Which brand of boat to buy

[jwilkey84]

So I am looking for my first real boat. I have had older fishing and ski boats but now I want a family ski boat something from the mid to late 90's with the merc 4.3 I think, 18-20 ft long with sport seating. There are so many brands of boats out there! I live in the Midwest and will be using the boat on small lakes for trips lasting probably less than the whole day. What is the best brand for the money in used boats? Bayliners, VIP, Tahoe, four winns, Mariah shabah, sea Ray, etc?

 

[thumpar]

Crownline!!. Sorry I am a little biased. It really comes down to condition of the boat. You need to figure our your budget first. Once you have a price range start looking at as many as you can.

 

[Dave-R]

I have 3 boats now, a 2001 Cobalt 226, a 2002 Reinell 240C, and 1999 FourWinns 180. I have owned and sold 3 baylinners, a Wellcraft, A Seaswirl, a Cobalt 190 that my daughter had to have, a Rinker 212, and one of our favorites a 2005 Regal 20'. They were all good boats. I have to admit that I am quite impressed with the overall quality of our new to me FourWinns. The vinyl appears top notch, as the fiberglass, and fit and finish is excellent. The trailer even is a six lug heavy duty axle. A lot of boats come with less than adequate trailers. I think buying is like the real estate saying except, condition, condition, condition. Try to find something garage kept, with proper maintenance, that looks like they have pride in ownership. Then look carefully at everything like soft spots in floor, and transom for rot. If you can test drive the finalist. DaveR

 

[jbcurt00]

I think buying is like the real estate saying except, condition, condition, condition. Try to find something garage kept, with proper maintenance, that looks like they have pride in ownership. Then look carefully at everything like soft spots in floor, and transom for rot. If you can test drive the finalist. DaveR

^^^ Absolutely agree w/ Thumpar and Dave

I'd probably buy a known to be garage kept and exceptionally well maintained Bayliner from the 80's (which would typically be WAY down my list of boats to buy) before I'd buy a questionable condition boat from any of the high end boat builders.

Go LOOK at a LOT of boats. You will fairly quickly learn how badly some boats are maintained, and that their owner's still think they are worth a lot of money.

 

[TexMonty]

I looked at a lot of boats and you should too. Maintenance is key. Climb in them, look in all the storage compartments, look at the hardware, thickness of fiberglass, engine layout etc. I looked at some lower end boats up to the high end boats and when you did deep you will see and feel the difference. Then you will just need to decide how much $$ you want to lay out because there is quite a bit of difference. My Monterey is noticeably built heavier, stronger and a higher quality than most I looked at. I liked the Cobalt best of all, but could not find a used one like I wanted and when you find one they are at a premium price. Good luck and don't rush.

 

[smassey22180]

I just made a similar purchase last summer. My main worry was wood rot on a 15 year old boat. In the end I found a Crownline made from XL industries wood which in theory will not rot as easily. Many better boats switched over to that wood in the late 90s and early 2000s.

 

[smassey22180]

Also, better boats generally come with better trailers. We got disk brakes with ours and a swing away tongue.

 

[southkogs]

If skiing is the main deal you are going for, you may want to look at the direct drive stuff too (MasterCraft, Natique, etc.). They can be pretty roomy boats, and they're designed specifically for tuggin' ya' out of the water.

 

[Blind Date]

I've always purchased based on styling, layout and amenities. For me the name on the side isn't all that important.

 

[milehighjc]

I was looking for almost exactly what you are describing last summer. I started looking in June, and finally made a purchase in late September.

A few thoughts for you:

• Use the checklist at the top of this forum. I copied it into an excel spreadsheet, and took it with me every time I looked at a boat. It is amazing how much it helps to remember all the things you need to look at.
• Take your time. There is ALWAYS another boat.
• Before you set your final budget, I would recommend looking at a few boats first to see what your money can buy. I started trying to find a boat between 5K and 10K,and rapidly concluded that 5K was going to buy me a lot of problems. Think about what kinds of things (repairs, upgrades, etc) you can handle yourself, then set your budget accordingly. Make sure you allocate some $$ to cover things that need work after you buy it. You don't want to be boat poor in your first season.
• WRT to brand, I dont think it matters NEARLY as much as how the boat was cared for. I must have heard that a hundred times during my search. There is a lot of junk out there with good names on them, and some good ones that you would not think of first. I was FLOORED at how much garbage there was in my price range. I literally saw boats for 13K with putty crammed into holes in the hull, and floors so rotted you could have used them for a trampoline. Ultimately, I decided I did like the late 90's Crownlines were designed, and specially searched for one - two of my final three candidates were Crownlines. In the end, I think I was very lucky - I found a '97 (5.7L Alpha 1) that had been garaged for 15 of its 17 years, and only had 249 hours on it. The PO had serviced it regularly, and took very good care of it
• Insist on a water test. No exception.
• Many will recommend that you have it surveyed... I didnt, but should have. I didnt get burned, but as I said, I was lucky (and I had the checklist with me). The PO commented on the level of inspection that I did. Thanks to that checklist, I wound up going over the boat with a fine tooth comb, tapping the floor with a mallet, rapping on the stringers looking for rot, etc etc. In retrospect, the $$ it would have cost me would have provided an awful lot of peace of mind.

Good luck... I found the hunt to be fun, mostly because I was not in a hurry, and I accepted that I might not even find anything acceptable in my price range. While I only got out four times with it last year, the diligence on the hunt paid off... it runs like a dream.

EDIT>>> if you do consider Crownline, check out crowniehq.net - very helpful group of people over there.