Starcraft Islander Boats For Sale

The Starcraft Islander is an aluminum cuddy-cabin fishing boat built for big water, with a following on Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, Lake Michigan, the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware coastal waters as well as inland lakes and rivers. The cuddy cabin is what sets the line apart: it gives decent headroom and a forward v-berth while leaving an unusually deep cockpit behind it. The deep-V hull carries high dead rise and plenty of bow height, so it tracks well, rides chop and can be fished in weather that turns back smaller boats. Shoppers looking at Starcraft Islander boats for sale are generally classic-boat owners who want something serviceable, low-maintenance and inexpensive to keep.

These are riveted aluminum hulls using Starcraft's double-stagger rivet pattern across a one-piece bottom, hull sides and transom, a construction method the builder still uses today. The Islander has been produced across decades, from a 22-foot 7-inch 1968 model with a windshield wiper and dual gas tanks with dual filler caps, through 1984 hulls in the 19-to-22-foot range, to the 19-foot Islander 191. Length aside, the boats share the deep-hull, wide-cockpit fishing character.

On performance, the Islander 191 runs an 8-foot beam, weighs under 2,000 pounds, and its 3-liter, 130-horsepower Mercruiser pushes it into the 40-mph vicinity. That weight is the selling point: a comparable fiberglass cuddy this size or depth would typically run 500 to 1,000 pounds heavier, making the aluminum hull easier to launch, retrieve and tow. Other Islanders carry the 2.5-liter GM Iron Duke rated around 120 horsepower on an OMC drive, the 120-horse Mercruiser, or the GM 4.3 V6 (three-quarters of a 350 V8); the smaller-powered hulls cruise closer to 30 mph. Trailers are typically the original Easy Loader, sometimes upgraded with electric brakes, a heavy-duty axle and radial tires.

At the helm the 191 sets a high driving position with Tempura bucket seats, a tall windshield, a stand-up bimini that connects to the windshield, full instrumentation, power trim and a dual-battery switch. Many boats are rigged for serious fishing with electric downriggers, side rod racks, an in-floor live well that doubles as a bait well, and a transom kicker bracket sized for a 9.9 Mercury four-stroke for slow trolling. A floor-blade aluminum prop and spring-loaded trim tabs help the hull get onto plane quickly when the stern is loaded.

The cockpit is deep, with roughly 30 inches of inside freeboard for security when you stand to net or boat a fish, storage boxes on both sides of the kick-up footwells, and a "dog box" engine cover hiding the simple Mercruiser. Owners often add a gator-skin non-slip floor coating so the boat can be hosed out and walked away from. A swim platform with a pull-out two-step ladder sits at the stern. Below, the v-berth has a deck hatch, a porta-potti and a high stainless bow rail.

When buying a used Starcraft Islander, inspect the plywood transom and, on stringer-drive boats, the stringers, since trapped moisture rots the wood inside the aluminum even when the cosmetics look clean. Check that the cabin and cockpit floor are solid, and budget for carburetor work on older engines. Prices vary widely with condition: documented sales among these boats range from a $500 barn find to an $11,000 lightly used 1984 hull.



Currently, there are 914 boats available for sale for Starcraft boats. Prices range from $3,995 to $139,900, with an average listing price of $49,541. The inventory includes 738 new boats and 176 used boats. The fleet is comprised of 913 powerboats. Popular boat types include Pontoon, Deck, Aluminum Fishing, Other, and Runabout. boats are most popular in Naples, Pewaukee, Fort Lauderdale, Laconia, and Washington. There have been 3,587 boats listed on MarineSource that have sold in the past year. May is the most common month for new and used boats to be added to MarineSource, so be sure to check back regularly. February is the most common month for boats to sell, so be sure to beat the rush! The most common activities for boats are family fun, freshwater fishing, day cruising, saltwater fishing, and watersports. Most boats contain gps, radio, bow rail, sonar, and depth sounder. boats tend to have an average of 1 engine. It is common for boats to have Yamaha engines or MERCURY engines or Mercury engines.