Hello first Iboats post.....

[Painless31]

Hello guys and gals this is my first post on iboats. I have a which one should I buy question. First off I have been around boats my whole life from fishing boats (my dad has had Rangers, bumble bee's and procraft's), my buddies in AK have some serious fishing boats that I have tooled around on (love fishing in AK) and my family has a Larson 21ish foot bow rider that we take out on Logan Martin lake on the 4th of July. I live about 2 miles from Old Hickory lake in TN, and have decided it is time for my wife and our girls to have a boat. I am pretty handy when it comes to fixing things so I think I want on older boat to restore over the winter. I am looking at 2 boats right now one is a 1984 Sea Ray 20' with a V8 and the other is a 1985 Regal 19 foot with a v6. We would use the boat for tubing and cruising around maybe some skiing and knee boarding but mainly cruising. I am leaning towards the Sea Ray. Both boats are running and have decent interiors for their ages. I guess my questions are, is it worth it to buy a boat this old and fix it up or should I save some more money and buy a newer 90's model boat. Like I said I am not afraid to tear anything apart so let me know what you think......

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Hello first Iboats post.....

Welcome to iboats!

Check out or Restoration Section and you will be further inspired!!

 

[Painless31]

Re: Hello first Iboats post.....

I have been, that is very dangerous for me as I would love to do it but my wife would kill me. She wants something that we can use right now and fix over the winter so I need a semi project boat not a complete project boat.......

 

[Beefer]

Re: Hello first Iboats post.....

Welcome to iBoats!

I think the general concensus on boats is that age is not chronological, it's condition/care/maintenance related. There are 20+ year old boats that are nicer and in better shape then some 2 year old boats. Considering the savings of older vs. newer, I'm a fan of the older stuff.

Of the 2 boats you're looking at, they will both have their advantages and disadvantages. The extra foot of the SeaRay could be a tremendous difference in comfort (could be is the key) based on layout. The larger engine, however, will probably more expensive fuel consumption-wise. I am personally a big fan of SeaRay for quality, but that's based on a boat I grew up on.

Good luck with whichever you choose, and post pics! We love pics here at iBoats.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Hello first Iboats post.....

It is very important to know what brand the drives are on these boats. There are definitely ones you may want to avoid in that time frame.

From my time spent in the resto forum...it seems that there are few semi-project fiberglass boats. They seem to be either solid or rotten with little in between. I usually recomment an aluminum hull with an outboard to anyone looking to get on the water inexpensively with a minimum amount of fuss and financial pain.

 

[Painless31]

Re: Hello first Iboats post.....

My budget is about 8 grand so I could buy a nicer boat if I wanted, I just figure get a cheaper one first to make sure that we will use it, put a few summers under it and then trip it and get something else. I am going to look at the Sea Ray this evening, everything works on it and he replaced the floors 2 years ago (this is the part that scares me, as most people around here are not glassing the floors, and who know what kind of plywood they are using). I will get some pics of it and post them here and see what you guys think about it