20 ft boat too small?

Blind Date

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Mar 5, 2014
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I think most of you need to go back and read the original post. For a boat kept at a cabin/cottage 20' is plenty big. This is a case where less is more. Unless the body of water the calls for something bigger purely for safety reasons.

I have property on a 3500 acre lake in WI. For the same purpose I'll probably pick up a late 90's MasterCraft Prostar 190. Certainly don't need something that can carry 10 people and gear and certainly don't need something w/head.....LOL

My advice to the OP is buy something that excels at watersports not carrying people and gear. If you were not buying the boat to stick up at your cabin, but instead needed something to spend the day out on the lake then go bigger.
 

Old Ironmaker

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Yep Blind Date we tend to not answer questions asked and answer questions not asked. Maybe because we answer questions that the OP should have asked. I'm trying to answer what's asked then answer questions not asked. Are you confused yet? But saying the boat will be at the cottage doesn't mean it is on a small body of water. Our cottage is on Lake Erie and many other cottages are on The Great Lakes, not small water.
 
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Blind Date

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Mar 5, 2014
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I wanted to hear from current 20 footer owners how many people do you usually have in the boat?
We are concerned that it may be a bit small for us.
We have 2 kids, so it is 4 of us the boat 90% of the time. Occasionally we will get 2 more adults and up to 3 kids. We do mostly watersports (tubing, wakeboarding, etc. ) Boat will be stored at the cottage.
What do you think? Too small?

Re-read that post and tell me if you think the OP is worried about having something big enough for people and gear or something big enough to handle the body of water his lake cabin is on.

His concerns seem pretty clear to me.
 

frantically relaxing

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Nov 19, 2011
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699
Question: Is a 20ft boat too small?

Answer: See my signature--

Alternate actual answer: YES :)

(but that's just MY opinion) ;)
 

onewhippedpuppy

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Jun 11, 2012
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You need to seriously assess how you intend to use the boat, and who you intend to use it with. My kids are 7, 10, and 13, typically each kid has one friend and we often have another 2-4 people onboard. Average load for us is 6 kids and 4 adults, but we've had up to 13. In addition to kids we also have one integral cooler, two small coolers that slide under a seat, a snack bag, and a towel bag. We just sold our 23' Monterey because it was feeling crowded on a regular basis and are now shopping for about a 27'. A few things to consider from our family use:

Kids will want to bring friends, especially as they get bigger. And as they get bigger you need more space for said kids.
Consider the amount of floor or storage space that you need for stuff, especially stuff like coolers that need easy access.
Consider where you use the boat. Our first boat was an 18' Tahoe, it was rough on windy KS lakes and borderline unsafe at Lake of the Ozarks. 23' Monterey was ok on a windy or busy KS lake, and still slow going at Lake of the Ozarks in the main channel.
Consider how you use the boat. We do a lot of floating so the swim deck gets a LOT of use. For my new boat I really liked the Formula 260BR but ultimately nixed it because the seating on the swim platform area is poor.

Also, definitely test drive a jet boat. I love the swim platform area on the Yamaha 242 and was considering one for my next boat until a friend bought one last summer. The layout is incredible, but overall I hate the boat. It feels very cheaply made and is rougher than my Monterey on a windy day. I also really dislike the high pitched whine of the motors, and it is very loud at full throttle. There are definite pros like the layout, ease of maintenance, reliability, redundancy of the twin motors, and maneuverability, but overall I'm not considering one for my next boat.
 

211libwtfo

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We don’t know what we don’t know until we find out.......and maybe we as a boating community are trying to help the OP with. If we only answered what is asked this wouldn’t be the best site for information.....because it is the best site for boat owners and over sharing is one reason!!!!!!
 

onewhippedpuppy

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Unless you live in an area with an abundance of boats, in many cases this is the best source for information. I would LOVE to go inspect every possible option before making a purchase, but it's just not realistic.
 

jkust

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So many things to consider. We had a 19 footer six or so ago when we bought a house on a lake to spend our summers. The 19 footer, though it was a heavy boat (a newer Chaparral SSi), didn't do comfortably well on our larger lake on the windy days. The boys were little back then and as they grew, and boys like to beat on each other, the 19 footer got a bit too small all around. Now that they are 16 and 13, they are just so much bigger and the bigger bow on our larger boat fits versus how much smaller the smaller bow of the previous boat was.

When you get into the 21 plus foot size or so though, the price echelon seems to go up dramatically. Storage for a larger boat is an issue too as suddenly, your slightly larger boat no longer fits into a standard garage and/or may not fit under a 7 foot door. To store my now larger boat, I had to also buy the neighbors lake house as it coincidentally came up for sale, since my property has the max amount of structures allowed on it, just for the larger garage so the net cost for the new boat was an entire extra house on ten acres on my same lake which sits empty just to use the garage as crazy as that sounds. Even then I had to remove a bunch of customization in the garage to fit the boat and still had to pay to add a swing tongue onto the trailer. Point being, there are a lot of things to consider including having to possibly buy a larger boat lift to handle the heavier boat and the larger/longer canopy. Our 'new' boat ended up costing us a few bucks more that I would have hoped.
 

onewhippedpuppy

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Well, buying a lake house on 10 acres to store your boat certainly fits the "go big or go home" mantra. When I went from an 18' to a 23' I had to rent a storage unit, that seemed slightly more pragmatic.
 

jkust

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Well, buying a lake house on 10 acres to store your boat certainly fits the "go big or go home" mantra. When I went from an 18' to a 23' I had to rent a storage unit, that seemed slightly more pragmatic.

I rented storage for one winter and couldn't stomach it. I just hate renting anything. We are just in an unusual financial situation I realize however douchy that sounds. Plus the land is very nice and in an area where literally there is no land available because it has all been subdivided years ago. This neighbor was an original owner situation and they never sold the land off and kept it whole. Now I get solicitations all the time to buy it because they see we don't really use it. I sort of just consider it an investment.
 

QBhoy

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I'd agree 20' will be tight for more than 4. IMHO, if talking inland lakes, anything over about 20' is getting pretty big for skiing. Not just for the lack of the quick of get up and go that's so desirable, but the sides of the bigger boats start getting pretty tall when climbing in and out of the water. Assuming this cottage is on the water, would everyone have to be in the boat at once?

And last, have you considered a pontoon boat? Though they're a definite compromise when compared to a dedicated 20' ski boat, there's a very good reason the pontoons are gaining in popularity, Something with 100+ horsepower would likely do a pretty good job regarding water sports, but it would excel when it came to toting around a bunch of people.

Agree 100% with the first paragraph here. Be plenty space for what you want to do. Especially if kept at a lakeside location. I think this is a bowrider, so plenty of space...even at your occasional capacity mentioned. Plenty of power there too with that engine.
My wee 18ft bowrider is rated at 8, but comfy enough with 4 adults and a few kids....although we hop between the islands and beaches.
 

roffey

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.
My wee 18ft bowrider is rated at 8, but comfy enough with 4 adults and a few kids....although we hop between the islands and beaches.

I have a 20 foot bowrider, boat is rated for 9 people but in reality I can fit 4 adults plus me and a few kids as well.
 

QBhoy

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I have a 20 foot bowrider, boat is rated for 9 people but in reality I can fit 4 adults plus me and a few kids as well.

Agreed roffey. My comments above only apply on nice days really (Scotland. It’s challenging), when I can get the bow cover off. Maybe 7 days a year, haha.
 

211libwtfo

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https://photos.app.goo.gl/wY5YDgUmZLcwuVEb2

this is our 211 liberator it’s a sport cuddy it’s us 2 a 13yr old and friend 4yr old and a 5yr old coolers towels and other misc items. It’s to small now. We’re on a 2 year plan. Looking to get a 25’ but hopefully a sr271 formula!!!! Either way we’ll be moving to a storage unit.... so if you think a 20’er will work get a 22’er. I don’t think I read how big the lake is.....lake of the Ozarks would keep my boat close to the banks I would never take my ss minnow to Lake Michigan!!!!!
 

QBhoy

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I’m pretty sure I was supposed to be born in America. Love the idea of lake houses and seemingly endless fresh water lakes.
Sounds incredible. Pretty sure I’d earn a crap load more money over there too, as an engineer. Although I know you guys aren’t in much favour of the whole wind energy thing ! Haha.
 

ahicks

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Sep 16, 2013
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<<<I’m pretty sure I was supposed to be born in America. Love the idea of lake houses and seemingly endless fresh water lakes.
Sounds incredible. Pretty sure I’d earn a crap load more money over there too, as an engineer. Although I know you guys aren’t in much favour of the whole wind energy thing ! Haha.>>>

If you're an adventuresome spirit, I know of a lot of success stories. It seems to me that folks immigrating have an edge about them, as they have some serious skin in the game. They've left every scratch of anything familiar to them behind.
 

QBhoy

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Hi Ahicks.
If it wasn’t for a few things, I’d be there in a second.
Although, having been around the world in my merchant navy days and witnessed most places there...I’m not sure I’ve seen anywhere as beautiful as Scotland when the sun shines. It’s almost a prime evil beauty.......the problem is.....the sun doesn’t shine often enough.
My love of things seems to fall into line more easily across the pond. My other half’s family have almost all moved across there a long time ago. Having visited a few times now (mainly Canada, Toronto and Winnipeg area), I’m in love with it and all it stands for. Also loved the south area like Florida and New Orleans.
Im also aware that experienced and qualified engineer type persons may find a job without too much bother. I’m often asked by agencies to come across with attractive relocation packages from the likes of GE (General Electric). They often get in touch.
Much to my other half’s dismay, I also have my half of the family glued to here and wouldn’t be an easy task to take away grandchildren from grand parents. If only they would come with !!!
 
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