chris@uga

I grew up boating with my father, but he passed away in the late 90s while I was still in high school and we sold his boats. He had a 20' bass boat that ran low 70s and 24' center console we kept down at Apalachicola. I grew up boating all my life and my sister and her husband even bought a little 22' bowrider with a 350ci small block a few years ago because she missed it.

Now, the wife and I are out of college, bought a house, and would like to buy a boat within the next year or so ourselves.

I'm leaning towards a boat I can pull with a Chevrolet Silverado 1500 that won't be too hard on the wallet regarding maintenance and fuel consumption. The boat will be used primarily on smaller lakes and rivers in Georgia and occasionally we may hit the Atlantic coast or Gulf of Mexico on calm days. My sister lives in Savannah and boats on the intercostal waterways with the occasional run out in the ocean on very calm days.

I'd like something that runs low 80s if possible, I love the idea of a single outboard, preferably a cat, that's 22-25' long for around $20k. Is this realistic or am I going to have to lower my mph expectations or increase my budget? Are there particular brands I should look at? I'd probably want to buy a boat that's already set up and rigged because I can perform the standard maintenance, but I'm not the type who can build and engine and rig a boat in my backyard.

Thanks a lot for the help and this is a great site!
Chris

prostock85

www.screamandfly.com is an excellent site for smaller outboard boats. Hope this helps

Pantera24

Agree screamandfly.com is more of an outboard site. To go low 80's in a 24-25 v-hull you will need something with twins. Here is a 1990 24' Twister I owned that had a single 200..only ran 50mph but this is without a doubt one of the funnest boats I ever owned.
Based on how your going to use the boat and what your looking to run I would say you would want to look at the following boats in no particular order.

Apache 21
Velocity 22 (one for sale at screamandfly)
Superboat 21
Activator 22
Tuff 21 (one of my favorites)

chris@uga

Excellent, I'll check it out!

Thanks,
Chris

Top Banana

Take a look here also.......lots of these around that are used....or a demo.

www.bananaboatco.com

chris@uga

Wow, good call on the Tuff 21. I realize these are brand new boats and for the money I'll have to find a used one, but that's pretty much exactly what I'm looking for. I just figured I'd have to buy a cat to reach the 80mph range, but that Tuff 21 is really sweet.

http://www.tuffmarine.com/Boat_Pages/TUFF_21_2.htm

Pantera24

Now if you want to possibly go a little bigger and have more space and offshore capability....then go

24 Pantera
24 Banana
just to name a few of the best...

chris@uga

I have definitely looked at a lot of Pantera boats lately and I've always been impressed. I'll just have to see what kind of boating we plan to do in a year. My sister and her husband just finished paying off all of their student loans and have already hinted at buying a bigger boat that can better handle the ocean. *If* that happens then I'll probably look to sacrifice some speed for size so we can join them off the coast of Savannah.

We just bought a house in south Georgia so we're only about 2 hours from the Gulf Coast and I wouldn't mind having a boat that can handle that type water on a regular basis. Plus, a good friend just bought a place at Panama City Beach and would no doubt trade off free room and board for a day out on the boat anytime we wanted.

There are so many choices/sacrifices to make when you're on a limited budget.

Pantera24

Personally a 24' sounds like it would fit your needs fine. The only downside is that to get to your 80 mph will require some power .. which equals $$ .. but if you can live with 65+ then it will be a great fit for a first time offshore powerboat that will be reliable and handle the rough water when needed. Again your options are varied between Pantera, Banana, Sonic, Velocity etc. Good thing is that it's a buyers market and the choices are varied and available.
Just read a lot and ask a lot of questions...there are a lot of very knowledgable people on this board and also on www.seriousoffshore.com and www.screamandfly.com

chris@uga

Yeah, honestly a 65mph boat would be more than enough if we're going to take it offshore. Heck, my sister's bowrider can barely hit 50mph, but we have a ton of fun on that boat with some friends, cold ones, skis, tubes, and good music.

The speed thing is mainly an interest because I used to enjoy fast cars, faster motorcycles, a fairly fast boat and a fast jet ski back in the day so racing has always been a hobby. If it comes down to being able to take the boat offshore in comfort then I'd definitely sacrifice the speed. Speed doesn't do anything for you if it's too rough to take the boat out. A hydrofoil with a 300xs sure looks pretty in the parking lot at Panama City Beach, but a 24 Pantera would be a lot more fun out on the water. lol