I had my eye on that Lavro for a while, too, Drew. The only reasons I haven't pulled the trigger are the trailer and that it needs glass work (rower's bench looks almost gone). That trailer might be dynamite for all I know (which isn't much), but three things lead me to believe you would be shopping for a new trailer before you could even drive the boat off:

1. The owner says the boat was "hand-loaded" onto the trailer. Why?
2. The owner says the tire was flat when they loaded the boat onto the trailer. Probably still flat.
3. The boat is sitting cockeyed on the trailer, which it seems to me can't be good.

If you can find a good deal on a trailer (hell, buying a new one should still keep you under $3,000 for the whole package), that should be a great boat. Don't know how much it would cost to fix the seats....

That ain't scary, that's friggin' unequivocally scary.

Dood, see those wheels ? Those are most likely 8" wheels.....very bad for DB duty.....the worst !
At freeway speed just imagine how much faster those things spin as compared to a standard 14" DB wheel !
We're talkin' unnecessary bearing heat. That is a fail that you do not need many miles from home.
Also the small diameter tires do not "bridge" (handle) the ruts you will encounter on back roads like a 14" tire/wheel assembly.

So, the boat looks OK but the trailer is total crap if the following is what you are looking at.

There is a way to convert a crap 8" wheeled trailer to 13" which gets you out of wheelbarrow tires and into automotive tires but it's not really worth it in the end.
I have done it and I have moved on.....not worth the effort and the extra $ for tires, wheels, fenders etc.
You still have a thinwall frame that is too narrow for a DB in most cases.
Not recommended (no matter what AP says ).

The one I converted was never "right".....even though it looked great.
My biggest complaint was that it was too narrow and too high which made it a PITA to load the DB.
It cost me $550 and I sold it for $300 to a friend with a narrow jon boat that fit the thing much better.

Drew, I don't disagree with anyone telling you to pay attention to the trailer but you can find A LOT of used, functional trailers for about $500. Trailer repairs suck but can usually be done by a half-skilled person for not a lot of money. Trailers are also easily modified to hold a db even if they were originally designed for something else.

Also, if you want 3 people in a boat, make sure you get one at least 16' long. Those smaller boats are awesome but are basically 2-person crafts.

Any good SeaStrike stories from today?

Might fit

http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/boa/2240463810.html

One day OP trips are hard... definitely Ironman trips!
Good luck Add & Seastrike!

drew,
That lazy drifter is same color as my lazy drifter, white outside & green inside.
It's an older base model from what I can see.
Rower's seat appear to be fixed... Not sure but might be a pain in the arse trying to set & adjust arms to oars angle the way you want sitting from rower's seat.
That trailer looks bad in my opinion.
Good working safe trailer is a must for a db owner!

Just a few facts that I'd want to point out from my 9 years of Lavro lazy drifter experience.
Lavros have narrower bottom, so tipsier than other brands.
Narrower bottom means less room compare to wider bottom boats.
Handles summer low flows easier than wider boats, but that doesn't mean Lavros will not get stuck in low flows.
Lavros row excellent and handle serious rapids just as good as any other brands in my opinion.

That's a nice one.
Drew, you have two kidneys.....

I've seen a couple go for around $3700 lately that were in that class.

Go look in orygun. Drift boats are cheaper there for some reason.

Also, every fish you catch in a boat bought in Orygun will be 30% larger, on average

Word.

http://www.searchtempest.com/results.php...&maxAsk=max

Couple of possible nice ones in there if you want to drive and if they're still available. (Willie in Wenatchee 3700 and NR in Roseburg 3450)

Also try feeding Search Tempest driftboat (all one word) and you may pick up some stragglers.

Wouldn't the fact they are narrower imply that the draft is deeper than a wider boat?

Not dissing the Lazy Drifters because I see a lof of them around and their owners always love them.

All things being equal.
But of course draft and displacement are affected but many things besides just width. Even tin boats with the same bottom width will often have different draft and handling characteristics.

A hull designer is like a brewmaster who has to balance out a lot of variables and make the right trade offs to come up with a desired result.

There've been a lot of glass hull innovations to come along since the advent of Lavro's 16' classic hull design, but even tho they've modified the set-up of this model over the years, I don't think they ever made changes to the basic hull because it just worked. Why fix it if it ain't broke? Lavro's 16' is to glass DB hulls what Willie's 16&17X54's are to tin. Tried and true.

Lavro specs the unloaded draft of this model at 2 1/2 inches, which is damn skinny. Combined with a glass bottom and rounded chines, makes it one of the slipperiest boats in it's class. But again depending on the type of fishing you do, the average load and the rivers you fish this may or may not be a big deal. Personally, I prefer the Lavro's smooth quiet ride when fishing by myself or with a friend or two, but if I was guiding lardos on fall and winter flows, I could see some definite advantages to the tin set up. I liken it more to the difference between a family sedan and a working truck.

Bad!!

Boat hung it's bottom on a rock. Peeled it partially off then flipped it fast as could be.

Supcoop...that's insane. I'm just wondering if this is an isolated occurence, or a common problem? I'm assuming it's more of a friek occcurence, was the boat previously damages prior to the incident? Was it a DIY UHMW rivet job? I talked to a lot of DB owners before I ordered mine, and got nothing but rave reviews and recommendations for UHMW. I've never known anyone who has had a bad experience with the stuff, but then again, it ain't like I've met every DB owner out there.

The take home lesson was that until they got securing the uhmw to the bottom down pat, it was a no go. This was a couple of years ago and it was very likely a DIY job... can't remember all the details. I know the benefits of the stuff are certainly a plus.

Gotta admit though- it would be pretty cool to see a DB get pole vaulted by its bottom! Unless of course you happened to be in the boat at the time.

Mooch is spot on!

Kaiser,
If I have a full load with two guys up front, My lazy drifter does draft a bit deeper than wider tin & glas boats, especially on the bow section.
But that all varies on how big of lardos I've got sitting up front.

that's what I thought. Like I said, I dread the day it starts peeling off and that day will come eventually.

You can check out my drift boat in Edmonds if you want. It's a fiberglass 2004 16ft LP Clackacraft. Not for sale, but could give you some ideas.

We swore him to secrecy....
And to kind of go along with the thread... I rowed Add's Clack most of the day yesterday. It's a 16 foot set up inline. Love that boat. I have a tin 16x54 Thor. I love that boat too. The way the glass boat goes over the skinny stuff without sticking is very nice.
You guys should take Drew fishing. He shows up on time, has real green money to pay for gas and shuttles, is self sufficient in the boat, and is a cool dude.
He didn't tell me to [censored] off once all day.

cool, but did you do bad things to fish

There are no pictures of yesterday.
There are also no dead fish so it's cool.
There are also no more limbs on that sweeper (somebody else cut them out).