KN

Too Old beat me to it, if I had a budget of $40,000 and was looking for a new boat Sean's 28' Cigarette would be at the top of my list. It looks new, and I think the engines are under warrenty. That is a sweat boat.

A 25' Checkmate is a good boat in that price range you can find them only a couple of years old with warrentied power for that price.

Kirk

cigarette1

Dreamer,

Being that you are new to offshore boating, you probably haven't developed the appreciation for some of the classic boats of the past. Boats like Sean's are special and will take a special person to buy it. His boat is exceptionally nice and would be a great buy. I don't think you would ever lose money on that one. With new power and drives (warrantied??) ... I'd be all over it if I were in that market.

Gary

cigarette1

..... and another thing ... Sean just bought a 15 year old boat ... that should tell you something about early Cigs ... If he had any negative feelings about older Cigs, I don't think he would have bought another.

BTW ... my boat is now 10 years old and you should see the looks I get when I roll thru a marina .. and that's rollin with 1999-2001 Top Guns

Audiofn

Keep it simple. I will say this about the head. You ladie friends will LOVE YOU for it!!!!

I would stay single to start and keep it under 25 feet. That is assuming you have little to no boat ownership experience. Larger boats can get away from you real fast. Other then that look at features that you like. I personally love my Formula, it is built well and was reasonable to buy. You WILL NOT go wrong with a Cig., Power Play, Sutphen, or so many others that are out there. Good luck with the search and hang in there. There are some REALLY good deals to be had right now

Jon

Jana

Don't be scared off by used boats, even older ones. Just find out as much as you can about the owner and how the boat was cared for and get a thorough survey done. You can get a whole bunch more boat for a lot less money by going used. (I used to think that I had to have a new boat until I bought a 5-year-old Fountain that practically was new for less than half what the comparable new one costs.) Go to the next boat show and drool and get ideas about what will work for you. I agree with Audiofn - don't start too big.

cuda

I have been boating all my life, mostly fishing boats. Last year in April, my girlfreind and I decided we would like a boat to just ride in and spend the weekend if we wanted, so I bought a 26 foot aft cabin. Found out we never had the time to spend a weekend, so we wanted a boat to ride in. That's when I first started thinking about performance type boats, but I didn't want to get in over my head before I knew if I liked that type of boating. I bought an old 1981 Formula 20 SC that ran perfect and was in less than mint condition for $3700. I loved the way the boat rode in a stiff chop, but decided the 305 2 barrel wasn't enough power, so I put in a 330 horse 355, with a new alpha drive. Now I have the bug for something in the 26 foot range, more power and newer.

You may want to skip the into step that I took, since you know you like the performance type boats. I would suggest going single engine in the 25 to 27 foot range. Tein engines are double trouble, unless you don't mind the upkeep of twins, and the costs that go with them. Keep in mind, you either have to trailer it, which may involve the purchase of another vehicle, or store it.

I have narrowed my choices fot the next boat to two (I think), either a 26 Donzi ZX or a Sonic Prowler. I am looking at newer used models. I found a ZX 99 with 502 and 96 hours for 42K in great shape. That is almost half as much as a brand new one. One of the reasons I decided on these is the factories are both within my state if I need any factory work.

Whatever you choose, have someone who is familiar with boats check it out, or better yet, have a survey done.

Let us know what you find!

wwwTOPDJcom

This should be a requirement!

Red Stripe

I'll add another vote for Sean's 28 Cig. That thing is bad azz!! I only wish I was in the market right now cause I would have bought that sucker last fall

Good luck on your search!!
Start going to some dealers and crawl around the boats. Get into as many as you can. You will start to form an opinion about what you like after some time in them.

Just my .02

dreamer

thanks for all your help guys... ted

jr

I'd go a different way, cheap...Like I did. An older Nova II which I'm kinda partial to. But this is going to be a banger boat. If you nail something you wont feel too bad. You can pick up a 26 foot twin for around 15K including a trailer. It will give you a good idea of what it is like to own a twin, and the maintaince requirements, but it wont kill you when you pile it into a dock. Then in a year, dump it and buy the boat you really want. The boat will still run close to 60, and handle alot of water but with out the investment.