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Quick Answer A fish and ski boat is a dual purpose boat that combines fishing features like a bow casting deck, trolling motor, and fishing seats with watersports features like a rear ski tow eye, comfortable rear seating, and enough horsepower to pull a tuber. For most Texas families a 17 to 20 foot aluminum…

Quick Answer Willis TX sits on the north end of Lake Conroe, which makes it one of the strongest pontoon boat markets in Montgomery County. For most Willis families the sweet spot is a 22 to 24 foot tritoon from SunCatcher or Xcursion with a Yamaha F200 or F250 SHO outboard. Big D Marine and…

Quick Answer If you are shopping Excel boats in Louisiana, Big D Marine and Powersports is one of the closest authorized Excel dealers, located just across the state line in Texas. Our Hitchcock location on the Galveston Bay side serves Louisiana buyers in Lake Charles, Sulphur, Lafayette, and the western half of the state. We…

Quick Answer The best fishing boat for Texas bays is a 22 to 24 foot bay boat with a shallow draft, a deadrise between 12 and 16 degrees, and a Yamaha outboard between 200 and 300 horsepower. Sea Pro, Blazer Bay, and Wellcraft are the three strongest fiberglass brand picks for the Texas coast. Excel…

Quick Answer Roughly 80 percent of boats sold in the United States each year are pre owned, and Lake Conroe is one of the strongest used boat markets in Texas. Big D Marine and Powersports specializes in pre owned and consignment boats at our I 45 Huntsville location, which sits about 45 minutes north of…

Quick Answer Houston is one of the biggest boat markets in Texas, but the best boat dealers serving Houston area buyers are typically located just outside the metro rather than inside the city limits. Big D Marine and Powersports serves the greater Houston market from two locations: Hitchcock on the Galveston Bay side, about 40…

Quick Answer A bowrider is a family sport boat with an open bow seating area at the front. For Texas families the sweet spot is a 20 to 24 foot bowrider from Four Winns or Wellcraft, which handles Lake Conroe, Lake Livingston, Sam Rayburn, and Galveston Bay comfortably. New bowrider prices in Texas typically run…

Quick Answer For most Texas families the best watersports boat is a 22 to 24 foot tritoon pontoon with 200 to 250 horsepower Yamaha power. It tows tubers and skiers comfortably, seats eight to ten people, and doubles as a cruising and swimming platform when nobody wants to ride. If watersports performance is your top…

Quick Answer For Texas duck hunting, three aluminum boats stand above the rest at Big D Marine and Powersports. The Excel Viper F4 1751 is the dedicated duck boat purpose built for marsh and timber. The Excel Shallow Water F4 1754 or 1860 is the versatile pick that hunts hard and fishes the rest of…

Quick Answer A boat trade in works the same way as a car trade in. The dealer gives you a trade in value for your current boat, that value is applied as a credit toward your new boat purchase, and in Texas the trade in amount also reduces the taxable value, so you save on…

Quick Answer Yamaha builds the deepest WaveRunner lineup in the industry, split across five families for 2026: EX for entry level, VX for family runabouts, GP for performance and racing, FX for flagship touring, and JetBlaster for freestyle riders. For most Texas families the VX Cruiser or VX Deluxe hits the sweet spot on price,…

Quick Answer G3, Excel, and Crestliner are all top tier aluminum fishing boat brands. G3 wins for smooth ride quality, factory Yamaha integration, and general Texas lake use. Excel wins for the toughest all welded construction, shallow water performance, and duck hunting. Crestliner wins for strong resale value, a wider multi species lineup, and buyers…

Quick Answer A pontoon has two aluminum tubes under the deck. A tritoon has three. That one design difference changes almost everything about how the boat rides, how fast it goes, how much horsepower it can carry, and how it holds up in Texas afternoon wind. For most Texas lake families the tritoon is the…

Quick Answer SunCatcher and Xcursion are two pontoon brands built by G3 Boats, which is owned by Yamaha Motor Corporation. They share the same engineering standards and both are engineered around Yamaha outboards. SunCatcher leans premium with more finish options and a broader lineup that scales from entry level to luxury tritoons. Xcursion leans practical…

Quick Answer New boat prices in Texas in 2026 typically range from around twenty thousand dollars for a compact aluminum fishing boat, to eighty thousand and up for a fully outfitted bay boat or 24 foot tritoon pontoon, and well over one hundred thousand for premium tournament bass boats and larger cruisers. Pre owned prices…

Quick Answer Yamaha builds outboards from 2.5 horsepower up to 450 horsepower across five families: portables, mid range four strokes, the F150 sized workhorses, the F200 through F300 mid size V6, and the F350 through F450 XTO offshore V8. For most Texas recreational boaters the sweet spot is the F150 for family boats and pontoons,…

Quick Answer For most Lake Livingston bass anglers, an aluminum bass boat in the 17 to 20 foot range outperforms a fiberglass tournament rig on this water. Lake Livingston is full of standing timber, submerged stumps, and shallow flats that favor a hull built to take hits. The two brands we recommend most for Livingston…

Quick Answer Phoenix and Blazer are both elite tournament bass boats, and there is no universal winner between them. Phoenix leans premium with a smoother ride, more refined interior finish, and slightly higher price. Blazer leans pure performance with a lighter hull, aggressive hole shot, and higher top end for the same horsepower. If you…

Quick Answer For Galveston Bay fishing the four bay boats worth serious consideration are Sea Pro, Key West, Blazer PureBay, and Excel Bay Pro Elite. All four are 20 to 26 foot bay boats built for shallow to mid depth Texas coast use. The right pick comes down to how far you run, how many…

Quick Answer Yes, you can finance a boat in Texas with less than perfect credit. Big D Marine and Powersports works with multiple lenders including credit unions and marine specialty lenders that consider credit scores below 680. Approval depends on your income, your down payment, the boat you are buying, and your overall financial picture,…

Quick Answer Excel Boats build all welded aluminum boats in Mississippi for shallow water fishing, bay fishing, and duck hunting. Big D Marine and Powersports is an authorized Excel dealer with locations in Huntsville, I 45 Huntsville, and Hitchcock, Texas. Prices for a new Excel run from the low twenty thousands for a compact shallow…

Quick Answer If you boat on Lake Conroe and want one clear recommendation, a 22 to 24 foot tritoon with 150 to 200 horsepower fits the way most families actually use the lake. It handles the afternoon wind chop, has enough deck for eight to ten people, tows tubers and skiers well, and still trailers…

When you’re searching for Blazer boats for sale in Texas, you’re usually after one thing: a high-performance, tournament-bred fishing machine that can run the flats at dawn and handle a Gulf chop by afternoon. That’s exactly the kind of boat Blazer has been hand-building since 1978, and it’s why the line has become a standout…

If you’re shopping for G3 boats for sale in Texas, you already know what you’re after: an all-welded aluminum boat tough enough for our lakes and bays, rigged with a dependable Yamaha outboard, and priced to get you on the water without a second mortgage. At Big D Marine & Powersports, G3 has been one…

If you’re shopping for a boat around Huntsville, the first question isn’t really what boat — it’s what water. Lake Conroe and Lake Livingston are both within easy reach of us, but they run completely differently. A boat that’s perfect on one can be the wrong call on the other. Here’s how to match the…