Need advice on buying a 1999 310 Sundancer

[Great lakes pirate]

I never said or even implied that it's the end of the world to have one. And I'm not even going to start a discussion about portable generator on the platform.

I've had two boats without a generator for many years (before 320DA), so believe me I know the drill.

Location - is only one of the variable that plays the role when making a decision on your purchase. However, despite the fact that up north A/C is not so much of a necessity, but the heat could be. This is something that can extend your season greatly by having luxury to run central heater overnight to keep everyone comfortable. you can have good 1.5-2months in spring and the same in fall where you'd need to run the heater, depending how far north you're. If I know that I could extent my VERY short season for couple of months, just right there it's no brainer.

My only point was that with a larger cruiser it's wise to think outside the box and saving few grand is not always the best answer.

As far as the portable generator goes, I was only joking.. It is Friday you know.

My last boat did not have a generator and my current one does. I guess that I was just trying to say that I could easily live without it. I am the first one in and the last one out of the water in my neck of the woods. I don't do a lot of overnighting on the hook so maybe that is why I don't think I need it much. I have used it to warm up some food in the microwave while away from shore power.

To the OP... If you plan to spend the night away from shore power often then pass on the boats and wait for one with a generator like Alex suggests. If you plan to use the boat during the day and then overnight in you slip than I would say that the generator will get little use.

 

[Someday Lady II]

Cool, yeah I may be sorry about the Generator, but for the price of $40k I cannot seem to go wrong here.

I bought my boat in Michigan and almost all of the boats that I looked at did not have a generator. The PO told me that he, and most of his boating friends, went from slip to slip and did not require one.
No regrets about buying, but some whatifs???...

 

[Alex F]

As far as the portable generator goes, I was only joking.. It is Friday you know....

My bad, I didn't take as a joke...but I'm glad it was.

.....To the OP... If you plan to spend the night away from shore power often then pass on the boats and wait for one with a generator like Alex suggests. If you plan to use the boat during the day and then overnight in you slip than I would say that the generator will get little use.

This is exactly why I always point out that anytime anyone is looking to upgrade knowing and trying to see other ways on how they'll be using a new boat is the primary driver. It's tough to be very smart about it as we can't predict the future. So, all one can do is use all information at hand and make a decision that fits best one's needs.

We all use our boats differently and I see way too many boats in their slips. A lot of folks just upgrade to have more room and still choose to stay in their marina and just have a good time with their friends. If you in a nice marina with pool and other activities for kids, people see no reason to seek anything else. Others go to near by favorite anchorage areas and enjoy their day on water and beach. Then they return to their slips. And of course the other category of boaters that go out and stay out as long as they can and enjoy being on water day and night.

In my case, I keep my boat in a slip only when I'm not on it. As soon as I arrive I want to go and explore the nature. With every boat I buy I want to do go out more and more. I also learned over the years that the more comfort we gained with our upgrades the more my family loves boating, which greatly helps the captain. It was a good move to switch from 240DA to 320DA, which opened new way of cruising for us. We were always out on 240, but it wasn't like we anchored over night every single weekend. With 320, this was totally different. My crew better have good excuse to be back in our slip, but with all the fun I offered to them they didn't need one. When you have all comforts and homy feeling on your boat it changes things drastically. We started taking long trips and pretty much took our previous boating live style to a totally new level. I guess, you can easily tell by looking at the commitment we made with current boat.

There are too many things to consider and choosing the right power package (I/Os vs. V-Drives) is another brain storming factor. But, the more we share our experiences with all different type of boating the more we'll help our fellow boaters to get the picture and hopefully make the right choice.

I bought my boat in Michigan and almost all of the boats that I looked at did not have a generator. The PO told me that he, and most of his boating friends, went from slip to slip and did not require one.
No regrets about buying, but some whatifs???...

A good point here is that some people like to cruise and stay out, but during the night hours they feel much more comfortable being in a slip. So, in this case they would use transient slip to explore different places instead of just going back to their marina. I always looked at it this way (starting from 320), my boat has anything I need to provide all the comforts, so if we enjoy being out on the hook and be surrounded by nature I would gladly stay out. Having generator allows me to do whatever I wish and all I need is fuel and water.