For the last couple years my family (me, wife, five kids ... youngest is 10) has enjoyed messing around on Lake Roosevelt and some of the other local lakes and such with a little 14' runabout with a big outboard. Mostly tubing with a few sight seeing runs.
Pretty much everyone has the bug of some sort, but the tubers are aging out and moving out. First one leaves this month, the next leaves next year.
Biggest problem we've had is the size of the boat ... a four seater (at best) so we have to be close to a dock and we can't all enjoy it at the same time. Inevitably we'll end up wanting to go to the lake with five people, leaving one or two on shore. Not so much fun.
My wife and I have been talking about getting a bigger boat that will fit everyone. We've borrowed an open bow ski boat to play with, but we'd really like something with more of a cabin feel to it.
As the kids get older and move out/on over the next couple years it ends up being her and I and the younger two most of the time.
The plan is we're going to hang on to the old runabout so that when they DO want to have the tubing parties, they can. And we'd like to get a bigger boat that we can use for 2-3 night trips if we want to with four of us.
General use:
- Day trips out onto the lake, just having fun, maybe drifting and swimming, that sort of thing
- Overnight, to 2-3 night trips, several times a year
- Fishing
- Occasional tubing if the urge strikes on one of those 2-3 night trips
- Should be trailerable ... I intend to rent a slip on Roosevelt, but Lake Coeur d'Alene and Pend O'Reille are close and fun, and of course the occasional trip over to Puget Sound for a week up in the San Juans would be nice -- I have a one ton F-350 Dually I use for hauling stuff, so pulling power isn't a problem
Things we think we want:
- Full cabin (or at least a full height cuddy)
- Sleeps 4 at least, and carries 8 minimum
- Galley (at least a sink/partial stove)
- Reasonable amount of seating outside, not just in the cabin
- Aft cabin would be nice but not necessary
- Head with holding tank preferred over portapotty
Budget: Prefer around 10k, maybe up to 15k. I'm paying cash, I don't do credit.
Obviously with that budget I'm open to partial projects ... I restored the runabout and the engine, and am pretty handy with things. I don't mind cosmetic fixes or mechanical/plumbing/electrical, but would prefer not to deal with major hull repairs or anything like that.
With all that said, I'm curious what I'm missing, and what kinds of boats I should be looking for. I've got a fair amount of boat experience, but not with this kind of boat.
So....Who has boat suggestions for me?
Pretty much everyone has the bug of some sort, but the tubers are aging out and moving out. First one leaves this month, the next leaves next year.
Biggest problem we've had is the size of the boat ... a four seater (at best) so we have to be close to a dock and we can't all enjoy it at the same time. Inevitably we'll end up wanting to go to the lake with five people, leaving one or two on shore. Not so much fun.
My wife and I have been talking about getting a bigger boat that will fit everyone. We've borrowed an open bow ski boat to play with, but we'd really like something with more of a cabin feel to it.
As the kids get older and move out/on over the next couple years it ends up being her and I and the younger two most of the time.
The plan is we're going to hang on to the old runabout so that when they DO want to have the tubing parties, they can. And we'd like to get a bigger boat that we can use for 2-3 night trips if we want to with four of us.
General use:
- Day trips out onto the lake, just having fun, maybe drifting and swimming, that sort of thing
- Overnight, to 2-3 night trips, several times a year
- Fishing
- Occasional tubing if the urge strikes on one of those 2-3 night trips
- Should be trailerable ... I intend to rent a slip on Roosevelt, but Lake Coeur d'Alene and Pend O'Reille are close and fun, and of course the occasional trip over to Puget Sound for a week up in the San Juans would be nice -- I have a one ton F-350 Dually I use for hauling stuff, so pulling power isn't a problem
Things we think we want:
- Full cabin (or at least a full height cuddy)
- Sleeps 4 at least, and carries 8 minimum
- Galley (at least a sink/partial stove)
- Reasonable amount of seating outside, not just in the cabin
- Aft cabin would be nice but not necessary
- Head with holding tank preferred over portapotty
Budget: Prefer around 10k, maybe up to 15k. I'm paying cash, I don't do credit.
Obviously with that budget I'm open to partial projects ... I restored the runabout and the engine, and am pretty handy with things. I don't mind cosmetic fixes or mechanical/plumbing/electrical, but would prefer not to deal with major hull repairs or anything like that.
With all that said, I'm curious what I'm missing, and what kinds of boats I should be looking for. I've got a fair amount of boat experience, but not with this kind of boat.
So....Who has boat suggestions for me?