I want a Boat! (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Zack1978
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Zack1978 said:
depends, better deals are found in areas with a crap load of boats. I would guess the Chesapeake bay area would be the best place to look up north.
Anybody selling a boat now, especially one that was for sale during the summer and spring should be expecting to take a hit on it and probably is willing to in order to be shed of it
fall/winter is technically the off season for boats
fall/winter is technically the off season for boats
You have to shop around, the boat we bought (i posted it earlier) got an offer the day we bought it for 15K more than we paid for it but we already had a contract on it. It is certainly better to start looking now than in the spring. This is even true for lake lots. Fall/Winter is the dead season for lake lots around here, if you haven't sold it by Sept/Oct you are gonna have it in the spring or have to sell it cheaper.
semlin
curmudgeon
now is actually a good time. people are getting ready to winterize and store it and don't want to if they know they are selling it. once they are stored and all buttoned up and it is cold outside it is too much hassle to sell (no sea trial etc..) so lots of boats are off the market all winter and the market can actually be tighter
If you are doing inland lakes and don't need a whole lot of room, think about an older inboard ski boat.
I can go most of the day on about 16 gallons. It is a blast to drive, can pull any sized skier even when loaded with friends or fatsacks.
Best of all, most replacement parts can be found at an automotive parts store for the 351 Ford Winsor V8. It is simple to work on because it is a car motor that is more accessible. If that isnt enough room, I can have the engine and tranny out in about an hour! Keep the electronics simple and you should never be stranded.
Good luck,
Travis
I can go most of the day on about 16 gallons. It is a blast to drive, can pull any sized skier even when loaded with friends or fatsacks.
Best of all, most replacement parts can be found at an automotive parts store for the 351 Ford Winsor V8. It is simple to work on because it is a car motor that is more accessible. If that isnt enough room, I can have the engine and tranny out in about an hour! Keep the electronics simple and you should never be stranded.
Good luck,
Travis
Sorry for a 3 year old response. I was on a 33' not one of the cheating multihulls.
oh and the transpac record is like 5.5 or 6 days now!!!
loo at this
chapperal 23.5 foot 2008 40hrs
chapperal 23.5 foot 2008 40hrs
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For the small boat enthusiast... don't get an inboard, trouble from the word go, take it from a 22 year commuter, always check the floor, the transom, and take it out on the water, then have a mechanical inspection done and pay the 100.00 for that service...... the best deals to be found are a bit higher price, for a bit better quality, go smaller and newer if price is an issues and never buy a force outboard or a mariner..... September is when the rental companies..... Sewels etc.... sell off their rental stock just got a 2010 merc outboard, 40 horse, on a 2001 14.4 ft Glass craft with all controls, bottom paint etc $6500.00 2 year warranty... worth the extra gelt..... or a 17 with a 60 merc....2010 for 9000 all ready to go....its not a cheap pass time boating....sure does take you to some brilliant places....WA. state boater's card is free BC's is 50 bucks.... both are acceptable to prove "competancy" the authorities require
LINUS
Waiting for the Great Pumpkin
Inboard or outboard is all about how you use & how you maintain. I have a Vortec 350 in my Wooldridge jet sled & it's been great (alum heads since all Vortecs got so-so heads since they didn't use enough metal- but I have a 9.9 Yamaha O/B that got us home to swap heads, no other issues) - that said, I'm moving to a LS3 this spring, so to get that kind of horse in a Honda stack would be ~$30K
I do agree about "Force" motors - singularly the worst motor I ever saw, my dad had one for 2 months. - I'd take a submerged, 10-15 year old Johnson & clean it up & guarantee it would spend more hours spinning than a Force.
Mine:
a rich guy once told me that if it f#cks, flys, or floats, rent it!
LINUS
Waiting for the Great Pumpkin
...you might want to add our 80's to that list, it's not like we are running around in Prius' worried about MPG or $$/mile of vehicle op cost.
but I get what you mean, yes - certain boats can get obscene $$$ and all others are just $$
LOL I didn't have the heart to add my beloved 80 to the list but I have owned several boats from little whalers to a 1969 Thunderbird trihull cuddy camper from flipper! This will probably be the next boat I get, they're fairly easy to find used
LINUS
Waiting for the Great Pumpkin
Crap! That's an easy way to hit the water - moderate lakes are totally accessable with one of those.
For the resale & the initial cost, I see a lot of drift boats locally for the steelhead guys - and they are TOUGH!
I probably wouldn't have a Wooldridge aside from the deal I got, but up here we all run jet sleds so that you are the guy who can run in a few inches of water on the river, the only drawback is the efficiency when out in the saltwater (Puget Sound for us) - but aside from small creeks you really should be in waders for, it gives us flexibility.
Plus you can run in marshes for feathers (ducks mainly) with our setups. I run a heat exchanger so I don't have to worry about pushing salt/brackish water in my cooling jacket - something I REALLY will be happy when I run the popcan block of an LS3.
For the resale & the initial cost, I see a lot of drift boats locally for the steelhead guys - and they are TOUGH!
I probably wouldn't have a Wooldridge aside from the deal I got, but up here we all run jet sleds so that you are the guy who can run in a few inches of water on the river, the only drawback is the efficiency when out in the saltwater (Puget Sound for us) - but aside from small creeks you really should be in waders for, it gives us flexibility.
Plus you can run in marshes for feathers (ducks mainly) with our setups. I run a heat exchanger so I don't have to worry about pushing salt/brackish water in my cooling jacket - something I REALLY will be happy when I run the popcan block of an LS3.
I had considered a jet sled, they're light, easy to tow and maint wise much easier than an outboard to maintain, I think I'd go for a full aluminum hull though since you're going to run them in shallow water fiberglass would just get torn up. I like the AL sled on axe men but his is bigger than I'd want to have.
LINUS
Waiting for the Great Pumpkin
Inboard jet sleds are like a big jetski as the intake grate is in the hull 2~3" FWD of transom, then jet nozzle is 6~8" behind transom - and if you run a strainer (most come equipped now) on the intake water side, you see through a lexan bowl how full of rocks it is - and it has a reverse valve to simply turn ball valve & it dumps it. - That way if you run a heat exchanger then you can run in salt or whatever, and still have a closed cooling jacket full of quality coolant.
The whole heat exchanger thing is part of why I like it over outboards - but to each their own. My uncle has been a boat dealer locally for the last 40 years & swears by outboards - which are easier to work around/ past when running downriggers & fishing salt.
Personal preference, mine is my "retirement boat" - I waited years for the perfect used one to hit the market - and it in reality only cost me $300 (long story short, bought a Winchester yellowboy from a pawn shop that thought it was a Italian copy, when it was the real deal) Sold Winchester to a standing buyer, used profit to get dream boat.
I wanted a boat too. That's why I got an FJ80!
Let me explain... I had some expendable funds and had recently gotten much more heavy into fishing. While shopping around the classifieds for a used center console in the 23 foot range, I began doing the math of ownership. I had a boat as a kid and all things being equal I would have gotten another. But things are not equal, gas was around 70 cents a gallon then and now it was near $4. I couldn't justify, much less cover, the long term ownership of a good sized boat with a 200HP outboard engine rated in gallons per mile! I was going to have to put my meager savings somewhere else.
So the next logical step was to buy a 4x4 to take on the plentiful area beaches and go surf fishing, which I had yet to explore. In the end I turned to my all time favorite 4WD vehicle, the venerable FZJ80 Land Cruiser. Which happens to be giving me trouble right now, and it better stop or else I'll buy a boat!
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