Bassboats in Europe?

[sacid]

Hi guys,

Germany has one Boat Dealer that sells american Bassboats, but their used  2013 Nitro z9 comes at a price that is more than double as much as a brand new 2015 Z9 costs in the states. Though with importing a boat myself I probably would be at that price as well.

Thus I am looking for websites in france, spain, portugal, italy where Bassanglers sell their used boats.
Since I only speak German and English it becomes quite hard to google for such sites and I am probably missing out a lot of results.

I currently have found one Nitro nx 750 from 2003 for 8600 euro (10,717.32 U.S. dollars according to google).

If I understand the spanish description the boat comes with the trolling motor, new pumps (bilge pumps i guess?), sonar and carpet in good condition. Not sure if the offer includes a motor and not sure about the trailer either. The pictures show an original nitro trailer - which probably isn't legal in europe.

Se vende casco de bass boat nitro 750 nx completo de bombas y muy. bien cuidado, regalo motor eléctrico, sonda y lona

I'm not sure though if that boat would be good for my needs. I live by the river Rhine. It's very frequented by container boats that cause quite some big rolling-waves (not sure how the proper naming for such waves is). The river flows quite fast. Once I have a boat i'd most likely fish in the backwaters of the river most of the time. But often enough I'd fish in the mainstream as well. The boat should be suited for that.

Looking forward to help on both topics, pages for used bassboats in europe as well as chosing the right boat for me.

Kind regards,
Micha

[Mike Cork]

That's going to be a 17 and a half foot boat. I would consider this a minimum for the water conditions you're looking at. Once in the back waters it will be great. Just be careful in the river and make sure to pay close attention to the barge wakes. With experience you'll learn what the best angles are to approach these wakes and it will be safe. The key is not to get in a hurry and take your time when dealing with adverse conditions such as big waves or fast current.

Once in the back waters you'll enjoy the size.

As to where to search, I can't help there. I figured shipping was expensive but didn't realize it was quite that expensive.

[sacid]

Thanks for the advice. If you had to suggest another boat for my conditions, which would you advice? Sure a multispecies boat would be more fitting. But damn, I love them bassboats

I am not sure what shipping costs. But I can tell you how the total cost would be calculated.
Sale price + shipping = x
X + I think 1.something percent customs = y
Y + 19% import VAT = total

The stupid thing about it is that you pay the vat ON the customs. For regular fishing gear its about 3% customs. For fishing equipment one might still get cheaper buying in the states than buying in Germany. Once placed an order for soft and hard baits with twh and was much cheaper than buying the same in Germany. But a boat is quite a different subject.

[Bud Kennedy]

Certainly is a complicated problem.  I just wanted to say that their is a very reputable boat dealer in our area that does sell and ship boats around the world.  They currently are the number 1 Ranger dealer in the United States.  One of their dealerships is also a Nitro dealer if you are stuck on nitro.  The name of the company is Anglers Choice Marine and they are located in Martinsville, Virginia.  If you are truly interested they may be able to give you some assistance.  Site rules does not permit posting of website links so you will have to look them up on your own.  I know these people well and recommend them highly for their integrity and fairness.

[sacid]

Hi Bud,

thanks for the info about Anglers Choice Marine. I even looked at their site. They got some nice boats

But an import from the states is not possible for me. The costs would exceed the value of the boat.

The NX 750 I mentioned can be found on milanuncios There's only one Yellow NX 750 listed if you search for "Bass". I already contacted the seller to ask him a couple questions not covered in the offer. Waiting for a reply.

It doesn't have to be a Nitro, though. But as far as I figured out thus far most European Bass Anglers use Nitro or Tracker. I found a few Lund or Lowe and lots of selfbuilds with a Quicksilver 400 as base.
But then I prefer a real Bassboat over a multispecies boat and over selfbuilds.

Maybe I should just buy the cheapest vessel I can find and participate in next years WPC (World Predator Classics). This year the winner got a Nitro z9 

[Dark3]

I would think your best bet would be to buy in the states and ship. Shipping a bassboat port to port plus customs taxes (if you even end up paying them) shouldnt be ANY WHERE near the cost of the rig. Shoot beater honda civics are shipped to africa everyday.

[Ron Fogelson]

I watch a few TV shows where buyers come to the states to buy cars and ship them back to Europe, the one tonight showed them buying a DeLorean DMC-12 sports car to fix up and sell,,,, showed that shipping an import tax was under $3,000.00 US.

I would think a 21ft boat couldn't be that much more,,,, unless import taxes are a lot higher on boats.

[Bud Kennedy]

I would think with the high fuel costs and other restrictions that apply to you that an aluminum boat with a smaller motor might just be best for your situations.  The boats here with the high performance fiberglass hulls and the 200+ HP motors do represent a lot of expense for everyday boating.

[Dark3]

I didnt even think you could bass fish in germany, and ive heard from some friends that lived there that fishing licenses are astronomical. Might be cheaper to fly back and fish one weekend a month lol

[sacid]

[...] showed that shipping an import tax was under $3,000.00 US.

I would think a 21ft boat couldn't be that much more,,,, unless import taxes are a lot higher on boats.

I don't really think that 3k for shipping and import is worth it for a boat costing about 5-8k. Besides I really would like to visit the boat first to see myself what I'm buying. So buying in europe is still my best bet

I would think with the high fuel costs and other restrictions that apply to you that an aluminum boat with a smaller motor might just be best for your situations.

A company called "nippon-tackle" is gonna throw some alu bass boats on the market in Germany. Don't know yet about the specs yet. But I'm having an eye on it already. Though the tournaments in Italy have regulations about motor power. Dunno about spanish tournaments yet.

The boats here with the high performance fiberglass hulls and the 200+ HP motors do represent a lot of expense for everyday boating.

That's true. doesn't have to be a 200+ HP engine though. 115 would suit me quite well (in regards to the italy tournaments I heard of)

If I only wanted to fish the water right in front of my door I probably would buy just a cheap vessel with a motor strong enough to get me on track against the current 

I didnt even think you could bass fish in germany

As far as I know there aren't any Bass in Germany. But then, most of our neighbours have Bass and also the way you can fish from a bass boat fits quite well for any kind of predator fish.

and ive heard from some friends that lived there that fishing licenses are astronomical. Might be cheaper to fly back and fish one weekend a month lol

As posted in my intro post it can become quite expensive. I made my license in a state that didn't require a course. So basically what I initially paid was:
50 Euros for the test
50 Euros to get the license
50 Euros to have the state fishing fee for 5 years
80 Euros to get a 1 year license for the river Oder

I moved to the rhine though. The annual license here is a bit cheaper. about 20 Euros for just the main river and 60 with backwaters (70 with boat fishing).

In some places, like bavaria or so the anual licenses for each body of water might be very expensive. I haven't checked on such yet but I "heard" about 200 or more for a pond per year.

Fishing, in Germany, is unfortunately not the popular sport it is in the states or other countries. If you ask any random German how he imagines an angler you might get this as answer: fat old guy sitting by the shore with a beer and a cig and bathing a worm. 
but luckily there are lots of young anglers breaking up this stereotype. Demanding good quality tackle. Urban fishing (streetfishing). no camo clothes and such. and not drinking while fishing!

Anyway, for the body of water I would fish on most often (the Rhine and its backwaters), what Alu boat would you suggest?

[sacid]

Alright, I got feedback from the guy with the nx750

Suddenly he says he wants 9500 Euros instead of the 8600 Euros he has written in the online offer.
The Main Engine is not included. Just the hull and the electronics (trolling motor, sonar and such)

[CraigP83]

9500 euros and no engine on a 2003 nitro??? No, Thank you

[sacid]

I just got in contact with an italian boat dealer that has new and used Bass Boats.

Dunno but the Boats here in Europe seem to be just damn expensive.

That dealer hast the following used boats in store right now (I asked him the prices on whatsapp)

• NITRO 482 NX - 9500 Boat only or 20000 for the entire rig
• TRACKER V16 - 8500
• Fisher Pro Hawk 170 - 13000
• NITRO 482 - ? ? ?
• BASS TRACKER ProTeam 175 Rossa - 13000
• TRITON TR176 - 18900

I'm gonna go sit in a corner and cry - please do not disturb me 

[Dark3]

Is that euros

[sacid]

yah. Making the 482 NX actually cost more than a new Z6 on the nitro website

[sacid]

A German tackle dealer called Nippon Tackle (importing Japanese tackle to Germany) is going to put a Bassboat on the market. I'm not sure whether the maker is a Japanese company or if he produces them overseas. The brand name is / will be Deka.

The boat is 4.85 x 1.95 x 0.70 meters. It's an aluminum boat ready for 60hp.

Check it out on YouTube. Nippon-Tackle has a channel there and introduces the boat there. His version has a torqueedo twin motor as main engine, though. I'm not too impressed by the speed, but then its only 2 electric motors

[BOATS]

There is a dealer in France selling Xpress boats. I will find out their name.

[BOATS]

We'd like to welcome Frédéric Esteruelas and his staff to the Xpress Boats family! Fred just received his first shipment of boats at his dealership, Instinct Bassboat in Saint-Benin-d'Azy, France. They are great people and we look forward to a long and fruitful relationship

[sacid]

Hey guys,

so, a friend of mine got himself a boat now. It's not really a Bassboat but more like a Multispecies boat with a V-keel.

He was testdriving a Nitro Z9 on the Rhine and said it isn't fun at all to drive that boat on the Rhine. The reason for that is, that the Rhine is very fast flowing and we got these River Transport Boats (shipping containers, or sand or other goods) that create quite the big waves. These container ships are very frequent on the river (within half an hour you can see around 10 of them going up and down the river).

My friend thus decided to buy an Alumacraft with a V-Keel and a high board. I guess a "normal" Bassboat would indeed be no fun and pretty dangerous on our waters. But I just love them Bassboats. So I'm a bit unsure what I should be looking for now on the european market. At times I can see a few Bassboats on spanish and italien websites, but i guess a nitro nx series boat would be just as dangerous to drive here.

When I look around for used boats I often stumble upon ads for Polarkraft Boats. They're quite affordable (around 12k Euros for a new POLARKRAFT TX 175 PRO without Engine). Not sure though if that boat can handle the conditions here or whether it'll perform like the nitro in the waves of the container ships?

[caddyjoe77]

How big of waves are you talking?

There are no public use lakes in Germany that you can take a boat on?

[sacid]

Hi Joe,

this is the area i'd fish at.
https://www.google.de/maps/@49.3914009,8.5483116,24724m/data=!3m1!1e3

Slipping / Ramping would be done in the main river (fast current) as most ramps are in the river, not in the backwaters. Fishing will be done in the Backwaters though.

As you can see, these Backwaters are like lakes mostly. hardly any current. some even having only one connection to the river. (These backwaters are the original river before it got straightened out around 100 years or so ago). No other major big lakes around.

As for the waves. I'm not really able to tell as I've not been in a boat on the river yet. But here are a couple videos that show the ships on the Rhine and the waves they produce:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZWwqz5TiWo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaCmIkgpULI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCSH6SwbYjc

Second video starts in my area. Left is the city of Ludwigshafen, where I live (also BASF Headquarters). Right is the city of Mannheim. This area is just a bit north (downstream) to the area on maps linked above. At around 5.00 to 5.30 in the 2nd Video you'll see how frequent these ships are on the river.

Video #3 shows another good example on such a ship running upstream.

Hope this helps to illustrate the conditions here.

[Pferox]

I fish salt, brackish water around Houston and Galveston, and we experience this problem you are having in just about all the places I fish, even some that are supposed to be sheltered, mainly because those wakes travel a long ways.

If you are near the ship, or barge tug, not only do you have the wave to deal with, but the sucking action that happens with the prop suction.  I have seen boats drop, move down, in excess of a few feet at times, then of course rise again, then comes the wave.

Around here they call that a Rogue Wave, there is some information about that on the internet.  Most boats around here either have high sides with casting platforms, with self bailing or self draining decks, and multiple high capacity automatic bilge pumps, or nothing but a huge casting platform so that waves actually just run across the deck.  Although some run bass boats around here, they make sure they are careful about running near a ship, trying to avoid it as much as possible.

[sacid]

Rogue waves? Well, I doubt the waves created by these river cargoships could be considered rogue waves.

Been on the bridge between the two cities yesterday and watched a ship passing by. The waves were not really high but there were a lot of turbulences in the waves. Although that could be because of the bridge Fundament breaking the stream.