Buying a boat

[hunter0527]

Re: Buying a boat

so if for some unknown reason we get pulled over by the boat police, the boat is rated for 8 persons and I have 9 or 10 with only 4 adults and the rest kids and have life jackets for everyone we will be ok? assuming we are under the weight limit, which I am positive we would be.

 

[superbenk]

Re: Buying a boat

Probably depends on the day/cop/ranger/phase of the moon I'd say you'd be ok, though very crowded, but I won't come defend you in court

 

[sethjon]

Re: Buying a boat

A couple of things and this is only my opinion. I would stay away from Bayliner. If you have to ask why you must be very new to boating. Secondly and very important, is deicde what you are going to do with the boat such as fish or ski or tow inflatables. Do not try to save money by getting something under powered. You will use more gas by doing that and you will be putting the motor under more stress too.

 

[hunter0527]

Re: Buying a boat

yes i am very new to boating as i have never owned a boat before but have been involved in boating. may i ask why stay away from bayliner? i would like to be able to tow a tube and maybe ski occasionally. I was thinking that the merc 3.0 would be fine and be fuel efficient being that it is only a 4 cylinder. I dont need a huge boat with a huge motor. Just want a nice family boat. Thanks!

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Buying a boat

I wouldn't necessarily avoid Bayliners. They are perfectly fine boats if well maintained. Problem is many of them were not well maintained. A 17-18' with the 3.0 would be fine for your intended usage. If you want to do lots of skiing with a bunch of passengers in the boat you might want to step up to a 4.3.

 

[superbenk]

Re: Buying a boat

A couple of things and this is only my opinion. I would stay away from Bayliner. If you have to ask why you must be very new to boating.

This seems like a kind of silly thing to throw around constantly. I don't think anyone thinks Bayliner is some luxury line, but I don't think you need to disregard them altogether as junk. Do you go around telling people not to buy a Chevy (political/economic issues aside) & that they should only buy BMW, Mercedes, etc?

There are economy boats which do just fine, there's moderately more expensive boats which may last a bit longer & be better built, and there are luxury lines with all the bells/whistles/quality engineering/etc.

I see an awful lot of really old Chevys driving around just fine & I see a lot of really old Bayliners doing the same.