delliott00
New Member
I have a bit of a dilemma and would be interested in hearing your input.
My wife and I have always wanted a place where we could park the boat right in the back yard. We live in Austin and boat on the (recently refilled) Lake Travis, but waterfront here is ridiculously priced and until recently, most of it wasn't waterfront at all due to the water level.
So we've been looking at waterfront on the texas coast, as its VERY affordable and seemingly hasn't been discovered yet. I wanted to buy something now before it gets "Florida'd".... As of last week, we closed on our new vacation home (and future early retirement home base) on Padre Island near Corpus. It was cheaper for me to buy a 2nd home than sell the one we have near the lake for a decent lake travis waterfront home. Down there, we have 65 feet of bulkhead, a fabulous wide canal view, and are 5 minutes from the ICW. All this for less than the price of a nice new tract home in the Austin suburbs. And Padre Island seashore, with its white sand beaches and blue water, is <10 miles down the ICW.
Here are pics of the back yard! We love it!
So the dilemma is: We now have 65' of dock space, plenty of great beaches and fishing to entertain us, but no boat down there! And our 320, which is a fabulous boat, is not exactly cost effective to move. So the only option I can think of is to get a small center console for down there, and keep a cruiser up here. But I'd really like to keep my boating expenses (loan payment, slip, gas, insurance) the same or less.
So, I'm thinking of selling/trading our '04 320 sundancer for a used 280DA and a new 21-23' center console (Pro-line, Sea Hunt, Sailfish, etc).
Most of our lake boating consists of hanging out with friends (one of whom owns a 500DA) and overnighting with them. But its usually just the two of us as our boating friends all have boats. So a 280DA would suffice. Plus, a 12' wide slip on lake travis is ~$200/month less than a 14' wide. Not to mention gas, insurance, payments, etc.
Essentially, we could trade the 320DA for a used 280DA and a new $30-35K center console, even up, but still save $300-400/month in slip, fuel etc. And a 280DA could be trailered occasionally down to the coast if we end up spending a month or two at a time there.
I know I'd miss the size, but we'll be saving up for that yacht in a few years (ok, more like 5yrs). Probably a 45ish Searay or possibly a used Azimut or the like. We'll have a lot more time to use it then anyways.
So am I crazy? Should I downsize to two boats and pocket the monthly savings? It would give us a boat to enjoy on the coast.
Thanks....
-Dave
'04 320DA Sundancer, T350Mag V-Drives
My wife and I have always wanted a place where we could park the boat right in the back yard. We live in Austin and boat on the (recently refilled) Lake Travis, but waterfront here is ridiculously priced and until recently, most of it wasn't waterfront at all due to the water level.
So we've been looking at waterfront on the texas coast, as its VERY affordable and seemingly hasn't been discovered yet. I wanted to buy something now before it gets "Florida'd".... As of last week, we closed on our new vacation home (and future early retirement home base) on Padre Island near Corpus. It was cheaper for me to buy a 2nd home than sell the one we have near the lake for a decent lake travis waterfront home. Down there, we have 65 feet of bulkhead, a fabulous wide canal view, and are 5 minutes from the ICW. All this for less than the price of a nice new tract home in the Austin suburbs. And Padre Island seashore, with its white sand beaches and blue water, is <10 miles down the ICW.
Here are pics of the back yard! We love it!
So the dilemma is: We now have 65' of dock space, plenty of great beaches and fishing to entertain us, but no boat down there! And our 320, which is a fabulous boat, is not exactly cost effective to move. So the only option I can think of is to get a small center console for down there, and keep a cruiser up here. But I'd really like to keep my boating expenses (loan payment, slip, gas, insurance) the same or less.
So, I'm thinking of selling/trading our '04 320 sundancer for a used 280DA and a new 21-23' center console (Pro-line, Sea Hunt, Sailfish, etc).
Most of our lake boating consists of hanging out with friends (one of whom owns a 500DA) and overnighting with them. But its usually just the two of us as our boating friends all have boats. So a 280DA would suffice. Plus, a 12' wide slip on lake travis is ~$200/month less than a 14' wide. Not to mention gas, insurance, payments, etc.
Essentially, we could trade the 320DA for a used 280DA and a new $30-35K center console, even up, but still save $300-400/month in slip, fuel etc. And a 280DA could be trailered occasionally down to the coast if we end up spending a month or two at a time there.
I know I'd miss the size, but we'll be saving up for that yacht in a few years (ok, more like 5yrs). Probably a 45ish Searay or possibly a used Azimut or the like. We'll have a lot more time to use it then anyways.
So am I crazy? Should I downsize to two boats and pocket the monthly savings? It would give us a boat to enjoy on the coast.
Thanks....
-Dave
'04 320DA Sundancer, T350Mag V-Drives
of boating) to curise/overnight on the lake. 
