(off of my previous post about the Sea Ray, but I don't think I'd get any good response!)<br /><br />The wife and I are stuck (I guess, what a hell of a prediciment to be in... which boat do we want?? Not like... man, we can't afford to send little Mikey to school!).<br /><br />Well, I went and checked out the Crownlines yesterday and all I can say is... wow. What a group of beautiful boats! There were no salespersons there yesterday (all out of state at a boat show 
), so I couldn't get any pricing, but it's looking like we aren't going to be able to afford the Crownies.<br /><br />So far, here's out 3 choices, not in any order:<br /><br /> http://www.searay.com/products/mode...y=1&model=200BR <br /><br /> http://www.crownline.com/models/bow...192br/192br.php <br /><br /> http://www.crownline.com/models/bow...202br/202br.php <br /><br />Crownline seems to power their boats a little more than Sea Ray's do, which is going to add to the cost of the boat, and decrease the gas mileage. We're not sporters, we're cruizers (I can't wait to start in Milwaukee, cruize down the shore to Chicago, and take the Chicago River back up to Milwaukee!!!).<br /><br />The four features on the SR that we really like (and aren't offered on the CL at the same size) are the large sun-pad, walk through transom, external swim platform and it has a walk through transom door to close off the bow from the helm area to shield the wind. My wife, who's pretty short, will have a harder time getting across the large sunpad on the CLs, since they don't have a walk-through. I guess if we get the CR though, we'll have to learn to deal with it.<br /><br />It's a pretty tough decision and we're spending a lot of money on this boat - but our theory is to get as much boat as we can afford now, as it'll be easier donw the line to sell/trade it when and if that times comes.<br /><br />Anyway, we chose our boat selection via the http://www.jdpower.com ratings systems and yes, Chaparral came out on top, but they are even more expensive than the Crownies and we'd have to purchase much less of a boat to be able to afford one.<br /><br />Right now, it seems the boat we want is the:<br /><br />Sea Ray 200, powered by the 4.3L MPI V6 (better gas mileage, same performance as the 5.0L) with SmartCraft.<br /><br />Thoughts?<br /><br />Ry.
), so I couldn't get any pricing, but it's looking like we aren't going to be able to afford the Crownies.<br /><br />So far, here's out 3 choices, not in any order:<br /><br /> http://www.searay.com/products/mode...y=1&model=200BR <br /><br /> http://www.crownline.com/models/bow...192br/192br.php <br /><br /> http://www.crownline.com/models/bow...202br/202br.php <br /><br />Crownline seems to power their boats a little more than Sea Ray's do, which is going to add to the cost of the boat, and decrease the gas mileage. We're not sporters, we're cruizers (I can't wait to start in Milwaukee, cruize down the shore to Chicago, and take the Chicago River back up to Milwaukee!!!).<br /><br />The four features on the SR that we really like (and aren't offered on the CL at the same size) are the large sun-pad, walk through transom, external swim platform and it has a walk through transom door to close off the bow from the helm area to shield the wind. My wife, who's pretty short, will have a harder time getting across the large sunpad on the CLs, since they don't have a walk-through. I guess if we get the CR though, we'll have to learn to deal with it.<br /><br />It's a pretty tough decision and we're spending a lot of money on this boat - but our theory is to get as much boat as we can afford now, as it'll be easier donw the line to sell/trade it when and if that times comes.<br /><br />Anyway, we chose our boat selection via the http://www.jdpower.com ratings systems and yes, Chaparral came out on top, but they are even more expensive than the Crownies and we'd have to purchase much less of a boat to be able to afford one.<br /><br />Right now, it seems the boat we want is the:<br /><br />Sea Ray 200, powered by the 4.3L MPI V6 (better gas mileage, same performance as the 5.0L) with SmartCraft.<br /><br />Thoughts?<br /><br />Ry.