What boat do I want? Noob in the house.

[haulnazz15]

Re: What boat do I want? Noob in the house.

I still think the 26'+ boats are too big for your needs. Hell, most 20-22' bowrider runabouts can accommodate 10 people, but you won't have the head/wet bar in most. Skiing behind a 26' boat is no fun at all in my experience, as the wake it makes is too big. Seriously, for day trips, skip the head and just let them do their business while "swimming". If the need is urgent, then stop at a marina. The wet bar is fine, but they rarely get used, and a lot of people aren't fond of using water from a hose that has been sitting in a holding tank for weeks or months. I'd recommend a 22-24' boat max to be honest. Something like the 232/242 series from Cobalt, or similar sizes/comparibles from other manufacturers. In this situation, "doing it right the first time" isn't necessarily about buying the biggest boat possible, it's about finding the best fit for your needs.

I seriously dislike pontoons, but the deckboat/sportdeck boats in the 22-24' range would also be a decent option if you like the open layout of the pontoon deck, but dislike the "party barge" image a pontoon commands.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: What boat do I want? Noob in the house.

I don't think that the difference between a 22/24 foot boat and a 26 footer is going to be insurmountable, and you will like/want the bigger boat once you are down the learning curve. So, if you/Dad think a 26 footer would meet your longer term needs go for it. Learn as much as you can, pre-launching and just use extra caution in the early stages.

 

[jafo9]

Re: What boat do I want? Noob in the house.

The best place to start is to decide what you absolutely need in your boat and then prioritize them. For example if skiing is your top priority then you need a 19ft tournament ski boat (MC, CC, Bu, etc.). Obviously not what you have in mind, but you get my point. It sounds like length, carrying capacity, head, wet bar are priorities and watersports are wanted as well. Bottom line is that you won't find a boat that will excel at all of those things. I'm a big fan of the Sun Deck line. A buddy of mine has gotten years of service out of a 200 Sun Deck. I talked with an owner of a 240 Sun Deck that was renting a place down from me one summer and he felt that the 350 was too small for anything 24ft or longer in the Sun Deck line.

I totally understand the want for a head. For us it definitely extends the boating season. We can head out in the cold in street clothes and not have to worry about having to rush back to the dock or the marina for #1. My rule is no #2 on the boat. With the proper chemicals in the tank, there is no smell. I have a large wet bar and we use it all the time. The sink part, however, is a huge waste of space. Thankfully, ours has a cover that makes one big surface. The thing that really makes our "bar" indispensable is the 12v fridge. I can load it full of enough kid and adult beverages to last all day. No cooler in the way and it stays cold without the need for bags of ice.

The crazy part. It's a pontoon. It will easily fit 3 families. Ours has a performance package so we can tube/board/ski if so desired. Pontoons have come along way since the day of the old non-planing 2 loggers. I have a 225 hanging off the back of my 25ft Premier and I can run in the low 40's empty and high 30's loaded. Another benefit of a pontoon is that I can grind it up a beach and not worry about scratching my freshly buffed fiberglass hull.

While a performance pontoon may be adequate for water sports, if water sports are more important in your priorities, you may want to consider an inboard over an I/O. Once you've taken a pull behind a quality towboat, you won't want to go back. You could get a used MC X45 for your budget. Its a big roomy boat that will do everything well except ski. Realistically, any boat in your size range will have a bad ski wake. You also wont get a wet bar or a potty. I don't know about the other inboard brands, but to get a potty and wet bar in an MC, you have to get the X55 which, even used, will likely blow your budget.

Coming full circle. The Sea Ray Sun Deck is a great boat that may be the best compromise for what you want. My point in all this, is that there is no perfect boat. Unless you can have multiple boats, you will likely have to sacrifice something.

 

[CougarJackson]

Re: What boat do I want? Noob in the house.

Thanks for all the replies, folks. It turns out that the folks over at MarineMax JUST couldn't make the numbers work on the Sun Deck. We got very close, though. We are heading out today to a Crownline dealer to check out the boat I linked above as we'll as discuss the option of a 2013 Eclipse E6 EC.

 

[CougarJackson]

Re: What boat do I want? Noob in the house.

The link above is still in play at this point, a 2013 Eclipse E6 EC is not...MarineMax called yesterday and asked to get one more chance at the 260 Sundeck, so we will see what their numbers look like today.