Hey all, long time lurker first time poster...
Heres the question, a friend and i bought a cheap craigslist boat as our first floater, a small 17ft bowrider, 70hp force (i know i know) runs perfectly after a fuel pump and carb rebuild. however, we routinely are out with both of us, his wife and small child. We keep the boat on a resevoir, but enjoy heading down the ct river from east haddam to the mouth.
As I am sure you can imagine, this is a tremendous challenge is a small boat with weekend traffic on the river. And far from what I consider completely safe.
We bought this boat to get on the water as we figured it was cheap and it would help us to figure out exactly what we wanted out of a serious purchase.
Here is what we do in no particular order, though all are important functions though not specific items to tailor a purchase towards.
Ski, wakeboard, tube
Fish, freshwater and some long island sound
we would like to be able to go to block island in good weather
Hanging out....whether anchoring up, rafting or whatever, we need some capacity for people, 8 would be good
Heading down the river (deep wakes with weekend traffic) to the sound and some near shore ocean usage (heading to napatree point etc)
Our dream boat from a perspective of having gone and explored a new one, though way to expensive, would be an 18 ft boston whaler dauntless, maybe 20ft if the deal was right.
Now in its current (2010) config, it is about perfect, center console loads of room, plenty of power, seating and capacity. Its a safe boat of course and will handle all we want to do without a problem.
These boat are only in our price range in early 2000's (we would like to keep it well under 20k if possible).
I am not adverse to finding another model/brand that will work well, and advice of owners is the best way to get an idea of ride, ability to handle chop and inclement weather, carry people and do all of the things that we want to do well but not perfect (dont need a wakeboard boat specifically kind of thing its just for fun)
Any other brands or models to look at, the bw outrage maybe? Mako's? etc. I am not adverse to a winter project to the extent of reconfiguring for seating etc.
Any help, links, advice will be greatly appreciated!!!
Thanks
Seth
Heres the question, a friend and i bought a cheap craigslist boat as our first floater, a small 17ft bowrider, 70hp force (i know i know) runs perfectly after a fuel pump and carb rebuild. however, we routinely are out with both of us, his wife and small child. We keep the boat on a resevoir, but enjoy heading down the ct river from east haddam to the mouth.
As I am sure you can imagine, this is a tremendous challenge is a small boat with weekend traffic on the river. And far from what I consider completely safe.
We bought this boat to get on the water as we figured it was cheap and it would help us to figure out exactly what we wanted out of a serious purchase.
Here is what we do in no particular order, though all are important functions though not specific items to tailor a purchase towards.
Ski, wakeboard, tube
Fish, freshwater and some long island sound
we would like to be able to go to block island in good weather
Hanging out....whether anchoring up, rafting or whatever, we need some capacity for people, 8 would be good
Heading down the river (deep wakes with weekend traffic) to the sound and some near shore ocean usage (heading to napatree point etc)
Our dream boat from a perspective of having gone and explored a new one, though way to expensive, would be an 18 ft boston whaler dauntless, maybe 20ft if the deal was right.
Now in its current (2010) config, it is about perfect, center console loads of room, plenty of power, seating and capacity. Its a safe boat of course and will handle all we want to do without a problem.
These boat are only in our price range in early 2000's (we would like to keep it well under 20k if possible).
I am not adverse to finding another model/brand that will work well, and advice of owners is the best way to get an idea of ride, ability to handle chop and inclement weather, carry people and do all of the things that we want to do well but not perfect (dont need a wakeboard boat specifically kind of thing its just for fun)
Any other brands or models to look at, the bw outrage maybe? Mako's? etc. I am not adverse to a winter project to the extent of reconfiguring for seating etc.
Any help, links, advice will be greatly appreciated!!!
Thanks
Seth
