Marc,

20 is great for some things and 18 is better for some things. You choose the one that fits your style of fishing. If you fish mostly small lakes 18 is fine if fish larger 20 is better. If you like loads of storage,space, and overall comfort get a 21 thats as long as it fits in your garage.

Russ

As a member of a dealer's Pro-staff, I have the choice of any length boat I want to fish out of.   I went from a 21' back down to a 20'.  I have yet to question my choice for any reason.  Perhaps when I retire I'll want a 19' boat, but nothing smaller for me as long as I live in the west with big water fisheries subject to the wind we get out here.

Smitty

Bigger is always better!  Isn't that the American way???  It's all about what is right for you Marc.  Figure out what you need most and work from there.  Personally, I needy the four seats.  A place for everyone in my family to park their rear end's.  So that left only a few options for me, and then decide if I wanted to go the walleye boat route / fish and ski or the bass boat route.  Both have advantages and disadvantages.  Take your time to know what YOU want.

Mark

If you do a lot of dock fishing and other tight quarters stuff, you would really like an 18 footer over a 20. But - you can't beat the storage and ride of a 20 footer. Even with that said, I have seen Kirk take his big boat into some pretty tight spots!

I say get what you can afford.  If you are like most of us, we all want to upgrade at some point.  I bought a zx190 and I love it, but if my garage can accommidate a bigger boat I would've bought a 20ft boat.  I fish mostly with just a backseater, but there have been times that I would fish with 3 and a bigger boat would be much nicer.  I say if you have space and if you can afford to upgrade...go ahead.  We only live once.

Hey Marc...for me...a guy who fishes solo alot and close to a lake where I can do the 3 hr trip....the smaller boat was the ticket...boat control, overall cost told me an 18'6" has lots of storage....but yet still fishes well with two anglers.......the drawback was in team events where pitching and flipping up front were required but you get around it.
at $27.000-vs-$41.000....easy decision in my book!
Cannot argue the rough water ride or stability of the bigger boat but I am not a speed guy and am happy with 53 mph as the hull on my boat does quite well in rough water.

Marc,

  While I have not had both, I have gone on 20+ foot boats before.  You're right, more horses, more space etc.  I was asking myself the same question 1.5 yrs ago.  18 footers were OK, but space was an issue, price was nice.  Sticker price was the greatest difference.  The decision I made was to get a Nitro 591.  It was a new model for last year and I believe is 19'7"  It was a good hybrid between the smaller, better priced boats and the larger more spacious horses.  I was debating between a 901 and the new 591.  If I got the 901, I would be spending more than I wanted while getting a bare bones 901.  In choosing the 591, I was able to spend less overall while upgrading the trolling motor to an 84 thust MK lift assist, added a Lowrance 25c, upgraded the outboard to a Merc 150 Opti, added all the organizers, purchased 2 new Loomis set-ups plus a few other options.  Even though the outboard is smaller than a 225, I'm not pushing as much weigth and the top end speed is 65mph.  Grant it that is not the 80+ mph of the new Z-9, it is plenty fast for me at this time.  The boat is rated to accept a 200 horse outboard.  I believe the 'book' said a 200 horse would produce 71mph, but the 6 extra mph was not worth the additional 5-7K.  Another factor to look at is stability.  Many of the 18 foot boats have a 86" beam.  The 591 has a 94" beam, which seems to be standard on all 'high-end' 20+ foot boats. 
     Good luck in your quest. -

Jon Werner

Hey buddy, I have had both and frankly the 20 gives you all the more that you would expect from a bigger boat.  More of everything.  Storage, HP, deck space, rod space, just all you can imagine.  It will always be a 20 for me.

I've been thinking of upgradeing to a 20ft boat. However, I would like to hear some of  the Pros vs Cons. From the forum. I value all opinions. I would like to hear from people that have had both.

Marc F.