Where to look to get a good used fishing boat?

[Pri123]

Hi all

I am upgrading to a 22-26 ft center console or walkaround decked out for saltwater fishing, with 4-stroke engine(s).

I am in Canada (east coast) and there is very little choice here.  I may need to buy it in the U.S. and drive it up.

If I do that I want to go to a place where there are several used boat dealers and a LOT of inventory choice so that I can shop around.

I know Florida has a lot...but I am looking for suggestions.  The closer to home the better (I am next to Maine)...but I am not finding much in the Northeast.

Any help is appreciated.  Names of places or dealers would be very useful to me.

Thanks

[RickK]

Hi Phil,
Based on the members here (I've been managing the site (and approving every member) for 13 years) there are certainly pockets of Aquasports - Florida (for sure - both coasts), the Delmarva (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia) and the Northeast - the biggest concentration is all the way up the east coast. 
We have a few members in the west (maybe 50) in Cally and north to Oregon - their boats are chosen for the deep water of the Pacific, usually a more robust Family Fisherman and Express Fisherman line due to the high gunwales and big dance floors in the aft. They are great contributors on how they customize and rebuild their boats to accomplish the needs of the Pacific.

We have a sporadic membership around lake areas like the Great lakes, Nevada and other areas. We have a lot of members from the deep south along the Gulf of Mexico (Texas to FL) too.
The big surprise is that we have a ton of international members - maybe 100 - ranging from Australia, New Zealand, Guam, Singapore, Spain, Italy (we have a lot of members from there), we have several members from Greece, Crete. We also have members from the "north", Canada, Sweden, Finland, Down south we have members from the Caribbean - Cuba, Puerto Rico, Aruba, Curacoa - I'm sure I'm missing a lot - its amazing where these these boats are found and how they got there. I just approved a new member from Italy today. We are a HUGE family!!!

We can help you find boats and hopefully our membership can physically look at the boat for you. Life is busy for everyone, so be patient.

[Pri123]

Thanks for the great feedback.  I have a good lead on a 1997 245 Aquasport that looks in pretty good shape, with twin 150 Johnson ocean pros under 400 hrs.

Any feedback on that boat?

[wingtime]

Good solid boat. Explorers seem to have the least amount of hull issues than all other Aquasport models. We seldom hear of soft deck or transom issues unless a previous owner did something stupid to it. 1997 is when they started to switch over to poured composite transoms so yours could be either wood core or composite.  Pay attention  to the wiring and pumps etc.