Now if Luke is selling his Playboy, you should jump on it CW. That right there will be the cleanest Playboy anywhere when he's done re-doing the power.

Agreed 100%!!! on both counts.

Again, agreed. You have to remember that everyones finances are different. Someone with lots of liquid cash can not worry about their boat depreciating. Those that have it financed or struggled just to buy the boat do.

Two years ago I could've sold my boat and made money. Now, maybe break even if not under. But the way I look at it is, now I don't have to worry about selling it. It was always in the back of my mind, "I should sell this thing before it's not worth what I paid". But I can't afford a TS (right now), so what am I going to buy? Now that the market sucks, it just gives me an excuse to keep it forever!:drink: It's been a great boat and serves our needs perfect. Not the fastest but it's treated us very well.

The problem is for every boat like yours that has been updated and priced fairly, there's some 88 Bullet with a black dash, original power, etc, asking 62K still. Anyone that knows something should see your HO's are a big upgrade, but the guys calling and offering half may not be aware of what's been done to it?

As is obvious by your price, you can't get much return on any "investment" in a boat these days.

I plan on it being nothing but a money pit, but I still want to get the most bang for my buck, and with a limited budget it can be tough to find the right boat.

Yep,
Thanks for all the input. When I get some time, i'm gonna start looking at 38's some more.
The cig's I've been on have run like tanks through the water. Different than others I've experienced. There was much noticable differences. The rattles, bangs, squeaks, etc. that you hear on other boats just weren't there. And I'm definitely not attempting to break any water speed records and although blowers, talldeck motors, air scoops in the sundeck are totally cool at the dock and serve a purpose, thats not me. The Merc racing 500's or 525's are proven motors that I know. they are solid and with some minor maint. and updating they will do excellent service duty. The 35's with those motors (500's) were more than fast enough for me. a 38 with similar power although a little slower would still be fine. I think the straight bottoms are great cruising boats but I'd proably opt for T/S cause I do want to keep close to the pack and age does play into it for me.
I've been around, on, in, under boats for years. This wouldn't be my first but regardless the number, I think its always good to get to know the boat your intersted in if its not the same as you've had in the past.
I know the Cig brings with it an entire "entorage" of stuff which is like any smaller knit group, Ferrari, Lambo, M's AMG's, etc. And I guess there's got to be a little inner pride when someone says "is that one of those Cigarette boats?" and you can say wholeheartedly, "why yes, it is." although the person asking wouldn't know the difference if you paid them.
Tradeoffs are in everything, I started with the 35 in mind, there's no reason not to explore the 38 and see what happens.
Does anyone know how the current state of our economy is effecting the company itself? I figure with used boat values going down the market for brand spankin new ones has got to feel some effect. And I'm not shopping them, but are new boats dropping in price? Are they selling at all. Someone told me that barely any banks are even loaning on boats anymore.

Economy is effecting every aspect of the boating industry from new to used, no difference than automotive, in fact alot worse. That said, if you have the capital to make a purchase, you could not ask for a better opportunity, but also remember your one of the few, so if you do buy new or used, plan owning it on a long time basis, it will be years till things turn around.
Manufacutrers are in terrible shape, and as they make every effort to sell product for less, so does the used market. Banks are in clean up mode and there are companies that must get off their books. Unfortunatley this will lead to many companies having no alternative than to perform temp shutdowns or shutdown completely due to lack of capital, its all across the board, automotive, avaition, etc. no one is immune, NO ONE!