In have owned a few of those chopper gun boats and been in plenty of them. They are fine and would suit what this guy needs. I have done nothing but boat great lakes and bigger lakes my whole life. While bigger boat the better on big water, anything listed would be fine if they werent you wouldnt see any of them out on the water, when in fact those are the most popular ones. And its not like you need the titanic on Lk St Claire, and if the water is bad enough your not going out anyways.

To be honest with this guys budget and what hes aiming to do, Im not so sure going straight performance is a wise idea anyways. Also for his buget and what he can get is going to denote a certain vintage, mainly late 80s early 90s performance, which is nothign wrong with that. But say getting a 92 Baja and vs a 98-2000 crownline LTD or similar, ehh Id take the crown.

Buyer dont worry about cost, looks, branding. Take your budget and go look at the boats, does it fit your needs and what you want. Do you want to ski, fish, tube behind a boat, have 8-10 people in one, well performance isnt going to do that for you. If you want something that can go fast, take chop, fit 4-5 people, go performance.

As a first time boat buyer, I would just highly reccommend not going straight performance. To be honest anything i listed would go just as fast as any performance boat in your budget anyways. But if you do go performance I would not go less than 24ft, anything smaller than 24ft your going to be disappointed with space, and room, and what the boat can do. I know certain brands feel larger, but still. personally I wouldnt be in a performance boat unless it was 26-27ft or larger, just wouldnt.

A Wellcraft Nova Spyder 23 would be a great first boat. It's a big heavy boat with a wide beam so it isn't the fastest but has a good ride and is very predictable. They can be picked up for the low end of your budget.

No smaller than 24'? you need to go for a ride in a 24' Pantera or Superboat. and definatly go for a ride in a 21' Challenger/Superboat, Activator. Youd be amazed.

Pm me. I've got something u might want but to fit your budget it'll be all show, no go (60) and it's a 3 seater unless u have girls with really tiny hips

I almost bought this when I was looking for my starter boat the past few months.
Price may be a little high, but it's a one owner boat, and still owned by the original couple. The marina/dealersip is just listing it for them and handling the sell. The dealer told me $14,500 buys it.

http://lexington.craigslist.org/bod/4594932454.html

and this..http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/boa/4626008131.html