Rajin Cajun for a first-time bass boat? see pics

[Woodbutcher]

Hey everyone.
So I just bought access to a private dock for my pontoon on a 500 acre private like by my house. Its unlimited horsepower on the lake, and its loaded with bass and crappie so ill be busy with my son this summer. i planned on just fishing from the pontoon but you can get a decent bass boat for around 5-6k, so i decided to start looking.
The lake has dozens of channels all around 3-10ft deep, and the main lake channel is about 25ft deep. in the middle there are a ton of jet skiers zippin by, but there is a no wake within 75ft of the perimeter so I wont need some crazy walleye boat to fight the waves .

Anyways, my thoughts were to get a aluminum hull, 16-18ft with a fuel injected 4 stroke, but its hard to find a fuel injected bass boat for under 6k unless its under 20hp. also im mechanically inclined and have had 2 strokes my whole life so its not the end of the world.
I also figured aluminum would be more bulletproof, though i know they get whipped around in the wind a bit, but i dont fish in too much high wind. just a casual bass guy who now has access to a lake and dock.


So..... I ran into a 1995 Rajin Cajun XL 18.5ft dual console with a 150hp mariner magnum efi with trailer for 4k. its in good shape. Someone ripped out the carpet and put in what looks like a rhino liner material from a pickup bed. but it looks well done and not just thrown in there with a paint can. the owner said it still shines up nice and the gel coat is good. he said itll do 60mph but that doesnt matter to me much. theres several scratches on the underside of the hull, and some were from the bunks on the trailer said. It has a keel guard too which is good. the mariner has a manual jack plate too, but they added hydraulic steering which he loves.

It has a minn kota 80lb thrust maxxum trolling motor as well. it has a ton of storage, since this thing is 7'3" wide! all the other boats i was looking at were around 6ft (lowes, trackers, etc).

he is checking the compression for me by a ceritfied mercury mechanic, but hes always had it serviced to get it ready for the bass tournaments.

Seem like a good deal? anything in particular should i look for? its about 3hrs from me.

I had him trim the motor up and yank up and down on the outboard to see if the transom was good and strong and he said the whole boat and trailer moved together.
i know this isnt the best first bass boat, but im not new to boating and fishing, and i know the basics of looking for spider cracks in the fiberglass, making sure theres no water damage in the hull, etc. but wanted to ask the experts before pulling the trigger .


thanks in advance!

[Woodbutcher]

a few more pics

[greg88]

For 4 grand and it runs fair and has decent batteries that's not a bad price

[Woodbutcher]

I forgot to add that I'm going to keep this boat in the water from May until October at the dock. I'm not trailering this thing back and forth since we will probably be using it often and i'm not going from lake to lake. I know.... for most bass boat people this is sacrilegious since I'm not polishing it every time, but when you own a dock you typically leave your boat there for the season, since this is what we do with our pontoon. I don't know if that impacts the criteria of a fiberglass boat versus an aluminum, but I feel fiberglass boats all over the world sit in the water, especially ocean and the great lakes boats. And they're all fiberglass, so I still think I should be good. on a final note I think the fiberglass boat would be easier to clean at the end of year to get the water line gunk off compared to aluminum. Maybe I'm wrong...

[DQM]

Does your dock have a list or can you put one in? I assume it doesn't based on your last post.

You might want to find some other Cajun owners, if you can (probably many on here) and see if they have any experience with how the hull does being in the water for that length of time. Mainly to see if anyone with a model in that year range has any problems with blistering when left in the water for 5 months.

To get the hull clean at the end of each season you are most likely going to have to acid wash it. Fortunately it is not white so it will not show the discoloration too bad.

[Woodbutcher]

Okay sounds good. I guess I can put another post in the Cajun forum asking if it would be all right. I'll be honest I'll probably invest in a lift for the boat to get it out of the water in a season of so.You can get them used for around 1500 bucks, especially when you're on a lake when people sell those kinds of things

[M. Alverson]

I have 1 of those in the garage I bought brand new in 95 ! It's been a great boat. It has a great hull and does well in rough water. I run a 23 pitch Yamaha, boat comes on plane as fast as any I have been in. I had my Mariner totally rebuilt last fall and use the boat to crappie fish out of now. Mine is a single console which works when you have really long rods onboard. If the oil injection still works make sure the sensor sounds when you start it. Can't comment much on leaving it in the water all summer. Good buy IMHO !

[Woodbutcher]

Yeah he told me it'll go 60 mph with two people and gear. Plenty fast to pull tubers or get across my small lake quick. I just asked him about the oil injection and he said he just premixes the gas. The guy before him pulled off the mixer or something? I believe The oil injection on these is variable, meaning it dumps more oil in when at full throttle versus putsing around at 1/4 throttle. I guess that's the only issue since you're getting 50: 1 whether you're at idle or full throttle.The gas tank is like 35 gallons Which is huge. He said itll last him 1.5 days when he's in tournaments running full speed all day. Sounds like a guzzler, but it should last me a couple months since my lake is so small.

[jarhead175]

2.3L is a thirsty motor just cruise around 3,000 rpms and the gauge won't move get it up between 5-6,000 rpms you can watch the gauge fall fast. Removal of the oil injection system is common on big deal just mix. I haven't left a boat setting in water like that but I would have all the thru-hull fittings resealed before I unloaded it, and i would plug the livewell intake at the back of the boat so no water is in the plumbing.

[Woodbutcher]

What should I expect for compression? Is it typical two-stroke type thing where over 100psi and within 10% of each other is good enough? I definitely would like to see 120 PSI or more each cylinder usually.

[Woodbutcher]

On a side note I do have this ramp that goes up the hill. The previous owner used it for a small jon boat with an outboard. I could get creative with this if I wanted to. Maybe put some rollers on some 4x4s on an angle that matches the hull? Quite an angle though. I would say 20°?

[250bassFL]

Use to see all those different brands around here years ago.

[ECobb91]

On a side note I do have this ramp that goes up the hill. The previous owner used it for a small jon boat with an outboard. I could get creative with this if I wanted to. Maybe put some rollers on some 4x4s on an angle that matches the hull? Quite an angle though. I would say 20°?

there’s no way I’d put a bass boat on that ramp. A jon boat and motor might weigh 300lbs max. That motor on the Cajun alone is heavier than that. The Cajun prob runs about 1500-2000lbs total.. that’s a lot of stress to put on the bow eye of any heavy boat to winch it out of the water at that angle. If you want to keep it in the water, I’d look into getting a boat lift.

[1Holeshot]

Get a covered boat lift. Don't leave the boat in the water.

You can thank me later.

[jarhead175]

I have seen ramps like that used for bass boats but they used pipe, trailer without the tires, and a electric winch.

[Woodbutcher]

It looks like I might have to keep an eye out for an aluminum boat just to be safe. Maybe one with a welded hull.

[twitch]

If you decide to leave it in the water make sure you have 2 working bilge pumps and one is automatic, a lift would be best for you though also for that money it looks like a good deal

[bqtoot]

Personally, I wouldn't leave it at the dock. These things were made to trailer, so trailer it. Too many things could go wrong leaving it on the water. The Cajun looks like a decent boat for the price, and from the pics it seems the owner took care of it (notice it's in a garage). Many bass fishermen travel hours to the lake and trailer their boats every time. I go as far a six hours one way to fish and would never leave my boat there even if I had a dock. JMHO. Good luck.

[DrewFlu33]

What should I expect for compression? Is it typical two-stroke type thing where over 100psi and within 10% of each other is good enough? I definitely would like to see 120 PSI or more each cylinder usually.

There are official compression numbers out there, but there's so much variance between gauges the bolded part is far and away the most important. The odds of a gauge reading differently than another are pretty high, while the odds of all cylinders losing compression evenly as the motor is about to blow are basically zero. A leakdown test would be more comprehensive if you feel uneasy.

[madmurph]

Bass Cat Boats has a nice list of what to look at when buying a used boat. They posted it here a few times. See if you can find it. It's a good resource.