looking for a new used boat

I have a century 5 meter boat it is in good shape and runs good. It has the 4 bbl version of the 470 (488). I have done my fair share of maintenance on it. I really like its performance gets me up on the wakeboard quick handles good and breaks 50 with 3-4 people. I often go out on a bigger river (the st croix) and would like more room for people and the dog. We have to make two trips to go camping. I fish occasionally but mostly cruise around, wakeboard and tube. I am looking around and found some possible replacement boats and had some questions about them. The first possiblity is a 80s 19' ski centurion with a 351. How do these handle in rougher water? Is beaching it on sand worse than an I/o? I am kinda leaning towards this a lot more room than the 5 meter. Just not sure on how it is for cruising around. I have seen a few 20 350 powered closed bow boats that look similar to a formula or baja but gas consumtion and trailerabilty are a concern there also they are more than i would like to spend. I really don't I would get a lot of use from that small of a cuddy beside putting stuff in it. I have seen a lot of 3.0 mercruiser powered 18 ft bowriders how will an 18ft 3.0 bowrider compare performance wise to my 16ft closed bow? A lot worse? Any input even personal perferance is apperciated. I am looking at older boat in the sub 5000$ category. Not really sure what to do. Anyone know any drawbacks of ski centurions or common problems?

Re: looking for a new used boat

Ski Centurions, Ski Nautiques, Mastercrafts and all such straight inboards are not very good at handling masses of people. The engines and transmissions are relatively heavy, and the boats sit very low in the water at rest even without any passengers.

And if you're docking on sand bars and running into shallow water, an inboard outboard would serve you better. And an inboard outboard's outdrive can be trimmed and adjusted to handle waves in rough water.

The 18' to 20' open bowed inboard outboard boats will do a better job at water sports--especially with a V-8 engine. And when dealing with water sports, you just cannot worry about fuel usage--a small portion of your expenses. I/O's do well on fuel--all things considered.