Boat shopping

S

src

New Member
Feb 13, 2012
843
Richmond, VA
Boat Info
2000 310 Sundancer
1997 175BR
Engines
310: Twin 454 Mercruiser w/Bravo III
175: Mercruiser 3.0
Lord I love my wife. We just bought our first boat this winter (a '97 175BR), and have been enjoying it so far. The other day I mentioned in an off-hand way that I would like to get a bigger boat "someday" - something with a cabin and enough amenities to enjoy spending weekends/longer trips on. Trying not to cause trouble, I said "in 4 or 5 years".

Nope, no trouble - she's gung-ho about the idea. Really gung-ho. So I'm starting the sure-to-be painful process of trying to find our bigger boat, and would like to pick everyone's brains about it. We plan to use it in the Chesapeake bay area, and probably range down to the Outer Banks in NC quite a bit.

First, unless we get a "little old lady in Passadena only drove it to church on Sundays just take this boat" deal, we won't be able to keep it at a slip. So we are looking for towable. The local Sea Ray dealer is showing an '88 300 Cruiser for $10K, but that boat at that price makes me worry. But that's the kind of deal we would need to slip it.

Our current tow vehicle (Grand Cherokee w/Hemi) can handle 7500 lbs, so I figure a boat weighing around 5000 lbs or so is in the right range (after trailer, fuel, etc.). From what I can tell, that puts us into the 23-27 foot range depending on the make/model/year. Our ideal price puts it under $25K, but as always lower is better.

I would like to be able to say "of course it'll be a Sea-Ray", but I have to be realistic. So, what other brands are comparable? I want to avoid the total junk, but I don't want to exclude anything that is just "not quite as good as". Or miss anything that might be better.

Finally, my goal is to have a boat that is very usable and comfortable for 2. It would be nice to bunk more, but that's not a priority for us. Would LOVE to have a generator, but that's not common in this size from what I'm seeing. What are the practical limitations I'm going to run into with a boat in this class? Can you use A/C without a genny?

What critical considerations am I missing as a newb? Any advice would be welcome, although I'm already aware of the "whatever you buy will seem too small once you use it" truism.

I also told my wife that I didn't want to sell the 175 to help pay for this, since it's a fun and economical day toy. She said "of course we won't sell it!" Did I mention I love my wife?
 
Already have the kids, not too worried about them. One's about to graduate HS, and the younger one we can lock in a closet for long weekends on the hook.
 
Boat shopping is fun...sometimes!

James is right though, you'll get footitis real fast. Hey look how quick you have decided to move up! We had a 24 Doral for our first boat. Great first purchase...until some pretty rough water hit in our first big trip. When we got off the boat back at our home marina, the guys asked how the was. Janet replied "we need a bigger boat". She elaborated more saying it wasn't 2 foot-itis, but 10 foot-itis! We traded up to a 31 foot Thompson. We had that boat until this year (8 years). Again the bug bit end of season last year.

We now have a 370 Sundancer with all the toys. So make sure you find what you really want. If it says it sleeps 4, that means two comfortably.

Ya, and I love my wife!

Happy boat shopping. Price compare on Yachtworld.

Mark
 
Thanks, I'll check out yachtworld.

I have no doubts that there will be cravings for bigger, but (un)fortunately reality will prevent going much further. I don't have the bankroll to support a slip boat long term, and really don't want to make the many sacrifices in the rest of my life to make it happen. I'm a big fan of "good enough". Once I get to "good enough", of course.
 
3 summers ago we bought a 21'. As we were trailering to our slip, I turned to my husband and said "We need a bigger boat"
Fast forward to October.....we bought a 27'! I also told him we're keeping the 21'!
We were doing some maintenance the other day, getting her ready for the slip, and I told my husband that we're gonna have to get a bigger one in 2-5 years LOL
Praying to splash this weekend!!

Good luck with your search!!!
 
well given you have your price range, you know it needs to be towable, you know the size range and dry weight it needs to be, I think you don't need much help from us! lots of brands out there, Sea Ray is of course going to bring you the most in terms of resale and is a "safe" bet. in terms of amenities, I would say definately check into what canvas the boat has, and what shape it's in, I personally wouldn't even look at a cabin cruiser without A/C, you don't need the gen set to run it provided your on shore power. also get as many options as you can find. sure these things can be added later, but usually at a higher cost.
IMO I think you'll find you won't be using your 17 as much as you think, it's a bit like being 16 and just getting your driver's license. when you suddenly have a car to drive, the bike doesn't really seem attractrive anymore (says the guy who owns a 27 and a 22:grin:). if it frees up some cash for the bigger boat purchase it might be worth it. if you still want something to run around in you could always look into a dinghy or RIB that way you can have both your boats together (the have your cake and eat it too route) good luck. and happy shopping, I can't beleive you consider boat shopping a "painful process" for me it's the best part!
 
I was in the same boat not long ago, looking for a trailerable cabin cruiser under 30K. I looked a lot of boats (a few other brands too) and found the best option to be a 97 270 DA. it's 8'6" beam makes it legal to tow without special permits and it weighs about 6500 LBS. It handles the rough stuff well enough for me and although it doesn't have a genny, the A/C runs off of shore power when we're overnighting at a marina. I thought i would tow it, but i decided on High & Dry storage instead for convienienve. Most 270's of that vintage have A/C and a few 250's had it as an option. Both would be great for what you describe.
 
Thanks for the advice so far.

Pachanga Boy, regarding keeping the 175, we live 15 minutes from a good but small recreational/fishing lake, and the same to the James river just south of Richmond, which is where we expect to use it. The places we plan to use the cruiser are more than an hour away by car, longer if towing. So we figure the 175 would be the "let's hit the water for the afternoon" boat, and the cruiser is for everything else. We could also let the older kid take it out once he demonstrates the ability to use a brain effectively (still waiting).

What other brands would be reasonable? I see a lot of Bayliners and Maxums, some Chaparrals, Glasstrons, Four Winns, Dorals and Larsons. I don't know enough to know which are solid, and which are junk.

MartellFlorida, I would love to be in a 270, but with trailer/supplies it's over our towing limit, and we aren't in the position to replace the tow vehicle (just bought it) without taking a serious bath. Once we get over 5000lbs of dry weight, we start running into trouble once we add trailer/gas/etc., so that's a fairly hard limit we are going to have to live with unless we slip it.

docofthebay, I can't saw we aren't tempted to look at the 300, but again at that price it scares me. Is $10K really reasonable for that boat/year in decent condition, or would I have to expect pumping another $10K or so into repairs? At that price, we could budget slippage for a number of years if we didn't have to spend a lot to bring the boat up to spec. Then there's always operating costs - what's the cruising burn rate on your 300?

Oh, and I expect most of the pain in looking is going to be seeing all the boats we CAN'T have.
 
src said:
Thanks for the advice so far.

Pachanga Boy, regarding keeping the 175, we live 15 minutes from a good but small recreational/fishing lake, and the same to the James river just south of Richmond, which is where we expect to use it. The places we plan to use the cruiser are more than an hour away by car, longer if towing. So we figure the 175 would be the "let's hit the water for the afternoon" boat, and the cruiser is for everything else. We could also let the older kid take it out once he demonstrates the ability to use a brain effectively (still waiting).

What other brands would be reasonable? I see a lot of Bayliners and Maxums, some Chaparrals, Glasstrons, Four Winns, Dorals and Larsons. I don't know enough to know which are solid, and which are junk.

MartellFlorida, I would love to be in a 270, but with trailer/supplies it's over our towing limit, and we aren't in the position to replace the tow vehicle (just bought it) without taking a serious bath. Once we get over 5000lbs of dry weight, we start running into trouble once we add trailer/gas/etc., so that's a fairly hard limit we are going to have to live with unless we slip it.

docofthebay, I can't saw we aren't tempted to look at the 300, but again at that price it scares me. Is $10K really reasonable for that boat/year in decent condition, or would I have to expect pumping another $10K or so into repairs? At that price, we could budget slippage for a number of years if we didn't have to spend a lot to bring the boat up to spec. Then there's always operating costs - what's the cruising burn rate on your 300?

Oh, and I expect most of the pain in looking is going to be seeing all the boats we CAN'T have.
Click to expand...

In my opinion, Maxum, Four Winns and Wellcrafts are pretty decent boats. Might not have the fit and finish of a Ray, but well built, well handling boats. Also, I have a close friend that has a 29' Regal. Their boat rides great and seems very well put together. I'd stay away from Bayliner and Rinker. Just don't have good reputations for their quality. Also, I previously owned a Larson. Won't ever do that again!! I currently have an 86' Weekender 300. My burn rate at cruise speed, which for me is around 3200-3400rpm is about .9-1gpm. Any questions you have regarding the Weekenders, let me know and I'll gladly try and help. Again, not saying all of the above boats are junk. Just my opinion from personal and friends personal experiences. Good luck!
 
"docofthebay, I can't saw we aren't tempted to look at the 300, but again at that price it scares me. Is $10K really reasonable for that boat/year in decent condition, or would I have to expect pumping another $10K or so into repairs? At that price, we could budget slippage for a number of years if we didn't have to spend a lot to bring the boat up to spec. Then there's always operating costs - what's the cruising burn rate on your 300?"

I bought mine in the fall of 2009 for $9000 and spent a total of $5000 extra bringing her up to fantastic shape.( including out drive rebuilds, new flooring, cushions, water system etc) I used the heck out of her for a year. I installed fuel flow meters and would get 1.3 ish mpg at 3400 rpms and 30 mph. Loved it so much I wanted to get the same boat but just larger, hence my 390. I sold it for the $14,000 easily so didn't lose anything in the process.
 
Well, after a lot of looking and thinking, I'm changing course a little bit. I was putting the horse before the cart, when the cart was what is most important. In other words, screw what I can tow with my current truck. My primary focus is now on as comfortable a boat that I can afford to buy and maintain. If I have to take a couple thousand loss on my Jeep, it will be money spent on getting the right boat (or money saved from not buying the wrong one - one of those arguments HAS to work with the wife).

So what I'm currently looking at are boats in the 26-28 foot range bearing in mind several factors. One of the biggest is going to be fuel burn at cruise. I can afford a burn rate in the 1.5-2 MPG range, but I can't afford less than 1 MPG. Frankly, approaching 1.5 invokes some squeal-factor, but I have to be realistic.

I'm also factoring in the probability that the larger boat will be set up from the factory to at least have space to install a generator later - the smaller boats seem to trade-off between generators and holding tanks, which means a genny retrofit isn't in the cards for most of the smaller boats I was seeing. Am I off base on that assumption?

I'm also working under the assumption that a 26-28 footer is enough boat to handle "reasonable" off-shore duty along the mid-Atlantic coast (MD, VA, NC). I'm not planning to cruise to Bermuda, but I would like to have some flexibility. Assuming I learn proper boat-handling, what conditions would be challenging and what would be dangerous (beyond the obvious)? Am I being realistic here?

Finally, a boat that size is still reasonable to tow - I can get an oversized permit up to a 10' beam with no issues. The plan is to either slip or dry stack whatever I get until I figure out what to do about the tow vehicle. That should buy me a year if necessary. This would also give us the ability to move it longer distances if we wanted to take a boating vacation in Florida (or wherever). Even if we don't tow it ourselves, the cost to have it hauled isn't so outrageous that we couldn't consider it once in a while.

So, does this make sense? Any new recommendations, or anyone care to blow my assumptions out of the water for me? Thanks again for all the good advice!
 
Hello I think 1.5 mpg on a 28 ft boat with out drives is extremely optimistic my 300 sundancer at cruise 3/4 fuel full water empty waste 4 people at cruise was 1.2 on-average chop and wind at cruise twin 5.0 mercruiser out drive the windier and sloppier the ride the worse it got my 300 did ok in 3 to 4 ft rollers but in cross chop or close chop you get wet it gets bumpy running cruise on a 300 so an 280 might be more so but I'm sure some one will chime in good luck hunting just my $.02 I also think if you need upper fuel milage you might need smaller boat 240 or 260
 
I just bought my first real boat in January. 99 270 sundancer. Asking price 32k. I took one look and tossed out a crazy offer of 20k. Guess what he took it!!! With only 240 hours on her and nothing in the cabin ever used, plastic still in microwave on stove and around fridge. Got a surveyor and a mechanic everything was great xcept for gimbal bearing and ujoints. So for 20k plus 1000 in repairs I got a brand new 99. So they are out there. And they do come factory with genny and if not the location is there even with holding tank and water tank and the fuel tank has the fittings already. Just remove the plugs. My year along with a couple other years have the 9.2 beam witch is very nice and very stable in rough wAters. My maiden voyage was 3 to 5 footers in the Atlantic. Was very impressed. Plenty of power with the 7.4 bravo 3 combo burns around 1.5 1.8 an hour depending on conditions. Herd mixed reviews on being underpowered with the twins. A little over your weight limit at 7500 dry without trailer but it's a lot of boat for its size overall 29.7ft tip to tip. Good luck any questions on the 270 lemme know ill try to help and like the other said, boat shopping is the best part look around till you say I have to have that one and don't b afraid to low ball. The best price is the one your embarrassed to offer.
 
Thanks for the feedback, especially the experience with a 270. I've tossed out the weight restriction - like I said, I'd rather have the right boat than keep the Jeep.

On the 270, where is the generator located (or the hole to put one)? I've looked at several listings and it's not obvious where there's room. The only place I can think of is the hatch that is forward of the engine bay, on the port side, but that's counter-intuitive.

I'd certainly look at a 260, but the more the wife and I look at layouts, the more we are trending to the 270/280 end, so I guess I'll be ending up on the short side of the fuel equation.

And we still haven't stepped foot on any larger boat of any make/vintage, so there's a reality check coming there, too.
 
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SRC, our last boat was a 23' Wellcraft aft cabin. Nice for he Potomac, but only slept 4, no jenny or ac. Made a couple trips to Solomon's, got soaked and beat every time, but it was trailer able. Moved up to a 280, with all the works. Got a slip in colonial beach (130/mo). Also bought a trailer for winter haul outs and hurricanes. We only have to trailer it 5 miles to the house. I could not see towing that on the highway without a dually. I use my daughters f350 diesel now, but could not see towing great distances very often.

If you want to check out the size of the 280, you are welcome to come up and look. What I like about the cb area is thre are so many places within an hour cruise.

My motto: "friends don't let friends buy bayli**rs."

Hope this helps.
 
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