My wife and I are looking to buy a boat. We are looking to purchase a ski boat. We have only looked once and the only boat we have seen is person is the 2009 Tahoe Q7 ssi. Our max budget is $25,000.00 and we would prefer to buy a new boat that we can keep for many years. We would appreciate any sugestions/help since this would be our first boat purchase.
With a budget of $25K you would do much better looking at a nice ski boat that is a few years old. Let someone else take the depreciation from the new boat. As long as it was maintained and taken care of, it will be 'like new' without the new price tag. Allows you to get more power, more bells and whistles, and more size with the same budget. Plus, a lot of used boats will throw in the life jackets, skis, water toys, etc. which are all sold separately when you buy new. Just my opinion, worth every penny paid for it!
Tahoe would not even be on my list. Do your research first a few to look at that in that price point would be, Bayliner, Stingray, Glastron. You get more bang for your buck by buying a 1-2 year old boat.
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Joey D
2005 Chaparral Signature 240
Volvo 5.0GXI Duo-Prop
They are an entry level boat at best, cheap components and construction. I second the vote for a 1 or 2 year old boat. I am a good example of this. I started out looking at new boats and found that 25K did not buy much in a new boat. So I started looking around and found a 2 year old Chaparral 21 footer with every bell and whistle, along with a MPI 5.0 and a sweet tower for under my budget. The boat looked and smelled brand new and the trailer had 5 miles on it since it was rack stored. The guy used it for 40 hours and I got a 40K boat for 24K and it came with a transferable lifetime hull warranty and 7 year drive train warranty. Everyone who has seen the boat swears it is brand new. Granted this took me a while to find and buy and I purchased in the winter but deals are out there. If you buy a high end boat, it typically has all the over built components and high quality finishes that will last a long time. I am very happy with mine and before purchasing mine I went to the Chaparral dealer and looked at the exact boat, new, I could find nothing different between the one I purchase and a brand new one, except the price. And when I brought mine home it was like Christmas unpacking the thing as the PO had left everything in the boat like 10 life jackets, a knee board, a tube and on and on.
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There is no replacement for displacement
Location: Salem, WI (Between Lake Michigan & Lake Geneva)
Posts: 92
Re: Buying a new boat
A buddy of mine in Florida just walked away from a deal in his area. It was for a Four Winns 18 footer with a v6 engine. It was listed at $26K and they took his offer of $17,500 out the door. He decided that it didn't fit his need. Point is that there are a lot of deals out there. I would argue against the used boat scenario...for warranty issues. If you can find a good deal, it might be better getting a new one with a warranty. There are a lot of people out there upside down on their boats and that might be tough convincing them that the market has changed! Good luck!
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Buy an outboard boat and keep your after purchase maintenance costs ($) down. The design will also use less time to do the required maintenance and in turn more ski time for you.
Just curious Great Escape II why Tahoe would not be on your list?
Do a search for Tahoe Issues on the internet you will see MORE then their fair share. It's not a problem having an issue with your boat we ALL do. The issue is the they are slow to respond or don't fix it at all. Here are a couple of links to read.
Buying a new boat
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