Boat Finalists...I hope!!!

[thomas15]

Not to offend...

The Ladies and Children, nice as they are, will probably not have the patience required to go through the nitty gritty of your list of things to look at when you go inspect the boat. But if you feel that they must be involved this experience, is the time.

When you go for the test drive you will need to be concentrating on about one hundred things that are totally new to you. You do not need to be thinking about anything else but the boat and how to do things specific to that boat. You (and the owner, Mrs, and son) will probably not all fit in the boat anyway so having them there serves no real good purpose. I'm not trying to offend anyone but rather being completely honest. They are not going to be any help getting the boat off the trailer and operating the boat once in the water and reloading once you are finished. These are tasks that you will have to perform all by yourself anyway.

You will have to consider your spouse and child, nice as they are, to be basically bystanders for at least the time being. All of us can tell you stories about adult relationships that completely dissolve at the launch ramp. When you take them out for the first time, you would be doing yourself a tremendous favor by knowing exactly what you are doing and what needs to be done. You are the one who will have to remember to put the plug in, I guarantee that neither of them are going to be thinking about it. You should be able to do the whole thing, start to finish, by yourself and with confidence. If you cannot do this your collective experience will suffer... a lot.

Hopefully you will have years of time to experience the great outdoors together as a family unit. Me and my brother were taking small boats out into the Atlantic Ocean by ourselves at age 13 but at that point we had years of boating experience. Still, when I purchased my first bass boat, it took me more than one trip to get the hang of fishing for bass in shallow water with a bow mounted foot controlled trolling motor and  sonar. You got a lot to learn so learning at lest some of it before you add the overhead of the rest of the family is I think prudent. But you are the skipper not me.

[webertime]

Just a heads up.  That StarCraft is in Huntington, Lake Iroquois is 20 minutes away.  I used to live in Hinesburg (other side of the hill from Huntington, actually where the U is on the picture below) and know exactly where that boat is.  The Fisher Hull weighs a TON, I've had one.  I would worry about the weight and towing.

[thomas15]

14 minutes ago, Kevin22 said:

............I don't mean to sound like a d-bag.. but if there is no way you can afford $150 monthly payment then you can't afford a boat......

This is probably the closest to absolute truth outside of the words of the Holy Bible.

[S Hovanec]

1 hour ago, Kevin22 said:

 

I don't mean to sound like a d-bag.. but if there is no way you can afford $150 monthly payment then you can't afford a boat. These project boats are going to cost you quite a bit

 

That's funny and a lot of truth in it.  If I would have not done the 3 projects before buying my current boat, I could have been able to afford a 20' Pro-V with a 225hp instead of a 17' Mr Pike with a 135hp!

[slonezp]

A lot of good advice here.

[EvanT123]

Break out another thousand. 

[Further North]

7 hours ago, Kevin22 said:

I don't mean to sound like a d-bag.. but if there is no way you can afford $150 monthly payment then you can't afford a boat.

Spoken like a long term boat owner who has been there before.

Here's my total from my spring maintenance:  Somewhere, some time last season, I knocked my alignment out of whack on my trailer.  Probably on a boat ramp with a hole in it someplace - $310 to re-align.  I had a similar problem a few years ago...I launch on a lot of rugged launches, unpaved, sometime have rocks...had to buy a new axle.  That one cost me about $800.

One of the side guide bunks on my trailer (it's 11 years old) needs to be replaced...so I gotta do both at the same time...there goes another $60...and that's doing the work myself.

...and this is on an excruciatingly well maintained boat and trailer - I bought the rig three seasons ago, 8 years old, with 3.5 hours on the motor...the whole thing was virtually unused.

[Tygaiser7]

I'm for the Starcraft. I have a starcaster bass boat made by Starcraft and I love it. It's a 96 and still in great shape. It also has a merc 40 on it and it runs awesome and moves the boat along great. So my votes for the Starcraft. 

[Kevin22]

2 hours ago, Further North said:

Spoken like a long term boat owner who has been there before.

Here's my total from my spring maintenance:  Somewhere, some time last season, I knocked my alignment out of whack on my trailer.  Probably on a boat ramp with a hole in it someplace - $310 to re-align.  I had a similar problem a few years ago...I launch on a lot of rugged launches, unpaved, sometime have rocks...had to buy a new axle.  That one cost me about $800.

One of the side guide bunks on my trailer (it's 11 years old) needs to be replaced...so I gotta do both at the same time...there goes another $60...and that's doing the work myself.

...and this is on an excruciatingly well maintained boat and trailer - I bought the rig three seasons ago, 8 years old, with 3.5 hours on the motor...the whole thing was virtually unused.

 

No, not long term at all! Just know my way around a project boat. So far this spring I upgraded two fish finders $600, re-ran all the wiring for my TM (was set up 12/24 with old non-marine wiring so I ran marine wiring for 24V all the way) $100, Installed a new plug kit ($50), bought 3 new batteries (TM shorted and drained batteries over winter) $360, and right now I have my front deck off to install a recirculation sys in the front livewell ($50). Been an expensive spring and have only used the boat once this year. 

Project boats cost way more money and time than what they are worth.. I'm sick of this thing! Its a 96 Ranger 17' alum bass boat with a 98 merc 115. 

[Further North]

Project boats are fun...if you enjoy working on boats as a hobby.

I like to fish, not work on my boats...especially when it's time to fish.  Not much is more frustrating than sitting at the dock on a fishing trip you're burning vacation days on and spending good money on fixing something that finally gave up the ghost...while your buddies are catching fish.

This is the same thing I learned with my journey down the classic SxS shotgun path...old American classics are wonderful...as are old English guns...but I want to to shoot clays and hunt birds...not work on my guns.  About 8 years back I realized this, sold off all the older "inventory", kept two SxS made with modern materials and with makers who are still in business...10s of thousands of rounds later...not a single serious problem.

[Further North]

Brett's Daddy...what did you wind up doing????

[Brett's_daddy]

Nothing yet! Had the one boat sell in front of me after travelling 3 hours to look at it and than today was travelling another 3 hours to look at another boat and the seller called me when we were about 12 miles from his house and said that another guy had showed up too look at the boat...same as last time...ugh, what luck! We're still looking but have decided to dip into the savings a little to make a better investment so now we're willing to spend up to $4500 for the right boat. We'll see...stay tuned!!!

[Further North]

Sorry to hear you had another one sold out from under you...that's frustrating.

Keep at it, you'll find something.  Adding some cash to the pot will help you move up into newer, more reliable boats - I think you'll be happy wit hat decision.