also got stuck on a sandbar once when they stopped pulling water. A couple of aluminum boats around me were able to get out and walk their boats back into navigable water. After a couple of hours of making inches of progress toward the creek channel, we just dropped the $ for SeaTow to come pull us out.

The deck size and stability of the fiberglass is nice, there's usually more storage, and mounting electronics is easier, in every other way, I prefer aluminum. I may even try a kayak or jon boat when the kids get older.

Thanks for the replies. Christopher, do you do the maintenance yourself? If not, how much do you estimate the cost of annual service? Is it comparable to a car? Like $100 for oil and rotation?

Jason, yeah, Sea Tow, you're grateful for them when you need a tow at 2AM out crappie fishing, but you'll feel it in the wallet. Only needed them once in 30 years, but they tried to make that upsell to the subscription look mighty tempting with the 1-time bill. Probably could have trolled back to the ramp with an aluminum boat 🤣.

I fish tournaments out of an aluminum Tracker 175 and fair pretty well. The size and weight of my boat hurts sometimes on big or rough water but pays dividends when I'm able to access skinny water and tight places that bigger boats can't.

I’m in Tx and run a Lund 2075 ProV XS among all the glass boats. I won’t win a race but never need too. I’ll take my aluminum boat in any water over a glass boat

I'm in Mississsippi, and 2 years ago I traded a Skeeter ZX 200 for an Xpress X-19 Pro and for most part I'm very pleased with the change. I'm not saying that I wouldn't consider a glass boat again.

I run a Ranger 188P with a 115 PRO XS with zero issues. I fish mostly South East though,