Need a little advice on boat selection.

I've moved away from the smaller lakes I normally hang out on to McKinney. Lots more water around me, but it's lots bigger.

I'm looking for a duck hunting, lake fishhing (bass and striper) and a summer family fun boat with some mild waterski/tubing/wakeboard capability and it would really be nice if it fit in my garage.

I know, I'm not asking for much.

I'm thinking of a camo Lowe FM165 deep V and a 90 hp outboard. I figure we can sit down inside the hull and use camo netting to disguise it as a island in relatively shallow water. It would be a much nicer and dryer commute to the secret spot on the really good duck days. I don't consider it a tragedy to not be able tuck up against the shore since most of the birds are flying 50 yards from shore by the third weekend.

I'm going from a 14' Jon with a 6hp mud motor, so a big change for me. I've been seriously thinking about a mod-v, but I'm thinking the 4" less draft isn't worth the big water performance trade off unless I go to a straight mud boat with a short tail. However, a mid boat route really compromises some of the summer uses.

I have too many back problems to run a big long tail so doing long tail during duck season and outboard the rest of the year is out. Getting old is not fun.

Thoughts?

Not a duck boat, but I ran an 18' bass boat with a 175 Merc on it, and it was almost enough boat for Texas lakes until the wind came up. It got real on several occasions. I would want a much bigger boat than 18' to hit those big Texas lakes these days.

That's the exact answer I was afraid would be coming back.

Sorry man.

That's OK. If the deep v won't do it I'm going straight for the mud boat with the short tail.

Hanging out in the summer is the third place use.

I think some of the Excel boats would be a good compromise for you if you go mud boat. I have a gator tail boat which is flat bottom. I run across a few north Texas lakes and it can beat you pretty good going across the lake. When I am down here in Houston, not much of an issue. But I take my dad who is in his 60s and that flat bottom just beats him up. But if you plan to really get in the mud, flat is best. When I first bought it, I was just duck hunting. Now we have a place on a lake and the family uses it. Not as ideal. So, thinking about trading out the hull and getting something like the F4.