I am looking at buying the 22' north river seahawk with a f225 yamaha I was wondering if anyone ownes one or if you have ridden in one I will be using it mostly for saltwater and in the columbia for springers and sturgeon and a little bass and walleye at potholes,any info would be greatly appreciated or even if you have any other suggestions I have looked at alot of boats and to me this one is probably the best I think thanks in advance !!!

nobody has any input on this come on help me out here!!!

I have a 21' NR sled and love it. I saw their Seahawk at the boat show. It looks like a top of the line Alum. salt water boat. One thing I noticed about it, It had a fish well for a fisherman. Not a little dinky thing I saw on a lots of the boats, it was large and ready to handle a salmon and halibut combo trip. Hope this helps.

JR where did you get yours? We also looked at them at boat show, they looked much better than the Alumawelds. Do you have the Sportjet? Thanks

One of the reasons North Rivers look so "nice" is their extensive use of bondo in weld fillets and other places to get that smooth look. The alumaweld boat is just as good a boat and the best looking of all is Boice jet boats. Pretty good guys and their emplyees actually like the owners.

Northriver really is just an average boat when you look at their construction. I am no expert on jet boats; at RiverWolf boats we just build drift boats but I have hired a few of their employees and the that is the word I get...

I bought mine from the factory at the Sportman show in 2001. I made 3 trips down during its construction and saw no fillers being used. I did see and still see every time is use it welds that look like pennies being stacked. I have been told by many that the workmanship on my boat is almost perfect. Some might have a different view, but each to their owne.

I test drove many boats including Alumaweld and Boice. I felt NR had the best boat and the best value. I agree for looks Boice is very nice, for pure fishing i'll take my NR anyday.

I have a 350 vortec with a 3 stage. Depends on how you use the boat on what power and pump you should get.

I have a couple friends with sleds one has a north river and the other has a motion marine.Both are very nice high quality boats.But after looking at boats at the sportsman show last year if I were to buy one it would be a Custom Weld or Boice Jet.My brother inlaw has a older Alumaweld and its been a great boat.But it seems that Alumawelds qaulity has been slipping a little.They have sort of turned into the Bayliner of jet boats.Mass produced an everyone seems to have one.Oh the Willie Asalter looks lik a great boat too.

Northwest Jet is another outstanding boat. They are made in Pasco Wa. I have a 21 Foot signature and its sweet. Side by side they are the best built boat out there. When you talk about nice boats, I would only concider Northwest, North River, Custom Weld as worthy. Alumaweld jet boats look like cheap copies of a real boat. Its amazing that they sell any. I am talking about real jet boats that you can run in some big water, like the Snake or Salmon rivers... the kind of places that sort the men from the boys. Aside from custom shops like Bentz and a couple others, North West jet has the best boat

The three boats that stood out at the Sports show were in order
1. Boice Jet- One of the sweetest boats around
2. Willies Boats- The name says it all
3. North river- If I had the dough for a sled this
would be the co. I would go with and they are in tacoma now so it makes it that much easier!
Chrome

FnC
What happened to the decision about a boat purchase from last month?

jaydee, I started looking at the enclosed cabin and then started looking at these northrivers and they almost have more fishing room and plus if you get the northriver with the rigid frame and the backdrop canvas they are pretty much enclosed and then I started thinnking about summertime and it sure would be nice to take the top off and just cruise around catching some rays(sunshine) and even better I am spending $20,000.00 less and that is always good I just want to make sure this boat will handle the big water I think it should !!!

All last summer I had a buddies 22’ Hewes Sea Runner at my disposable. I thought it would be rough riding because it was aluminum and light and didn’t seam to have a super deep vee. I could not have been more wrong, I fishes over 25 days in the ocean with it this summer. Some days where rough and some not and the boat handled it great. I crossed the bar at Westport many time at different tides and sea’s, I thought with the open bow I would get some water in it. Not a drop other than wind spray. It had a 150 HP FIC inject 2 stroke and it shot out of the hole as fast as any boat. Great on fuel , We fished Umatilla reef out of Neah bay this summer, its is about a 40-50 mile round trip and I would ave 13-18 gallons per trip with 5-6 adults in the boat. I can say that the NR seams to be build much better and would weight a little more, but it is set up for serious ocean fishing. Ask them in Tacoma to take you out for a ride.

NR.

Took me 6 years of travel & talk to come to that conclusion.

I used spread sheets for apple to apple comparisons, and visited most of the dealers factories. I chose NR because they gave me more boat for the $$, thicker bottom, higher sides, better construction etc.

I'm glad I did my homework & much happier I own a boat I know I got my $$$'s worth.

Hey JR, i wanna go too!

hey full freezer which boat did you buy !!!!

I just picked my new North River up last Wed.
What a boat!
No one in the industry finishes a boat like NR.
It handles like it's on rails, tons of power, even loaded with all my friends. family members who wanted ride this AM, wow.. one of the reasons I went with NR was that the the factory is 50 miles from my front door...
I was there every week, and looked and inspected every phase of construction... no filler, just awesome consistent welds and a piant job that is the best in the industry!

the price on my NR was also lower than the competition... and they threw in a few things they didn't have to !

Pretty cool!

TH, Very nice boat. Wondering why you went with the wheel instead of a stick steering system?? Like the layout in the cab. Thats pretty neat.

Beatiful boat TH ,what model is that,also what kind of anchor is that and whats its purpose.
I just bought a 21.5 ft commander x,and am making my anchor and nest today,here on the fraser river we employ a much different anchoring system than the one i see on your boat.I typically use 2 different anchors ,one for sturgeon fishing and another for hanging up in faster water fishing for springs.
I am super happy with my boat ,great looking and all the welds look really good(i am a welder by trade).
With the strong Canadian dollar back in december this boat was definitely worth the money.

TH,
First off thats a very nice looking Northriver you got there.And Im not tring to poo-poo on Northriver they are great boats but my buddys two year old Northriver has had some paint problems.As in large areas blistering and falling off.His boat is garaged and very well maintained.But I think he said Northriver fixed the areas at no charge.But he had to take it back to the factory for the repair.

thanks for all the input everyone has given me on my new boat purchase i really appreciate it

Okay, I wasn't going to say anything because of not wanting to rain on someone's parade, but like Duroboat15, I have a friend who's North River boat had a paint blister problem as well. It took a couple trips back to the factory to correct poor workmanship (1st trip) and then the wrong color (2nd trip). The factory only did this work after multiple emails; telephone calls and yes, even hints at a lawsuit to get them to cover these repairs under warranty. After much to-do, they finally came through but my friend is now soured on this company. The key is, if you're going to use this aluminum boat in salt water, make sure the paint is "salt water" proof.

My friend's suggestion is to look at competing boat maker's warranties. Ask if warranty work can be done at a local dealer or the factory. My $0.02.

Great looking boat. I just puchased a thunderjet from friend who had it for a year and never used it. He had it extended to 20' and widened by a foot. It has the 175 sport jet, all new for me with the jet so Ill have a learning curve. Had it out once once steering a lot different obviously especially reverse. I liked how it handled though should be greta once I get some skill with it. I got it for 21,000. which lost him about 4,000.00 I hate to ask but has anyone heard anything negative on the Thunderjet? P.S. I did have to fix gas gauge already whoever put it in didnt' leave enough slack in ground wire and pulled out. I had to remove floor and rewire. Just shows no matter where you buy from can have problems.

O.K... Sport jets are crap..... if you want an out board motor thats inside your boat .... go ahead.... then hook a crappy pump on it and sell it...... what morons...