Help with boat choice - Grand Isle

we just sold a 19.5ft seachaser, was a great boat for around the island we just grew out of it and went bigger
did fine in the waves, was able to fish the beach, sold for right at 10k.
loved that boat though

I just bought a 19ft Pathfinder with a 150 yamaha 2 stroke to do pretty much what you talked about. Take it out to last isle and play around in the bays. not too big to freshwater fish. Hull is basically a 22 or 24 pathfinder with the back end cut off. Nice high sides with a pretty aggressive entry point. Great riding boat for its size, low 50's top end. Nice layout. Dry. Paid around 10K as well.

I have fished a 19 ft and now a 23 ft bay boat around grand isle. I know you're not looking for over 20 ft but night and day difference in the ride. May not be as big a deal if you can pick your days to fish (I cannot due to work) so sometimes I have to go on not ideal days to scratch that itch. 19ft will work but bays and lakes around grand isle are just getting bigger. Go glass too if you can find one in your budget. My 19 was a cobia bay boat which handled chop pretty well. They aren't super common but same parent company as maverick and pathfinder just more economical. Good luck!

We killed a wholeeeeeeee lot of fish out of a 17'predator out there. You can't go 40 mph across the middle of the bay with the wind blasting, but its plenty enough boat to be safe and comfortable when the weathers reasonably good.

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early 2000s Kenner 18/19

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This is the right answer. Don't rule out a 90s model if its in good shape.

You definitely want a glass boat. Any 17-20' bay boat in good shape will serve you fine.

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Go glass if you can....more comfortable and absorbs waves so much better.

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What makes glass so much better? Just asking, it's not something I ever thought about.

Typically a softer ride, better deadrise, cooler/floor/boat, quieter on drift, overall.

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I have fished a 19 ft and now a 23 ft bay boat around grand isle. I know you're not looking for over 20 ft but night and day difference in the ride. May not be as big a deal if you can pick your days to fish (I cannot due to work) so sometimes I have to go on not ideal days to scratch that itch. 19ft will work but bays and lakes around grand isle are just getting bigger. Go glass too if you can find one in your budget. My 19 was a cobia bay boat which handled chop pretty well. They aren't super common but same parent company as maverick and pathfinder just more economical. Good luck!

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Bro in law had a 21' sea pro which did pretty good around there, but was just big enough to be a pain launching without 2 adults.

I've seen a few 17' cobias around and they look like nice boats - wish there were more 19s around.

I co-owned a 2001 Kenner 19, Johnson 90 for a couple of years with a friend. It had the forward storage but no deck/storage in rear (the only thing I'd change/add to the boat). It was a FANTASTIC beater boat for us novices. Only two issues we had were control/shifter cable and electrical gremlins. We replaced controls+shifter cable and I re-wired everything. Once I did that, the boat was unstoppable. It wasnt perfect, but it was perfect for us.

There were days we loaded it with 4 people + gear and would take trips from Leeville to East Timbalier, or even Campos to MRGO long rocks the long way Bayou La Loutre & Eloi (40 miles one way, 10+ in open water!). Other times we'd take it in the marsh sometimes getting stuck/beach on oysters. We went freshwater several times and performed well.

Mutually sold due to kids. Would own again.

What y’all think of the CS sea chaser 175? Seeing a lot of them around with the Yamaha 90s but worried about the 17’7” length.

I'm not sure is Carolina Skiffs put wood in the hulls or not. post above has some good advice. Just make sure it's well taken care of. When you look at the engine pull the cover, look for any obvious signs that the engine was torn into. Such as scratches on bolt heads. With that said they should have a few scratches on the bolts holding the foot on and the lower unit oil fill screw, which would tell you the water pump has probably been changed and lower unit oil.

The shittiest things on budget boats is wiring. When you get one, you better off spending a few hundred bucks and letting someone completely re wire it.