Trade or Boat Swap?

B

BrianR

New Member
Sep 23, 2012
27
Orlando
Boat Info
300
Engines
Merc
Like we all do, I'm having a case of about 8 ft itus.......
my wife and I are looking at a sedan bridge in the 40 foot range.
we've like the SeaRays,Meridians, Older Hatteras in the '90's era, we also found a Maxum 42 that we liked. I wasn't aware they existed.
Anyway, to my point.
Of course in order to move up, we need to sell or trade our 300 before we can do that.
I came across a website called goswap.org and wondered if anyone on here has any luck with something similar to this?
also, secondly, for those of you with the bigger boats, do you recommend diesel or gas? My leaning is towards diesel for better fuel efficiency, but wondered about the differences in maintenance etc.....
 
I don't know anything about that site though I can't see how it would hurt to try.

I can tell you I think Maxum made a good boat and I'm familiar with that size. You just have to see which vessel you prefer....

I can say, in my strong opinion, diesel is the only way to go in that size. At the marina I'm at now the diesel is $3.80 and the gas is $4.99. That aside, the diesel will give you a better burn rate, better torque, and I think reasonable maintenance if you do some things on your own. Personally I think it's a good idea to be able to do a fair amount of work on your engines as it will give you peace of mind while you're running and something goes wrong.

Good luck
 
Although I'm just shy of 40' with 8.1's I'm burning around 36-38 GPH making 18-19 MPH. I can do all of my own maint. But wouldn't have much trouble learning diesel maint either. I believe it comes down to what you can get for your current boat, how you plan on using a diesel bridge boat and of course the money spent or lost in the end. After looking to trade our current boat this winter to move up to a 420/480 bridge we decided to stay where we are. It didn't make sense to us to spend that much money for a 3-4 month season . Good luck in your search. There's plenty of big boat guys here to answer all the questions you have .
 
In that size boat you're probably going to want diesels. Gassers aren't as efficient at pushing lots of weight through the water. A big deciding factor in whether you go with gassers or diesels is how much you plan to use the boat. Unless you're going to use it a lot, or plan to keep it for many years it would be hard to justify the additional cost of buying a diesel powered boat.

I don't what year range you're looking at in the Sea Rays, Meridians, etc, but you could end up paying and additional $25K-$50K for a diesel powered boat. If it's going to be a dock queen, there's really no way to justify spending that extra amount for the diesels. If that's how you plan to use it, save that money by buying a gas boat and spend the $$$ on gas, booze, food, etc.

If I were in your shoes and based on Orlando I'd go for the diesel boat and use the heck out of it. You have a bazillion places to cruise to that are within a day or two away. With a diesel boat you'll be more likely to take those trips because it won't cost two fortunes to do it. Do the math on Havana Shamrock's boat--he's getting .5mpg at cruise speed. That might tend to make you want to stay closer to home if you have a gas powered boat.
 
One other thing to consider when talking gas vs diesel is range. Diesel boats get better fuel economy and therefore more range. When coming to South FL or Bahamas, you will need that range for crossings etc. Like mentioned above, if you are going to be a dock queen and only go up and down the intercoastal for wine cruises then it will be hard to justify a diesel boat. IMO, you want a boat that has a minimum 200 mile range with reserve.
 
BrianR said:
Like we all do, I'm having a case of about 8 ft itus.......
my wife and I are looking at a sedan bridge in the 40 foot range. we also found a Maxum 42 that we liked.....
Click to expand...

Someone mentioned that "Maxums" are "Bayliners" with a different badge on them???????? Can someone knowledgeable verify this? We did look at a 5 year old Maxum boat in the 24' range a few years back. The price was great but the thing was falling apart (headliner falling down, screws backing out, panels falling off etc). I just assumed they weren't built to Sea Ray standards.
 
http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/200...2/Newport-Beach/CA/United-States#.U0LQsI1OWos

I was aboard this boat on Saturday at the Newport Beach boat show and boy did my wife really like this boat. I didn't honestly know Maxum made bigger bridge boats. I did not think Maxum was in any way related to Bayliner, that was Meridian at one point who was a rebadged Bayliner I thought. I don't know if Maxums are any good, and I know nothing about the mechanicals but seems like pretty good value for the price here. And no, I am not swapping up myself right now though I did see a nice 36DB just like Havana's boat above at the show for $169k.
 
Dsybok said:
http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/200...2/Newport-Beach/CA/United-States#.U0LQsI1OWos

I was aboard this boat on Saturday at the Newport Beach boat show and boy did my wife really like this boat. I didn't honestly know Maxum made bigger bridge boats. I did not think Maxum was in any way related to Bayliner, that was Meridian at one point who was a rebadged Bayliner I thought. I don't know if Maxums are any good, and I know nothing about the mechanicals but seems like pretty good value for the price here. And no, I am not swapping up myself right now though I did see a nice 36DB just like Havana's boat above at the show for $169k.
Click to expand...

Wow, that's beautiful. Way outta my league though for sure. Can't believe the price too, seems like a typo. Who'd think 125K would buy all that? Go for it!!!!:thumbsup:

Edit: Just had another look, it's 129 but still seems like incredible value. If I had moorage for it I'd sell the condo and live in it. It does kind of have that Bayliner look to it when viewed from the front. I wonder.:smt017
 
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Maxums were built as a more upscale Bayliner, the Hull ID's even start the same as Bayliners. Their boats over 35' were nice and as much as I hate to say it so were the Bayliners.

The Maxum bridge boats were the precursor to Meridan and if you look closely as the Meridan hulls on the 391 and 411 you could easily mistake them. They were way ahead of their time with the design and I have friends with a 41 aft cabin, 41 sedan, and 46 sedan that wouldn't trade their boats for anything.
 
It really does seem like a good value for that Maxum at $129k, but like I said, I don't know about the mechanicals. That particular boat had almost 900 hours on one of the engines while only 400 on the other, which seems a bit odd. Still, if I was looking for a value priced bridge boat, it would certainly be under consideration.
 
Brian,

I am in the market for a 300. What year model is yours? PM me if you wish. Don't mean to hijack the thread.
 
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