Re: New to boating, getting big boat and need advice!
 

If you have plenty of time and are very very capable and willing to fix anything on the boat from the engine to the bottom paint or electrical problems then you might want to look into it.

If you are planning to pay someone else to work on the boat, you would probably be making a mistake buying it.

Boats cost money to operate and keep running. They BREAK. New ones BREAK. Old ones break alot. Stranded on the side of the road is not the same as stranded at sea or even on a lake for that matter.

Learning on a 28' boat is possible I guess. You are not thinking about going offshore are you?

Re: New to boating, getting big boat and need advice!
 

Single inboards are VERY hard to dock. I have a lot of experience boating and I used to hold my breath whenever I had to go get gas in my fathers 26' Luhrs. If it's your first boat, you will hit a lot of things.

Re: New to boating, getting big boat and need advice!
 

Run.

Run like the wind.

Re: New to boating, getting big boat and need advice!
 

If you are a responsible person, it sounds like you are having taken some courses, and have very good common sense, I would not discourge you from any size boat when starting out. It's the guys with the I can do anything attitude that ruin it for the rest of us. If you go into it doing your homework, take your time and take the time to test it out, learn how it works, you'll do just fine, don't let length be a discouragement, in the end, you'll always want to go bigger, we all do!!!!

As for the year of the boat and it sitting so long, remember we don't have the luxury of having seen it for ourselves, we can only go by what we have seen boats of that vintage look like. Keep asking questions, find boating people in your area and have them look at it and give you real answers. Post what your location is, I know people here will be happy to help out. You can also get a marine survey done on the boat, it will cost money, but you'll have a REAL picture of it's condition.

Good Luck! Take your time and most of all, be safe and considerate of other boaters, the seas and the weather!

Re: New to boating, getting big boat and need advice!
 

Yeah... especially show them the "orange sludge."

Re: New to boating, getting big boat and need advice!
 

Run.

Figure this, once you get all the major repairs done, all the other parts of the boat will wear out quickly. You'll spend most of your time in the repair shop. Can't learn on any sized boat when it's broken. Most of us have owned too many boats to make a mistake like this again.

Take our word for it, RUN. Depending on your budget, figure on spending twice as much.

Budgets and Boats work against each other. You will be fishing from your boat while it is parked on the skids near the seawall of the repair shop.

Just my 2 cents.