but I know nothing about it. Raystown Lake which is 30 miles long is nearby as is the Chesapeake. I’d like to get a starter boat that I can take my family of four (and perhaps some friends) out on for fun, fishing, waterskiing, and sleeping on. I’d like the boat to be trailerable, high quality, safe, and forgiving.
Apparently there are a lot of different kinds of boats out there and the quality and safety is highly disparate. It’s hard for a neophyte to get good information.
At first I was thinking about a bayliner, but I read terrible things about them. I like the idea of the cruisers but it seems that quality is very very expensive in this class, and, are they really trailerable?
Than, I thought about a Grady White 20’ overnighter which was an older well-maintained boat at a reasonable price, but I got scared after reading what a surveyor said, and my wife’s feelings about such an old boat.
Now I’m looking at a 2000 Four Winns 235 Sundowner. It’s a Cuddy cabin with 300 horses.
I have two much information and analysis paralyis. Help talk me down and help me make a good decision.
We bought a 20 foot Bayliner (open bow) in 2005. We bought it brand new and have never had an issue with it.
It’s perfect for my family of four and allows us to take our friends too. The boat is rated for 10 people, but eight is better.
We ski, wakeboard, tube and fish with it. As it’s open bow, we don’t sleep on it, but we’ve found it to meet our needs.
Make sure you buy a GALVANIZED trailer, especially if you are thinking about putting it in salt water at all. Do not get fooled by some salesman trying to con you into buying a “pretty” painted trailer. Galvanized is the way to go.
Worst idea they ever had was buying a cuddy. All we do is throw junk down there. It was nice the one time we were on the boat and it rained. Our boat is 24" but the cuddy severly cuts down on our seating capacity - no one wants to sit down there when the sun’s shining and all. Two of my relatives bought Sea Ray Sundecks - I fricking love them. Great boat for hanging out, bringing friends, kids, etc. Good swim platform, lots of seating, little bathroom and cooler/junk areas too.
Boats will make you happy, and make you cuss. But when they make you happy, there is nothing like it. I grew up on, and learned to water ski on, 15-17ft aluminum boats, with 50-75 hp Johnson outboards. Strictly lake (in Canada at my uncles home in Ontario), or the flat waters of the lower Potomac river (with my parent’s friends who were in D.C. with the Australian embassy in the late 60’s). Other than dodging jellyfish on the Potomac, those days were heaven.
In 1980, I managed to marry a woman whose father was an avid boater on the Chesapeake Bay . I was already in love with my wife, but I then fell in love with the whole mileu of boating on the Chesapeake with my father in law. First on a 20ft fiberglass boat (the “Maranatha”), the engine of which seized on our wedding weekend, then on a glorious 42ft wooden cabin cruiser with dual engines and an upper station (the “Deloris B”), and then on a 27ft Grady White single inboard fishing machine (the “Irish Lady”) which lasted until my father in law died from brain cancer in 2003. Oh so many good memories.
With the backdrop of boating on the Chesapeake, I bought my own boat, a Mariah, 19ft inboard/outboard, in 1993, for cruising and waterskiing on the lakes where I currently live. Mariah boats were made in Ohio, and until the company went bankrupt, made really good boats, with amazing features for the money.
Owning a boat, though, no matter the size or quality, is a hefty monetary investment. Water is a harsh element, and boats are not invincible. Just routine maintenance on a boat is far more expensive than maint. on a car. And, after the original novelty wears off, you may find that your priorities change and you aren’t actually on the water every single weekend. That being said, as you can see from my post, once you are smitten by the water, you can’t avoid buying your own boat. My advice is simply this; buy a boat that is smaller than your fantasies but still meets your needs - you can always buy a bigger boat later!
Join your local US Power Squadron, take their basic safety and general knowledge tests, and get to know the members. They can offer lots of advice and information about all kinds of different boats. My husband and I were members before we actually purchased our boat, as were other members. Hell, some members didn’t even own boats or have plans to buy one. Great resource if you have a local chapter.
And Raystown Lake is one of my most favorite places in the world. I spent almost every summer weekend on it when I lived in PA a few years ago. You’ll love it.
You may want to consider renting a boat at a marina , maybe three or four until you know what kind of configuration suites you. Most marinas will rent various types.
If you are a novice I would go for the freshwater lake at first.
I’ve never been to the Chesapeake but oceangoing vessels + inexperience = potential disaster.
I have no idea how much money you want to spend but for an open bow , say 22’
my brother swears by Cobalt. It is pricey, but you know the old saying. It was way
smoother breaking waves than his current boat… a four wins 20’.
If you decide to buy one, get the fuel injected engine. It however is usually a 3-4 thousand dollar option. :eek:
Trust me, the extra costs is well worth the potential of vapor lock. It happens way too often on my brothers current boat.
Also, if you are considering sleeping on the boat , an open bow configuration is probably not for you.
oops, I forgot to add that boats are money pits. If you have disposable income no problem.
As others have said, water and man made things put in said water need a lot of maintenance.
If you dry dock it for the winter, then less maintenance, however, more expensive usually for the birthing.
My father pays around 1200 USD per year for a covered dock, and this is in Arkansas.
I live on the ocean and I have had boats my entire life. I have a Grady Marlin 36’ and I love it. I maintain it myself which lowers annual maintenance and I fuel it for travel* so I do not go over board with fuel costs. I mainly take dinner cruises with friends and family and fish.
I’ll tell you right now If you are going to be on lakes and some salt water, you are goingt o have a heck of a hard time keeping that boat solid. I know people do it all the time but a lot of old timers where I am always say buy a boat for the body of water you are in. The ski boats I see cruising on lakes and then in Long island Sound are coughing up a lot of gunk all the time.
For the OP I’d recommend a small 20 to 22 ft Striper, very good all weather boats, good for the family, you can pull a skier no problem, has a cutty for the ladies, and is an all around versitile boat. Sharp looking too!
I buy as much fuel as I will need - for instance - if I go to Block Island I know I’ll need 150 gallons. If I’m going to cruise Fisher’s Island or Long Island sound I’ll only need 50 gallons…
We had a boat when I was a kid. A 20’ “weekender” which means a small cabin with a couple of bunks and a chemical toilet.
It was fun for about a month but quickly became a boring pain in the ass.
For every hour of use, expect two hours of maintenance.
If you have a house on the water and the boat is right outside, that might seem okay, but it’s really just like having another car in the driveway. Unless you have an ocean-going yacht that would enable you to visit exotic locations, boating is just flat-out boring.
You could have just as much fun getting into your car and driving to a restaurant that you have never been to before. That’s basically all boaters do, except they travel across the water and put up with all kinds of hassles to do it.
The marina where we kept our boat was 30 miles away on Lake Ontario. Saturdays were for me to go out and play with my friends. But when we got the boat and my Dad would say “lets’ go out on the boat”, it was more of an “Aw, shit” day because I knew I would be scrubbing for 2 hours before our short boat ride.
And it needs to be out of the water & winterized before the first frost. Some say marina ‘shrink-wrapped’ (not the right term, but it sure does look like that).
I know very little about boats, but I know this:
*metal shinks faster than marine motor oil in cold weather.
*Engines = 2/3 the value of a power boat.
*Engine blocks that aren’t winterized make a very expensive ‘popping’ noise when the block cracks.
*Broken engine blocks make grown men cry.
And yes, PA does get winters cold enough that this is realistic scenario.
Regarding trailerable boats, the bigger they are, the less they will be used.
A friend once advised me to stand in a cold shower while ripping up $50.00 bills; if I enjoyed that, he said, I would probably enjoy owning a boat. He might have been talking about sail boats, though.
I sail, so don’t know much about power boats, but this is a good time to be looking. People are hauling their boats out of the water for the season and thinking “Do I really want to store that in the yard for another winter”? Rising fuel prices have also made used powerboats much more readily available around here. (Many people have commented on how much less powerboat traffic there has been in the past couple of summers, especially the larger, overpowered, noisy boats.)
On the flip side, a 300 hp boat is pretty thirsty. Be prepared to drop $50.00+ of gas every time you take the boat out. (A low figure I’ve found for 300HP is 8 gph at 24mph).
