Wanna talk me into or out of?

osd9 said:
What......My story isn't as bad (actually read good) as Skip's...


First I'll get up on the stage and state" Hi, my name is Dominc and I AM a USED boat buyer".....I have always found that I get the best bang for my dollar by buying used, and if you buy right, it makes it that much less painfull to move up (and get the admiral's buy-in to move up).......in '98 we bought our first twin engine cruiser a '93 330DA....we moved up in '01 to our second 330DA a '98 model (long story there) and then in '05 we moved up to our '02 380DA, and hopefully, if all works out, in '06 (next week) we'll be into our '03 410DA-D.....the admiral had me sign a contract that I won't move up again for 5 years.....In between buying years we also bought an 18' laguna CC, a 9' dinghy, a kayack, a paddle boat and a canoe....

Life is like a ride on a merry-go-round.....you only go around once...(you can't say next ride I'll do it differently).....and there's no guarantee you get a full ride.....Life is short....you gotta have toys.....
Click to expand...

I think that we (most Csr members) can't get the best deals....
We love Searay boats that much, that if we fall in love... we pay a little more :smt021 :smt021

But we enjoy our boat 10X more than "normal" boaters. :thumbsup:

So in the end we get paid back!!

Only those admirals :smt100 :smt100

Have fun in live.

Peter
 
I did something similar, but in a longer timeline.

I bought a brand new 185 in 2000. In 2002, I bought a 1999 290DA, After 6 months, we traded that in for the 380DA, which is where we now sit.

Itching again.....
 
We don't mention it much around here, but a second, rather emotional aspect of the new versus used boat purchase model for me is that because the $$ are so much less for a clean used boat, I find that I don't get as excited over minor damage.
Let me explain.
As I was prepping the 420DA this past spring the one thing I paid zero attention to was the boat's fog bell. I tightened, caulked, cleaned, polished, sweated, cursed, and bled over the boat, but never, ever did anything to the bell mounting bolt. In June, as we were crusing merrily along to the sweet, sweet music of 900 Turbocharged Cummins Ponies (i digress) the darned bell came loose and gouged the heck out of the gelcoat under the bell mounting arm. Three big gel dings, each the size of a nickel. Had this occurred on a brand spankin' new $500K 44DA, I'd have been far more upset than I was. Of course, I found a good gel guy who made everything right in my world...but the point is, at least as far as my personality flaws, I get far more upset over damage to a brand new big ticket item than I do a slightly used and already depreciated one.
Hi, My Name is SKip, and I am a Sea Ray-a holic.

Lousy weather here in Virginia today, and I have a house full of in-laws, so my Dad and I are going to sneak out and go check out an 01 480 Sedan Bridge with big honkin Cats under the deck. A great way to spend a few hours with my Dad.

Merry Christmas, friends, and prayers for our warriors overseas.

Skip
 
Skip said:
Lousy weather here in Virginia today, and I have a house full of in-laws, so my Dad and I are going to sneak out and go check out an 01 480 Sedan Bridge with big honkin Cats under the deck. A great way to spend a few hours with my Dad.
Click to expand...

Gosh, you are sick.
:smt043
Skip said:
Merry Christmas, friends, and prayers for our warriors overseas.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more. :thumbsup:
 
Uh oh.......Skip is going to look at a bigger boat. :smt018 :smt100 :smt100

I wonder if we will see a new thread started soon on 480s. :grin: :grin:
 
Dangit, you guys are gonna get me in trouble!

In looking around, I am really suprised at how much difference there is from a 240 Sundancer, and just going up to boats in the 25' class. and not that much more $$.
 
because everyone has a different budget for their pleasure boats, the only bit of advice i'd give you is buy the biggest boat you can. when i say big, i don't mean a jalopy 38' vessel that has tons of mechanical issues, i mean the BIGGEST BANG FOR THE BUCK!

even a big boat becomes small once you get used to it! good luck and keep us posted.

all the folks here have GREAT advice. they helped me with my recent purchase. :smt043
 
Don't ask how. . .but I just found this thread. I feel compelled to add my 3 cents.

I concur with two themes in this thread;

1) Get the biggest boat you can.

2) Buy used. It hurts less when you bang the dock!


I was looking at bow riders. The perfect size for casual day putt-putt rides and tubing.
But $40K for a new 22' bow rider seemed a bit excessive.
I envisioned running at night with the Admiral getting cold. .looking for somewhere to hide.
I envisioned everyone getting bounce around on a choppy bay while on the lunch hook.

Then I found the 27' cuddies. Buying a used 280, a few extra dollars got me into a boat with twin drives. And a cockpit fridge! A true indoor head. A boat that was immune to 3' bay chop. A boat that was comfortable with 9 passengers (wow!).

In my first season, I have done much more with the 280 than I ever could with a bow rider. The boat is usable in weather where a bow rider would not be. The boat inspires confidence (not fear) when running at night. I am getting pumped for my second season (you can see from my other posts that I am still pouring out money!)

And of COURSE you are going to bang the dock! Or foul the prop. . doing something stupid with a $40K used boat is one thing. Doing something stupid with a $40K new boat is a whole lot worse!

I have seen the 240SD and older 25's. The cabin just seemed too small. The type of boat that encourages you to upsize in two years. And I only worry about two people. If it seems cramped now. . .it will only go down from there. In my mind. . the primary reason to go for a 24SD is if;

1) You need to trailer and you need a cruiser. A 30DA is not a trailer boat.

2) Money is a real issue. A 30DA costs what. . three 24DA's?
 
I can only speak from my experience. I started looking at new 240's. Then I took a look at 1 or 2 year 260's to see the difference. After much advice I started looking at 4-5 year old 280's and made the leap to a 4 year old 280. All my fear about a boat this size went away in two weeks. The hugeness of it went away very quickly and i'm soooooo glad that I went for the bigger boat. I can't believe how a boat shrinks in size in such a short period of time after the jitters go away and the price is about the same. I now feel I have a good size boat for what I want to do in the near future. And used is so much nicer when you bang into the dock :lol:
 
Just like Turtle we started looking at the 240da, then the 260da seemed right, until.....we got on the 280da. In theory we could have gone up and up, but my bank account isn't funded by theory unfortunately.

The difference an extra foot of beam makes from the 260da to the 280da is dramatic especially for bigger people (read 6'3" 220 and 5'9" ?) or for families. Also the twin engines make handling a dream. If we didn't know we wanted to do overnights the 240/260da's would have probably been fine.

There is a significant jump in price when you go from the 240/260da to the 280da so beware. Much more than from the 240 to the 260. Buy as much as possible because it's cheaper than trading early to get what you want/need.
 
Oh yeah. . .don't underestimate the impact of twin engines.

On the down side. . .twin engines DOUBLES the bills.


  • Twice the fuel.

    Twice the tune ups

    Twice the Exhaust Manifold Replacements.

But the pros are rather significant.


  • Docking becomes a BREEZE. Seriously. . .you can spin the boat in
    place when docking. You just don't do that in a single prop boat.

    If one engine dies. . you still get home.

    MORE POWER. A single 396Mag with a Bravo III on a 27 doesn't impress me. You can get that in a 22' bow riders. When I push my throttles, the boat just pops onto plane. It gets on plane faster than my jetski. Seriously. (I LIKE IT!)

    You can get high output power with going to Bravo III drives.
 
I don't know that I agree that twins double the bills. I burn about the same with two small blocks as 1 big block does. double the filters yes, but no biggie. the parts for two small blocks and alpha 1 come to just a hair more than big block with B3. The way I figured it was all in all, about 1/3 more for twins. then you take into account the corrosion issues etc... then i'm my book it just about breaks even cost wise. That's just on paper, real word might be another thing :huh:
 
I recently bought a 240da. Haven't actually used it yet because the weather has messed up my date(sorry different subject). But in regards to size and function. One of the reasons we chose the 240 was the trailerability without the need of a 1ton truck. $ years ago we bought a 10 ft popup camper. Loved the freedom a popup gave us as we could get into some smaller places that the big boys couldn't. We had it for 1 year and traded it for a 12 ft with a 2ft trunk for storage. We still have it and love it. We use the camper for sleeping only or bad weather which is what we will use the 240 for. Bad weather if we had to we could simply put it back on the trailer. My kids are now 16 and 14 yrs old so the will be working most weekend this summer so it will be the wife, myself and our 100lb choclate lab. My point is it all depends on what you use it for. If you like to be on deck enjoying the weather than there will probably be plenty of room. But if everyone likes to hang out inside then it will get pretty tight. Sorry my wife tells me I ramble on.
 
I agree. . . .one of the things I was thinking about with the 22 footer was trailerability. Once I threw out that constraint. . .then the next constraint was the wallet. :)

Regarding twice the bills: If you do your own maintenance, then you are probably right. I mean. . buying 16 plugs instead of 8 plugs? Bah. Chump change. But I get my boats serviced by others. Most others will charge you per engine -> which I actually can't quibble too much about.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,253
Messages
1,429,366
Members
61,131
Latest member
VaBreeze
Back
Top