Re: Boat show season approaching
Research, research, and then go for it!
Thanks for all of the great tips. Too bad researching boats wasn't as easy as researching cars & trucks. At least with the latter you can easily find MSRP prices. With the boat brands we're interested in, it's always "Call for price," so I ended up paying visits to a couple of dealers, something I at first dreaded doing, but am now glad I did. I'm assuming (hoping) prices will be readily displayed for all makes at the boat show.
There aren't any leftover '07s of my first and second choice in the area. They were very popular and sold out. In fact, there are ads in Craigslist by people looking to buy them.
And, yes, the motor is extremely important to us. I'd like to hang a normally aspirated 115hp 4-stroke on a hull rated at 135hp. Or a 140hp NA 4-stroke on a hull rated at 150hp. It doesn't follow the advice of others on this board to put the maximum hp you can on the boat, but from what research I've done, and friends I've talked to, it should be plenty for what we need, especially since we will be boating exclusively in inland lakes.
I've put this off for so many years, mostly because of the cost (relative to my income and assets at the time), but partly because of all the horror stories my friends with boats had back then. The boats, trailers and especially the motors today appear to be so much better than they were years ago.
"Research, research, and then go for it!" Good advice, indeed.
