Bowrider

[Al Action]

Hi everyone,
I'm looking to buy my first boat.
Want to have enough room to comfortably sit about 10 people on it, spending a day on the Hudson river.
Do some skiing and entertain guests.
Was thinking about bow rider such as Monterey Explorer 263 that also have a very large Bimini (shade is important for me).
What can you recommend? What Brand, size, etc?
Thanks

 

[alldodge]

Want a ski boat that carries 10 people. First thing is your going to need a lot of power. The 265 came standard with a single motor so do look for a 8.1 or 8.2, you will need every bit of the hp

The boat weights 5600 dry, add 10 people (1000 to 1500), 60 gallons of gas and a bunch of gear.

There is a lot of large bow riders, and higher end ones which will weight more

 

[tpenfield]

10 people, comfortable, water sports, day long outings . . .

I'd be thinking 28 foot bowrider with twin engines. Not sure you could actually do water skiing with 8-10 people in a boat. Tubing and maybe wake boarding . . .

 

[KD4UPL]

We're a family of 5 and often take another family of from 3 to 6 with us on the boat for the day. This typically gives us 4 adults and from 4 to 7 children. We have a Rinker 232 with a 300 hp Mercruiser 350 mag. It's a crowded boat for sure but we have a good time. The engine is powerful enough but certainly not overly so. I specifically avoided boats with the smaller 250 hp to 270 hp engines. I would have much preferred an 8.1L big block but just never found quite what I wanted in the right price range. I can pop up a skier with 10 others in the boat no problem but it takes putting the throttle wide open.
Monterey makes a nice boat. I looked at them as well as Sea Ray, Chaparral, Four Winds, Cobalt, Bryant, and Ebbtide. I would consider those the middle to upper end boats for bowriders. I was not interested in Bayliner, Stingray, Tahoe, or other low end boats. I don't know if my Rinker is considered low end or not but I really like the boat. The last one I had was a Larson that I also likes. I didn't realize until after I bought the Rinker that the same company makes them and Larson.
I also was specifically interested in an I/O boat and not an outboard. We boat exclusively on fresh water and I don't want that big outboard ruining the rear swim deck. It would be totally in the way for swimming, jumping off the boat, getting on the tube, towable access, etc.

 

[alldodge]

I have a 232 with a 454 and have pulled 9 skiers up at one time (started with 11 and 2 fell off). The 454 in the 232 is a much better boat then the 350 or 383, just has more low end torque