crownline 240 ls vs chapparal 226 ssi and 7k

[wfishe1]

I have our local dealer final on 2 deals for my family of four with 2 grade school kids. Either a crownline 240 ls with a 300 hp bravo 3 or a chapparal 226 with a 260 hp alpha 1, the crownline is new but has sat on the floor for a year, and the chapparal is 7k cheaper. I am having the hardest time deciding, and either boat will be a huge step up from our crownline 180 with 190 hp merc. Please let me know your thoughts.

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: crownline 240 ls vs chapparal 226 ssi and 7k

Your missing something. You have two grade school kids so your looking at water sports, this is an easy decision the Crownie has a Bravo III, and the Chap is a smaller boat that's why its $7000 cheaper. Overall Quality is more or less personal preference, I love Chap's, they are a quality boat as is the Crownie but I think the Crownie your looking at is the better value. If you have time check out 24' chaps with the Duo props, I don't care if they are Volvo or Merc but go apples to apples to verify my points, but your looking at a lot more boat in the Crownie in this case in my opinion.

As for a huge step up, yes and no, I went from a Crownline 196 to my 248 and had similar concerns, what I found is that my concerns were mostly all in my head, what I found was that my 248 while being larger was much more controllable so much so that my wife hated driving the 196 but loves the 248. She makes me look like a rookie putting the 248 on the trailer. Storage room will be taken up quickly but you wont notice that your wife will. When you see your wife laying out on the huge sundeck with a smile on her face you will know you made the right decision, if your like me you will wonder why you wasted your time with a smaller boat!

Good luck!

 

[wfishe1]

Re: crownline 240 ls vs chapparal 226 ssi and 7k

Thanks for the insight, they are really different boats, I am leaning towards the crownline, but the porta pottie and size seem unnecessary since most of our boating will be on small lakes, but the styling is impressive. The chap uses every square inch perfectly, but is relatively uninspiring, the crownline seems more luxurious, if not necessarily the most practical.

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: crownline 240 ls vs chapparal 226 ssi and 7k

Either boat can be a bit big for small lakes but if your a lake boater then your most likely a trailer boater as well and what I have found is that while my boat is a bit much for smaller lakes I enjoy bigger lakes so much more, where as with my old boat I was comfortable on smaller lakes but got beat on bigger lakes, so I just trailered a bit more to get to bigger lakes. The bigger boat trailers so much better with a tandem axle as compared to my single axle, plus I have peace of mind in knowing that I'm not going to destroy anything if I have a blow out because I now have three other tires carrying the load.

You will also find that unnecessary size gets taken up incredibly fast, you will now have room to carry things where before you had to choose what to leave behind, for instance now I carry 12 life preservers, I know exactly where they are, imagine that! I also have installed a power inverter for 110 volts AC power, now I can plug anything in like a 110 volt air pump, Dual batteries for a good stereo, I have a camper enclosure, bud I tell you I still have so much storage room I'm not sure how I did anything with my 196! I have three two person tubes on my boat, I can store them where ever I want because I have power to inflate/deflate them quickly and I know where they are! My engine compartment has a 7.4L motor in it and I can change the oil myself without the need for a chiropractor! Get the bigger boat, you deserve it but don't go into it thinking that the lakes in my area are to small for my boat, you will simply find yourself looking for bigger and better places to boat anyway!

 

[wfishe1]

Re: crownline 240 ls vs chapparal 226 ssi and 7k

sounds good, I agree, with a larger boat we may look forward to doing some family travel to explore other areas, without having to be off the lake by 11 am when the waves would get too big for our 180. I am going to buy it today, the crownline seems to have so many more advantages for just 7 k more - bravo 3 vs alpha, transom speakers, 2 more feet, classier instrumentation, head, etc, thanks!

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: crownline 240 ls vs chapparal 226 ssi and 7k

My pleasure! Don't forget to post pics!!