X-Rated30

The Motion DOES look like a good deal, but you can't compare it to an '81 wellcraft. Might as well compare it to a Baja. Light years ahead. The new guy above is talking about running $2500 worth of gas through a boat in a weekend. You CAN'T run $2500 worth of gas out of that Motion in a weekend. My suggestion would be to take a trip and go test drive a couple of these boats to learn the differences.

Your statement of, "...want something bigger than just 5 people - possibly with cuddy's in the sponsons.. Don't want to wrench it anymore than I would a boat with a single 5.7 unmodded merc in it, and don't want to go over $20k for sure in purchasing..." makes me think you want 24+ foot vee performance, amenities and price, but in a cat, because you like the looks. That isn't going to leave you a lot of choices. I might suggest a 28 Profile cat, or maybe an older Eliminator or 26' American Offshore or the HTM in the classifieds, but all of those boats are going to be 5 seaters.

What you are describing simply doesn't exist. Don't kill the messenger.

RT930turbo

Why?...

Cmiller

I honestly don't no lol. That's just what I had always been told. I guess I was wrong. But I would gladly be wrong if it saves me money? So it would be perfectly ok to run regular gas you get at any station

X-Rated30

I'm thinking you may wanna research that 388 purchase a little more. Just my .02.

mptrimshop

There is a guy in Canada that is looking to rebuild and update a big cat for a customer. I know he is itching to get into a project. He will prob give you a real good deal. He uses new cutting edged technology that nobody else has to do fiberglass work. Look him up on here his name is DMAX315 I think.

doc_texoma

XRated30 - Nah - no shooting the messenger at all... I wouldn't have posted the message publicly if I wasn't okay with getting responses that might be less than ideal compared to what I wanted to hear....

I will be dead honest - I really just think the "cat" form factor is gorgeous... I think it would be a very neat platform to party on... I could care less if the thing is fast, and as long as its safe I could care less about the handling to a point as well.. 50mph would be great... What I care more about is that there is enough space to party on it and that I could overnight on it..

It is very likely that a cat just won't make sense for what I am wanting and what I am wanting to spend.. If so thats totally fine.. I just wanted to get some feedback and see if those that obviously know more than me could give me any pointers on which way to look.. Its likely that going with the Chaparral Villain IV (30ft) or something like an Arriva 2450 or a Larson Senza Spectre 25 might be the way I need to go and just forget about cats..

I saw a guy in a Aronow 39 at Lake Texoma - my lake - a few years ago... The thing just seemed HUGE and he had like 10 people partying on it... I guess after seeing that I sort of got interested in them...

As always - thanks for all of the responses!

Griff

What you want does not exist for the budget you set.

seafordguy

I think you've got it all figured out - I'd jump right in

speicher lane

I thought DMAX315 was in the North East USA ( Jersey maybe??) but the boat is def. at Double R here in Canada.

27daytona

Everyone wants a big cat and they usually have no idea what is required to afford the beast. Fuel is the cheapest part of ownership. A 388 Skater is a dream for many, myself included, probably out of my purchase power however so we settle for the best cat that we can afford. A 50 m.p.h. Cat would be a turd to drive so maybe a pontoon boat would be more your style. Lots of room to party and maybe even a barbecue grill. Doug