What other brands of boats did you own and.................

[widowmaker]

'60's, 14' Starcraf,t 40hp Merc OB, deep V flew waves 20 foot either side and leaned hard to the gunwales on turns. Our Family Boat

'70's 16' Sea Star Tri Hull, 85hp Johnson OB Good on the flats but everything rattled in chop. Motor was great though. Our Family Boat.

'88, 17.5' Stingray, 3.0L Merc IO, Nice boat, Floor rotted, Iron horse of an engine, My Boat.

'03, 20' SR Select, 5.0L, B3, Our lake Lexus, Boat is solid. manifold gaskets serpentine belt, tilt unit fluid fitting all failed 2nd year, IAC valve failed 4rd yr, This year no problems though, knock on fiberglass! My Boat.

 

[270SLX]

1. 12 1/2 foot Mercruiser rollup inflatable w/ 15 hp Merc. Ran her on the Mississippi, the Rock River, the Green River (Illinois) etc. Had a blast.
2. A 1995 Crownline 225 BR w/ 300 hp 7.4 Bravo I. Never a problem with it. Owned it 7 years.
3. 2005 270 SLX that just survived major surgery. More about that after I get a closer look at her this weekend. (Not that I can take her out on the river as the Upper Mississippi will crest just below flood stage on Friday.)

Dennis

 

[Duke's Addiction]

1999 Bayliner 1750 Capri 130 hp Merc. Great first boat. Taught the kids how to ski and wakeboard.

2002 320 SeaRay Sundancer.

Now, the coolest bowrider ever...290 SLX.

 

[boatrboy]

1984 Four Winns 190 Horizon - great first boat - bowrider - merc 470 (175 hp) used on a small local lake tubing etc. Taught me the basics. I used to trailer it to Lake George for vacations.

1990 Rinker Festiva 230 cuddy. Bought the boat to flip - merc 5.7 - very quick boat for size. Quality was not too bad and it looked nice. Windshield leaked and rotted vertical panel wall to cuddy area.

1999 270 da - current boat - I absolutly love this boat.

 

[SearayPaul]

1956 15 foot home made wooden boat 1956 35 hp Evinrude. Run one time fix one time repeat
1960's 12 foot V Bottom 1965 25hp motor. Great Wake jumping boat.
1960's Cypresss Garden 8 foot stunt boat. Several motors. 9.9 Evinrude, 25 hp Johnson, Racing two blade mercury motor, and finally 35hp Johnson. Would not sink loads of fun very fast. Hard on motors.
Bought the wood boat back for a dollar. Mounted 1970 50 hp Evinrude. Cracked the transom and the bottom of the boat in about a month.
1960's Cobia 15 foot with hole in the deck. Mounted 50hp Evinrude. Skied many many hours on that rig. Blew motor rebuilt it and sold to finish college.
1979 Glastron James Bond style 85hp Johnson too small.
1996 175 Sea Ray 3.0 Liter. Never had any trouble from this one.
2004 240 Select with 350Mag

 

[sr360aft]

Previously:

Askeladden 15'
2 home built Optimists
Laser
27' Albin Vega
22' Bayliner

Currently:

Sea Doo Gts
Proline 150
Sea Ray 360 AC

 

[Dave M.]

Dude... that some dirty looking water there... I KNEW YOU WERE PHOTOSHOPPING YOUR PICTURES!!! BUSTED!

You mean the bottom one? That's in the Mighty Columbia River. The only reason it looks dirty is because I'm in 0" of water on dirt.

Well, I was going to accuse you of being on the Snake River. It looks like that. Normally the Columbia is clean above where the Snake runs into it. :grin:

 

[julians]

not all strictly mine (most were my dads), but these are the boats I grew up driving :-

- 3m Zodiac inflatable with 8hp outboard
- 4.5m Rio (Spanish made) with 60hp outboard
- Sea Ray 220cc
- Regal 28
- Sealine (UK made) S34
- Windy (Norwegian made) 37 Grand Mistral
- 4m avon inflatable with 15hp outboard (my own boat)
- 4.5m Zodiac Futura Sport inflatable with 50hp outboard (my own boat)
- Sea Ray 200 Select (my own boat and still currently owned)

 

[Alex D]

This is my first boat.

If yous aks me ... ann' now with yous new moters bolted on the transem I thunk you should add "Ripping Revvs of RPMs" to yous new signature and fugged 'bout all that deisel torke cr@p talk ann' so forth !!
:lol:

 

[Alex D]

2004 Four Winns 248 Vista with 5.0 MPI B3. Ran her for two seasons.
Great boat all around ... all options including a 5K a/c ... very roomy 24 footer (only the Regal 2465 has a bigger cabin in this class) ... super solid "Sea Ray" build quality and quality rigging. Solid, heavy boat (6000 lbs. dry!) for a 24 footer and ran excellent because of that! I could slice through chop better with this little ntu shell than with our 340 which slams quite a bit more :smt009 . Best cockpit layout in that class with a large and very comfortable u-settee aft. Super reliable boat and FW is a great company to work with. Would buy FW again any day!

 

[ANYTIME]

Boat #1....Built in 1942 - 550 ft tanker. I didn't own, but was a crew member. She didn't get decommissioned until after I retired from the navy in 1978 after having served on 8 different ships. :grin: This was my first ship, and 16 years after reporting aboard I had to serve on her again, but only for a few weeks as a navy instructor.

Boat #2 (for real) 1972 Grady White 17 ft, 70HP Johnson Long Shaft. Sold her in 1978 when I retired from the navy.

Boat #3, age and make unknown, 14 ft bassboat. Bought it from the same dealer I got the Grady White from. Sold it too when I retired from the navy.

=====> Fast Forward to November 2006 <=====

Bought Moondancer, and right after signing the papers, started wishing we had bought something a little bigger :smt089 but not as big as boat #1.

 

[AndersonAcres]

1. 14' wooden row boat (no motor)
2. 16' aluminum (riveted) "power boat" with an ancient 5 hp outboard
3. 14' fibreglass canoe
4. 19' Stingray bowrider with 4.3L

 

[Big Al]

No other brand:

1) In 2003 first boat ever: 1998 SR 270 DA SE, 7.4 Merc(310 HP), BIII
2) In 2004: 1991 SR 310 DA , twins 5.7 Merc(260 HP) , V-Drives
3) In 2006: 1995 SR 370 DA, twins 7.4 Merc (310 HP), V-Drives

All great and very reliable boats.

 

[STIHLBOLTS]

1999 - XL1200LTD Yamaha Wave Runner
2002 - 176BR Sea Ray Bow Rider - 3.0L Alpha
2004 - 220SD Sea Ray Sundeck - 5.0L MPI B3 - Current
2001 - XLT1200 Yamaha Wave Runner - Current
2003 - GP800R Yamaha Wave Runner - Current (Wifes)

Does a riding lawn mower with poontoon floats count? :wink:

 

[Stray Cat]

1970 - 6 x 12 ft. chunk of wire reenforced styrofoam with a 2 hp air cooled lawn mower engine (thanks gramp!)

1979 - 12 ft Sea King with a 7.5 Elgin (with spark advance and manual carb fuel mix lever) now that was boatin!

1985 - 17 ft Capri Baylinder with 50 hp Force (a lot of fun for the money)

1991 - 18 ft Ranger with 175 hp Black Max (what a ride)

1999 - Sea Ray 270SE with 7.4 / B3 (450 hrs of pure joy)

2006 - Sea Ray 300DA (this will be my last boat) anyone ever said that before? :grin:

I've spent a lot of money on boating; the rest I've just wasted :smt101

 

[Geurk]

I have only been boating 3 years, but have stuck with Sea Ray so far...

2004 Sea Ray 200 Sport 4.3L 190HP Alpha 1
2005 Sea Ray 220 Select 350Mag 300HP Alpha 1 (Current)

Also have a ...

2005 Kawasaki Jet Ski 900STX 2-stroke

 

[Turtlesboat]

Somehow I've managed to be on boats since the age of 5 without ever having to buy one. I did own a 12' sunfish for 2 years when I was 12, but I found that boat abandoned and spent a whole summer fixing it up. All my friends families had boats so every weekend I was out boating with them. Ahhhh the good ole' days where my only expense was helping clean, buying food, and lugging engine oil back and forth on my bike. I can still smell the rancid water of man made lakes in the middle of the desert like it was yesterday....

 

[barryg]

First Boat I owned alone was a 23' Glastron Carlson that was the tender on Evel Kenivel's yacht back in the early 80's ..It was called Evel Eye 2, and the only thing good about it was the hull... My family was friendly with Don Aranow, and lent me his truck to go and pick up the 350 block from Merc in Lakeland and put it in for free for me. and threw in the reconditioned outdrive unit .. Had the boat for about 3 years and sold it for what I had into it.

2nd boat was 2003 Doral 250SE. Bought it used, enjoyed it for 2 years and sold it for $2,000 more than I paid for it...Was a great boat, and the guys especially the service manager at InterMarine were great to deal with and always took good care of me. It didn't have a genny, and only one engine, a Volvo I/O. Always had my eye on a Sundancer and so when I sold the Doral quickly I did my research and jumped on the 320 and love it.