Actually, that one's fairly universal among all boaters, regardless of experience.

Don't do it!!! In the end, you'll be at least 15K into a 10K (at best) boat and be waxing that red hull once a month!!!! There are alot of nice used Baja's and 223 and 242 Formulas out there for sale.

Just my $.02:ernaehrung004:

Fair enough guys. Thats why I post here before making any moves. But where are all these boats in the $6,500 range?

They're not advertised at $6500. Get on some Ebay auctions and be high bidder that doesn't meet reserve. Do searches and know how many and which boats are not meeting reserve for the 3rd or 4th time. Then make some offers. Hit Boat Trader and show up with cash, ready to buy. Trust me, you'll be a unique experience for the boat sellers you come across. It's the end of August and the absolute worst time of year to buy a boat- and in a down ecomomy- add onto that $4 gas and you're writing your own ticket. Tou've got to do your homework though.

You wont be finding a decent boat in the $6500 range.
Our (at least my) point is, the $6500 boat you are looking at will be 10-12 before you know it.
So buy something a bit better(and more $) up front.

True story, I started out lookin at like 5-6k dollar boats and found nothing worth a crap. So now im up to about $20k, where i dont want to be but it'll be a nicer boat.


btw, anyone know of a 24' (roughly) pantera or something similar with the flat deck style? sorry to hijack the thread.