How should I upgrade?

Hi All,

Relatively new to this site and Sea Ray Owners group on Facebook. Reading these groups has really given me the itch to upgrade, we currently own a 2002 Weekender 225, and love it. I'd like to go up to '26-'30 but don't want to break the bank. I'm not too handy, I wont be rebuilding anything, but I trust the mechanics at my marina. If I wanted to stay under $30K, how would you go about it? Who here has been through a similar situation?

Thanks in advance,

Frank

Frank,
I see you have a 2002 Boat.
I’m on the south shore too.
The first thing to do would probably be to figure out what you aren’t able to do with your current boat that you really wish you could do.
Then, make a list of “must haves”. Or, things you don’t have that you really want to have in your next boat. The longer that list is, the bigger the boat will need to be, and the bigger the boat, the older boat your going to have to look for to stay within your budget.
You can absolutely find a great boat around here in your price range, but you’ll need to know what you want, and you may have to look at a bunch of pigs before you find the perfect well cared for boat.

I would first decide how I plan to use the boat - day boating, cruising, or what some of us call "barging" (basically using it all season at one place as a place to stay). Then anticipate your capacity - friends, family, pets, guests, etc. and don't forget to take into consideration that if you have kids they will grow or grow up and leave.

For years we trailered and we had center consoles that the family enjoyed. As the kids started getting older they never wanted to go home so we started looking into cruisers for weekends. After a few years the kids grew so we upgraded and later added a center console to the mix. If no one really liked staying on the boat we probably would have downsized to a day boat.

So, since you already have a boat go out and use it - meet up with other boaters and ask questions and ask to see their boats. I have meet very few boaters that were not happy to talk about or show off their boats. This gives you an opportunity to develop your likes and dislikes without the pressure from a salesman or broker wanting you to buy.

After all this, develop a realistic budget (like you have) that fits the boat you want and decide if it is worthwhile to finance to get you what you want. For many years I bought all my boats without financing but our last boat we decided that rather than waiting it was worth it to finance as the amount of time it would have take us to save for the boat our kids would have grown another couple of years and would miss out.

Now, not being to handy is not a problem if you are willing to learn. There are many basic functions that I am sure anyone can handle and some that only the professional with special tools should touch.

Just remember that boating is supposed to be fun - don't let thinking about upgrading stress you - embrace it as part of the journey and enjoy the process.

-Kevin

Take the 30k and put it as a down payment. Thinking about selling our 2005 320 sea ray... With a ton of upgrades as in re power last year... And new garmins and new canvas this year... The boat needs nothing for a few years to come...

Siboatguy said:

Take the 30k and put it as a down payment. Thinking about selling our 2005 320 sea ray... With a ton of upgrades as in re power last year... And new garmins and new canvas this year... The boat needs nothing for a few years to come...

Click to expand...

There’s a place to start looking......

Great responses guys, I really appreciate your practical inputs.

Frank A. said:

Great responses guys, I really appreciate your practical inputs.

Click to expand...

One more piece of advice:
Regarding financing a boat, keep in mind that a boat is a depreciating asset that also costs a fair chunk of change to maintain every year and factor that in to your decision about how much to finance.
Not being a huge fan of consumer debt, I’ve never financed a boat, but it looks like it’s pretty easy to become upside down in them.
Ideally, you would always want to be in a position where you could sell the boat if you ever needed to, or decided to upgrade again.
I shopped long and hard through most of 2016 for my current boat and couldn’t believe how many sellers owed more on their boats than they were worth.
I’ve heard of that phenomenon occasionally with sellers of cars and houses, but was pretty shocked at how much more frequently I heard it from brokers and owners selling boats. It was kind of sad.

Last year I made the jump from a 1988 230 We. to a 2000 310 Sundancer. All I can say is that once you make this leap there are cost that come along with it so don't over look them.In my state of Ohio anything over 30' and 10 years of age will require a marine survey for the value to get insurance. Chances are you will be better off to go with a marine insurance provider and if you go with a regular insurance provider make darn sure they cover things like fluid spill clean up in case of the boat sinking and towing. Plus getting a loan on bigger older boats we're talking 8 years or older a bank will not finance the whole amount.Plus 30' in length is usually the cut off point when it comes to dockage fees after the it jumps up to the next lengths.

I just upgraded, from a 2005 240 Sundeck to a 2003 280 Sundaner, previously had an 01 225 Weekender.
It all comes down to how you want to use the boat, when kids were younger, it was dayboating and tubing. Then when it was just the two of us, it was bars and restaurants with friends. That's when we decided we wanted some more creature comforts - cabin, air conditioning, stand-up head. So now we have the 280 and feel it is a great cross over boat from what we used to do, and expanding our range. The 280 was also the largest boat that our high and dry can lift. We may have gone bigger, but we really like our marina and went with the 280.

I think you’ve got a great starting point with all the advise above.
I’m on the North Shore and have an older 30 foot dancer (1995) which your welcome to come see if you want to see what this size and vintage is like. This is our third summer with it and the family loves it so much we are looking to go even a bit bigger and also want some more amenities that come on the slightly newer boats. So with that said, it’s a great idea to list out all of the things you want out of your next boat.