Re: Buying a Key West...
Key west boats are great. Don't listen to anyone bad mouthing them. Probably means they were very mean to the people on the phone about something that was probably their fault to begin with. I own a '99 Key West CC 19 footer. I regularly go out of Ponce inlet to do offshore bottom fishing. She is at home in 4 foot swells doing 20 to 25mph the whole way. With a very comfortable ride. The farthest, admittedly, i've been is 13 miles. Without 2 motors, any farther kinda worries me.
The boat is equally at home in the Mosquito Lagoon. this spring water levels were just right for the Bay / reef boat to get into some really skinny water. I love the boat. No other boats, beside bay / reef models, will let you do flats fishing in the morning and offshore in the afternoon. All of you with 26' offshore boats can't say that. AM redfish, PM grouper! It doesn't get better.
FYI...I went to "mykeywestboat.com" and it linked me to this very forum. No pictures of any horror stories. Buy Key West. There is a reason you see them everywhere...they are good boats for a great price. Want a GREAT boat at an unreasonable price? Go Grady or Whaler. I'm on a budget and its great for me. Besides, with a 60 gallon gas tank it really doesn't hurt to fill it up. My other friends with 23 and 25' offshore boats have 100 to 300 gallon gas tanks...ouch! We take my boat a lot more than theirs and its much lighter. I tow with an old Nissan pick up.
