Re: Choosing the perfect boat
true dat--no wake, but fine for all other sports. come to think of it, a properly running hull should make minimum wake anyway, so big wake as a "feature" is generally a negative except for that one sport.
When looking for a versatile boat, you can find them that do all activities OK but only one or two exceptionally well. You just want to avoid the ones that you can't do some of the activities at all--like a cramped carpeted sofa boat that you can't fish from, or a scoop-bow bowrider that is unseaworthy in open water.
From the hundreds of "wish list" posts about which boat to get, the biggest limiting factor, or conflict I should say, is the desire to always have 8-10 people on board. That factor alone sends you to big boats, that are expensive, use more fuel, and are impractical for shallow water, water sports, and a pain for storage and for some, trailering. And a boat that is rated for X people is seldom comfortable for all X people (and they all have to be 150 pounds). In that regard i bet most shoppers underestimate how many people they will always, or typically, have on board. Once the novelty wears off or when those 10 people stuffed in a cramped sofaboat for 6 hours find it just isn't that much fun, the crowd size diminishes.
at least around here, when you see hundreds of small pleasure boats on a weekend, few have more than 6 aboard. If so, it's usually families with little children or a group of teenagers in a center console under 19' (which is why that design is the best for family boating--lots of open space and room in a shorter boat). Maybe 4 adult couples out for a cruise, comfortable in a 21' CC.
Better to have a combination of smaller boats. For lakes, maybe a pontoon for the slow moving grown-ups and a 16' outboard for the kids. or a set-up where the horde can hang out on the shore while the sportsters come and go, and take turns. If not, buy for a smaller crowd.
