Z7 Sport Fish/ski

[boilermaker]

AS much as I would love for my first boat purchase to be a dedicated fishing boat. That just can't happen with my family with a wife and kids who love tube and ski. I end having to look at the Ski/Fish combos. Looking around the Nitro Z7 sport seems to fit my needs. Does anyone have any first hand knowledge?

[helotaxi]

I've had mine since the end of June.  It's an acceptable compromise.  It's a great family boat that can be fished well enough.  I added the bimini top for some shade in the cockpit and rear deck for the family in the summer; it gets incredibly hot around Vegas, believe it or not .  I replaced the dash sonar with a Lowrance HDS7 Gen3.  It's the biggest unit that will fit in the dash.  I have a networked Gen2 Touch on the bow.  The stock trolling motor has the US2 transducer and makes plenty of thrust for a casual fisherman.

My gripes about the boat all revolve around storage.  There isn't any!  The rod locker can't accommodate more than 3 real rods and nothing longer than 6'10".  There is not really any tackle storage.  I've adopted a similar minimalist approach to the fishing from the boat as I have with the kayak.  The front deck is plenty big to fish from but there isn't really room to stage rods.  If you have room at the house to park it, great.  If you need a storage unit like I do, you're going to find it a challenge to find a unit it will fit in.  Most 10' wide storage units only have a 7-ish foot wide door and this girl is 8'6" on the trailer.  Look for a 12x25' storage unit as those often have a 10' door.

I got mine the same way it sounds like you're headed.  The wife chose it for me.  I wanted a basic aluminum 17' bass boat with lots of storage and a smaller motor.  I ended up with a family boat that could be fished.  It's a compromise and you have to go in understanding that.  I like the boat and have enjoyed it thus far and caught fish.  It isn't a tournament boat but it certainly gets the job done.  If they'd worked more, usable storage into the design, it would really be the perfect compromise.

With a 150 Merc 4-stroke it will run just over 50, BTW.

[analfisherman]

I've never had a Z7 Sport but many years ago I had a fish and ski.

Mine had passenger seats that folded down flat.

I had Velcro tabs put on the seat backs so when fishing alone I could carry 6 rods.
We took a removable Velcro strap that I stored in a passenger glove box and could strap it down over the rods and could really travel from hole to hole quite fast.
When my boy fished with me, he sat behind me when traveling. 

Just an idea you may want to investigate doing?
Oh I should mention that the seats had a snap tab on them that held the seat back down solid.