# Lund Alaskan 1800 vs Starcraft Freedom 180



## Buckshot556

Well I'm finally ready to take the plunge and buy a duck hunting/fishing boat. Looking at the two subject boats right now, side console setups. I'll be hunting and fishing primarily Mullet/Burt and the surround lakes up there and occasionally Saginaw bay and lake St Clair. Anybody have experience with either of these? I'm looking at new models, max hp, and maybe a kicker for trolling eyeballs. 

Help me decide


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## TheHighLIfe

i bought a 2016 lund alaskan 1800, camo, 90hp - side windshield (btw, i have a brand new one for sale). have it on harsens island. incredible boat, everything i could ask for for ducks on the bay, walleyes and smallmouth. i have everything i need in the way of gear stored in the boat (3 types of walleye methods, bass and walleye rods, marker buoys, tools, anchors, maps...), and you do not see one thing in the boat. perfect storage! handles well, 34mph, floor does not get very dirty, huge livewell... for ducks, guns fit perfectly in the rod holders, tons of decoys in the bow leaves room for 4-5 guys to sit comfortably, only needs 1.5 foot of water, hides easily in phragmites..... i could not ask for anything better!


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## Divers Down

Lund, no question...


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## dogditcher

https://detroit.craigslist.org/okl/bod/d/new-2017-lund-alaskan-1800-ss/6310988294.html


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## lastflight

I looked hard at both of these boats when I was in the market a couple years ago. The layout and hull design are very similar. The Freedom is 2" longer and 6" wider. I looked at them side by side at a boat show and the Freedom felt like "more boat" to me. Lund has a lot of brand loyalty out there but Starcraft has been making quality boats for a long time as well. For my money, between these two, the Freedom is the winner.

BTW, I ended up buying a Polar Kraft Outlander. Give them a look if you want to make your decision ever more difficult.


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## Jerry Lamb

I rock the Smokercraft branded Freedom 18, powered with an Evinrude ETEC 90 Tiller.
A great boat. As Lastflight mentioned dimensionally it's bigger than the Lund. The beam is really noticeable. I use mine as a layout tender. Frankly I think you would be happy with either.
It's like comparing an F150 with a Silverado.



Buckshot556 said:


> Well I'm finally ready to take the plunge and buy a duck hunting/fishing boat. Looking at the two subject boats right now, side console setups. I'll be hunting and fishing primarily Mullet/Burt and the surround lakes up there and occasionally Saginaw bay and lake St Clair. Anybody have experience with either of these? I'm looking at new models, max hp, and maybe a kicker for trolling eyeballs.
> 
> Help me decide


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## Radar

i've had the Freedom 180 for 10 years with the 90 e-tec tiller. I hunt and fish primarily Burt Lake and Saginaw Bay. It gets the job done. Always got me home in big winds/waves. Can put 100 big decoys in it, full blind, and 3 dudes and a dog and still have plenty of room and still run 34mph. Liked it better than the 18 alaskan. If you're going to get the alaskan get the 20 footer.


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## Buckshot556

Thanks for the replys thus far. I'm having my dealer quote a freedom 180 for me and next week will have the Lund dealer do the same. Couple questions though...since I plan on trolling with it, should I get a tiller driven kicker motor? If so, what h.p.? I'm having the dealers quote em with evinrude etec's. The Starcraft dealer said max hp is 115 and Lund is 90. I think both would be unable to troll slow enough but I have no idea.


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## Jerry Lamb

Freedom max hp is 90 tiller, 115 console. Unless you're trolling for muskies get a kicker. 4 stroke, so you can run off the tank gas. Otherwise you'll need a seperate remote tank.



Buckshot556 said:


> Thanks for the replys thus far. I'm having my dealer quote a freedom 180 for me and next week will have the Lund dealer do the same. Couple questions though...since I plan on trolling with it, should I get a tiller driven kicker motor? If so, what h.p.? I'm having the dealers quote em with evinrude etec's. The Starcraft dealer said max hp is 115 and Lund is 90. I think both would be unable to troll slow enough but I have no idea.


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## adam bomb

Buckshot556 said:


> Thanks for the replys thus far. I'm having my dealer quote a freedom 180 for me and next week will have the Lund dealer do the same. Couple questions though...since I plan on trolling with it, should I get a tiller driven kicker motor? If so, what h.p.? I'm having the dealers quote em with evinrude etec's. The Starcraft dealer said max hp is 115 and Lund is 90. I think both would be unable to troll slow enough but I have no idea.


I would go with a 9.9-15 for your kicker.


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## Buckshot556

The dealer recommended a 9.9. He also recommended the kicker be a tiller instead of plumbing it into the steering. He claims the pro walleye guys on the Starcraft team use tiller kickers when trolling.

Right now he's buildin the boat to know what the price will be. I had him exclude the kicker for now and quote a min kota 70# thrust. You think I should do it the other way around? Ditch the trolling motor and go with a kicker?

I'm going with hydraulic steering for the main motor fyi


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## Zofchak

Trolling for walleye? If so, I say skip the kicker and go as big as possible on the electric motor instead (I haven't used a gas kicker in years.) The 36V I pilot makes trolling a breeze and leaves your hands free and clears up space in the back of the boat. It also can get you into much shallower/more weed choked water when duck hunting.


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## Buckshot556

Do you think a 70lb thrust min Kota is good enough for that size boat then?

I like the idea of the troller because as you said it frees up space in the back and frees my handes too.


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## Zofchak

In calm open water the 70lb would be fine, but if you're fighting a current or a heavy breeze it's going to struggle. Another big advantage of the 36v systems is they enable longer run times. Two size 31 batteries (About 200ah (And only about 100ah of usable capacity if you want your batteries to last a few years) aren't likely to last a full day of trolling if you're pushing a 24v motor hard, but with 36v you can run the same speed at lower power levels and have (3)100ah batteries instead of only 2.


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## adam bomb

Kicker is sure nice if the main died. Personally I'd put both on the boat


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## Radar

Kicker is always a must for back-up when on big lakes or saginaw bay. Don't leave home without one. Put a Terrova on the front and put the batteries under the right side gunnels and the charger under the right side storage compartment. Been using mine for a decade and troll all day. Have the same Optima blue tops i bought 7 years ago. Steering wheels on that boat only take up space. Get the tiller model. And get the e-tec..the only thing the 4-stroke mercs they put on them are good for are boat anchors.


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## Buckshot556

Zofchak said:


> In calm open water the 70lb would be fine, but if you're fighting a current or a heavy breeze it's going to struggle. Another big advantage of the 36v systems is they enable longer run times. Two size 31 batteries (About 200ah (And only about 100ah of usable capacity if you want your batteries to last a few years) aren't likely to last a full day of trolling if you're pushing a 24v motor hard, but with 36v you can run the same speed at lower power levels and have (3)100ah batteries instead of only 2.


I know nothing about trolling motors. Why is the dealer talking in pounds of thrust an you're talking in volts? Please help my dumb ass understand lol


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## lastflight

I have an 80lb 24V Terrova on my 21' tiller. If I am pulling harnesses or slow trolling cranks in cold water I can troll all day with the electric (with the wind.) If I am pulling cranks in warm water or spoons I troll with my big motor which is a 90 Mercury 4-stroke. My outboard has digital RPM control and I can dial in to the tenth-MPH and get down under 2 MPH if I want to. This motor also has no issue with a full duck load of 100 magnum divers, blind, 5 guys, dog, and gear.


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## Zofchak

Buckshot556 said:


> I know nothing about trolling motors. Why is the dealer talking in pounds of thrust an you're talking in volts? Please help my dumb ass understand lol


 The 70-80lb thrust motors are generally 24v (Require (2) 12v batteries). When you move up to the higher thrust motors (100-110lb) they step the voltage up to 36V which requires (3) 12v batteries.


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## Jimbo 09

Both if you can, but if not I would go for the kicker for reasons stated above. It can get you home if you get in a bind.


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## kingfisher 11

ESOX said:


> The late 90's/early 2000's Superfisherman line had known, serious issues from a very poor design and poor workmanship. Many owners reported popping ribs and cracked chines in the area where the bulkhead for the front casting deck was meeting the hull. Not one person ever got any satisfaction out of them. They denied warranties for any number of spurious reasons that had nothing to do with the poor design and build of the boat. They demonstrated that they have absolutely no integrity and the warranty means nothing.


The boat I was considering was a 2006.

I ended up going a different direction and may buy a glass boat a buddy of mine has. This one will handle the big water better and yet be small enough I can handle if I go solo.


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## BFG

A Hewes Open Fisherman would be another fantastic option.


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## lastflight

BFG said:


> A Hewes Open Fisherman would be another fantastic option.


These are awesome boats and I was looking at them when I was in the market. The catch for me was I was not interested in having to paint a brand new boat in order for it to function as a "duck boat." If they offered a camo or flat tan/brown/green option I would probably have one in my garage.


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## just ducky

ESOX said:


> ... Riveted boats in general suck. Give me a nice welded Polarcraft, Crestliner, or Alumacraft for a utlilty boat.


Personally I don't understand that opinion (which a lot of people seem to have)? Yes, I've heard about popping/leaking rivets, but I've also heard about cracking welds! Either way if you have a problem, you've likely got to tear apart the boat to get at it to fix it. All I can say is my Alaskan is 12 years old, and is dry as the day it came out of the factory. And it's seen some pretty harsh conditions duck hunting. To each his own I guess.


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## waxico

just ducky said:


> Personally I don't understand that opinion (which a lot of people seem to have)? Yes, I've heard about popping/leaking rivets, but I've also heard about cracking welds! Either way if you have a problem, you've likely got to tear apart the boat to get at it to fix it. All I can say is my Alaskan is 12 years old, and is dry as the day it came out of the factory. And it's seen some pretty harsh conditions duck hunting. To each his own I guess.


 I just sold a 1989 Crestliner Viking. Not a leak anywhere in a 29 year old boat. As far as rivets: if you buy new and don’t pound or overload they are fine. Used? Like playing dice. Get one without a floor you can access the rivets inside to tighten.


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## ESOX

just ducky said:


> Personally I don't understand that opinion (which a lot of people seem to have)? Yes, I've heard about popping/leaking rivets, but I've also heard about cracking welds! Either way if you have a problem, you've likely got to tear apart the boat to get at it to fix it. All I can say is my Alaskan is 12 years old, and is dry as the day it came out of the factory. And it's seen some pretty harsh conditions duck hunting. To each his own I guess.


Certainly welds break, but at nowhere near the frequency with which rivets leak. Keep in mind that on most riveted boats, the keel is still welded. But the vast majority of the time it's the rivets that leak, not the keel, And the keel is the highest stressed area.


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## just ducky

Fortunately I've not had to deal with leaks. Either way it would be a pain to take out the floor to fix


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## Cork Dust

Buckshot556 said:


> Thanks for the replys thus far. I'm having my dealer quote a freedom 180 for me and next week will have the Lund dealer do the same. Couple questions though...since I plan on trolling with it, should I get a tiller driven kicker motor? If so, what h.p.? I'm having the dealers quote em with evinrude etec's. The Starcraft dealer said max hp is 115 and Lund is 90. I think both would be unable to troll slow enough but I have no idea.


You are about to get soaked, literally and figuratively. Used boats in the Upper Great Lakes see very little use when you tally-up the chronologic age in years and compare it to engine hours of use. Depreciation is your friend in the used boat market. Lunds abound in Mn and Wi, as does the Starcraft model you are searching for.


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## Cork Dust

Buckshot556 said:


> The dealer recommended a 9.9. He also recommended the kicker be a tiller instead of plumbing it into the steering. He claims the pro walleye guys on the Starcraft team use tiller kickers when trolling.
> 
> Right now he's buildin the boat to know what the price will be. I had him exclude the kicker for now and quote a min kota 70# thrust. You think I should do it the other way around? Ditch the trolling motor and go with a kicker?
> 
> I'm going with hydraulic steering for the main motor fyi


Sure they do, with a T-1 autopilot rigged on it!


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## Cork Dust

Radar said:


> Kicker is always a must for back-up when on big lakes or saginaw bay. Don't leave home without one. Put a Terrova on the front and put the batteries under the right side gunnels and the charger under the right side storage compartment. Been using mine for a decade and troll all day. Have the same Optima blue tops i bought 7 years ago. Steering wheels on that boat only take up space. Get the tiller model. And get the e-tec..the only thing the 4-stroke mercs they put on them are good for are boat anchors.


Engine problems, particularly with modern four-strokes are pretty rare; largely related to bad fuel or failed e-sensors. If you have both your main and kicker rigged to draw on the same fuel source...you have achieved no greater safety.


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## Tavor

Cork Dust said:


> Engine problems, particularly with modern four-strokes are pretty rare; largely related to bad fuel or failed e-sensors. If you have both your main and kicker rigged to draw on the same fuel source...you have achieved no greater safety.


I'll have to disagree with this. No boat of mine will leave the dock without an alternate means of propulsion. The logic shown here is a bit like saying "Boats usually don't sink, and people usually don't fall overboard, therefore no safety is gained by equipping yourself with PFD's, radios, or other safety related equipment."


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## Cork Dust

Tavor said:


> I'll have to disagree with this. No boat of mine will leave the dock without an alternate means of propulsion. The logic shown here is a bit like saying "Boats usually don't sink, and people usually don't fall overboard, therefore no safety is gained by equipping yourself with PFD's, radios, or other safety related equipment."


Yes, you're right no additional safety is gained by having two engines on a boat when they boat draw their fuel from the same tank. The insurance industry boating safety data indicate that fuel contamination is the principal source of engine issues. Two engines drawing their fuel from a water contaminated fuel tank means two unusable engines. IF you are insistent on running a kicker or twins, they should EACH be plumbed to a different fuel source.


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## ESOX

Almost everyone in <21' fishing boats has an electric and internal combustion propulsion source. Fuel may be the issue in some cases, but I have seen plenty of no starts or no propulsion due to other failures. A kicker running off the main tank still beats the snot out of no kicker.


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## Cork Dust

If you are in a well populated area on an inland lake, great. This is not how the OP intends to use his boat. He is also talking about using it during a period of the year where on-water use of these large open water bodies is quite diminished.

I hunt out of a 1996 Maine built TB-17' with a Honda four stroke main and 8hp kicker. Both are plumbed to external fuel sources that are separate, filled from different premium non-ethanol containing marine gas sources. 

Again, not if neither of them work due to bad gas. An electric is only as good as the battery bank it is feeding off, without the ability to recharge it via a running IC engine and a battery selector switch. Chugging along in nasty weather at hull speed, since you can't run on plane is not a fun experience. I have been forced to do it on remote chunks of the Great Lakes twice over multiple hour runs in. Boat control becomes the main issue even though you are moving along.

Over the decade I worked on the Great Lakes as a field research biologist for MSU, we had dual motors on two of three Boston Whaler research boats. Outside of bad gas issues, we had one bad bendix unit on a starter that forced us to limp home on one engine through the night. Other than that, one engine or the other would not start at the dock, making the boat unusable anyway due to our inability to travel at anything above hull speed. We always carried two extra portable tanks on board that would enable us to circumvent bad gas issues.


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## BFG

I'll take a .25" welded hull over any riveted tin can any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Only welded hulls that have cracked that I recall reading about are Trackers, and those things aren't made to be pounded on big water like some choose to do. Not saying it's impossible, but when you look at the quality of the welds on a boat like a Hewescraft in comparison to that same Tracker, you will immediately notice the difference.


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## Divers Down

Kinda like asking Cadillac or Yugo lol


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## TheHighLIfe

divers - you are giving starcraft the benefit of the doubt as a yugo!


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## waxico

TheHighLIfe said:


> divers - you are giving starcraft the benefit of the doubt as a yugo!


I have the Smoker branded version. I'll offer you a ride in my Yugo. You might change your mind. I owe you a visit; I've seen you're back.
Gotta get some Champagne of Beers. I've been bagging for a month, too busy to stop by. almost done.


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## TheHighLIfe

waxico said:


> I have the Smoker branded version. I'll offer you a ride in my Yugo. You might change your mind. I owe you a visit; I've seen you're back.
> Gotta get some Champagne of Beers. I've been bagging for a month, too busy to stop by. almost done.


Stop by when you get a chance. Im not dealing with high water issues yet. Opposite - no water in the house, water pump froze during the winter. If i get it fized and you need some help, lmk


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