Andy0331

I was in your same situation at your age. My friends all had nice toys (financed to the hilt) and I wanted a Scarab; no one else had one or anything that cool & I had wanted one since Miami Vice was on the air.

Anyway, I held off. I couldn't realistically do it the way I wanted: I wanted to do it right. At age 29 I bought my first "go fast" a 28 Active Thunder (for cash) and at 31 just got a 2001 35 Cigarette with great financing terms & will probably pay it off in the next 2 years.

At 24, you can have fun on the water in any boat... you'll have a blast as long as you're out there. I would recommend that you do the least amount of compromising possible; wait until you can do it "exactly" like you want to. In the meantime, make your money work for you, if you've got $15k cash at your age, you're ahead of most of 'em your age, use it to make more.

Your milage may vary...

Andy

chuck21401

I think you could find what you are looking for in that price range but I would worry about what the boat would need in the near future. Old boats can burn cash quick when outdrives are $4K each, motors $6K+ each and labor runs $50-80+/hour. I guess my point is when making a purchase like this look at the full picture about what it is really going to cost you.

You might consider a 22-26 ft boat with a single big block in that price range in excellent condition. As you get into the bigger boats prices for everything seem to go up exponentially. Fuel, insurance, storage (not an issue for you), bigger tow vehicle, accessories, etc. etc. I find it easy to spend $120 day with my boat (a 1989 Formula 242LS with single 454). This summer I'd spend $50 on fuel, $20 beverages/ice/snacks and $50 on lunch for two at the dockbar. Towards the end of the summer, the $50/day didn't buy much gas and we didn't go far. Worth every penny but this daily expense adds up quick. And that's before repairs, maintenance, etc. Wtih two motors you can double gas and maintenance costs. To estimate fuel usage, look at gallons per hour per motor. Multiply that by the price of fuel. Toward the end of the summer (when gas was $3.50 on the water) I was looking at $30/hour at cruising speed. Seems to me a 27-32 boat with big blocks would be $60/hour or more (right?). When you are burning gas at that rate the boat payments are easy.

Now the good news. You are in a buyers market. I've had my boat for sale for months, no takers at $13.5K and it's in nice shape...here is a gratuitous picture. Searching boattrader I've seen a couple 242Ls in the midwest.
Good luck with your search.

fund razor

Dave has a trailer.

But mine is newer. Buy mine.

No... actually... I would advise Mr. Newbie to keep waiting and looking. As a budget boater myself... I would say unless said Newbie makes large coin... the incidentals will kill said Newbie.

Gas. Parts. Repairs. Dock and storage fees. Tow vehicle gas. Boat insurance. Registration. Trailer maintenance. More repairs.

Here's my rule of thumb. Step 1... figure out how much money you have to buy a boat.
Step 2... multiply that number by one half. This is the actual amount that you have for a boat.
The rest you will need to fix what you didn't expect and pay to get you coast guard ready, etc.

I think that a great starter boat for inland lakes would be one of the billion Wellcraft 21 foot Novas out there.
Especially if you will be doing inland lakes. It will go 50 or so. Small block chevy. Nice weight. Trailerable. Launchable. Have it surveyed so you reduce your risk.

Wait to buy a bigger go fast until you have a bigger budget and get used to all the extra expenses that will pop up.

Good luck.

bouyhunter

Fund - or should I say "KILLJOY".
Dave's boat would be a good boat for what "newbie" is looking for - hell, it would be a good boat for me, but I'm holding out (I want to buy a bigger, more expensive pain in the azz ) because that is what it will wind up being.
Just bustin' your stones man.
Good luck in selling yours. What ya gonna buy next???
you can't retire from this circus.

Panther

I was in the same situaion as you when I was your age. We'll acutally I was 1 yr. younger and was making $26K . I could have went out and got a 20-25 fter but I wanted something I could travel on the ocean with and my cut-off was 30 ft.

I picked up a mid 80's Scarab Panther, it needed a lot of cosmetic work but the motors were less than one year old and had all new external mayfair steering etc..

I held onto the boat for 5 years, improving the cosmetics the second year I owned it. In 5 years and about 375 hrs later I sold it for $25K.

Search high and low, don't leave any stone unturned and you'll find what you're looking for!

glassdave

iTrader: (1)

thanks for the plug guys ( except Fund ) just got back from another great weekend at put-in-bay. cant tell you how much i love this boat. this thing does everything i ever wanted a boat to do. as of this weekend i have turned just shy of 1500 relatively trouble free miles for this summer. i take care of my boat an it take care of me. this weekend was especially cool because i ran into the original owner of my boat and he has not seen it since i bought it 3 years ago. needless to say he was impressed. new cockpit/motors/paint/exhaust/etc . .etc. .


dsmdude- best thing you can do is figure out exactly what kind of boating you are going to do. personally i spend every weekend on the boat so i wanted something that had a good size cabin and i could also trailer easily. 26 stinger filled the bill. cruises at around 45 or 50 pretty easily (turning 3750 rpm) and it does very well if i get stuck out in ruff water. the lake here can kick up when you least expect it and a nice flat 40 mile ride out to the islands on Friday can turn into an ugly long day get'n home on Sunday. ran back today in 3 footers pretty confidently

JCPERF

I know of a clean 24 Superboat that goes 90 that you could get in that price range.700HP BBC with Bravo

el indio

save you pennies and save your dimes, when its time to go boatin you can buy mine...........magnum mark.....

masher44

Z?

dsmdude

i could afford $100 a day if thats what its going to cost to run it. i'm paying cash for the boat, i'm not big on financing. basicly i do not plan on buying anything until next spring as i have to sell my current boat (2002 bayliner 18 foot) and if i sold it now in minnesota i would most likely take a loss on it being that its 40 degrees outside and all. i'm not worried about speed as much as having a bigger boat but it would need to do 50mph which i don't think is a problem with most powerboats that size.

i've been self employed for almost 6 years now i own a small manufactuing company and make somewhere around the $50k a year area. drag racing cars is another one of my hobbies that gets alot of money sunk into it, probley quite a bit more money than the boat does. it sounds like i'm right on the edge of whats required financially to get into a larger boat. i'll be doing alot of research this winter and hopefully will be able to go after the boat i want.

thanks for the advice guys, i just wanted to be sure i wasn't digging my own grave before i start researching what to buy.