On the bigger boat suggestion, we went from 18'3" loa to 23'9" loa this past spring. Oddly enough we went with the same brand in the same model line up so essentially the same boat with more bells and whistles, features and a much larger engine. It is just about the right size for our family of 4 now plus can have some guests without any stumbling on one another. On the larger boats you get things such as a table you can deploy and have lunch on or play cards or whatever while underway, you get space on the port and starboard side of the boat so in front of both consoles behind hatches, you get things that are less common on smaller models such as a bow door so you can stop all the wind to the rear seating areas. There are lots of other features not on the smaller previous boat. Oddly enough, the engine is so substantially more powerful that I gained a full 12mph on the bigger boat from 48gps to 60gps. In addition, when we load the boat up with people, the engine isn't phased like our previous 4.3 liter was. I would have gone bigger but my boat lift canopy is 24 feet, my garage is still an issue as the trailer isn't a swing tongue and the boat weighs +6000lbs on the trailer which pushes my 6700lb tow limit. I haven't even mentioned how much better it takes chop on our largeish lake on the windy days. I would recommend the larger boat every day of the week if you can swing it.
