Help a Newbie with some decision making...
 

Hey guys love the site, been on for a while but this is my first post so do me a favor and go easy. I owned a Baja 232 and got the go fast fever but have been back in grad school drooling over potential boats for the past 2 years. I will be done in a year and pretty much spend any of my free time shopping for potential boats. I had originally thought I wanted a 35 Fountain but since I don't want to do more then the Sierra Denail 1500 it appears that I need to go down to closer to a 30-32 footer for safe trailering. I frequently made 1-2 hr trips with my 232 so safe towing is important. I would love to have a twin with at least 500's but 525's would be awesome and then of course there is the wife who only thinks about bringing her friends, how selfish I know. So lets hear it guys... what are your thoughts? Thank you in advance.

Buy it, make sure you have disc brakes on the trailer axles, and a good actuator on the trailer (Tie-Down), I am a risk taker, so go ahead do it. I would be more worried about stopping than towing. Your truck has a V-8 with 355 hp right?

If you're wanting twin 500/525s, then you should go ahead and upgrade your truck now! Gonna be tough to find a boat with twins under 30. You mentioned that SAFE towing in important, so you have two choices: 1. Upgrade truck and get that 35 Fountain, or 2. Lower your expectations on the boat (single under 30) and keep the truck. This is jut MY opinion, I'm sure there are others......

I am currently driving my little trailblazer into the ground so I will likely be purchasing the Denali immediately after school. It will be my daily driver so I really have to stick with the 1500 for both budget and wife reasons. If I showed up with two older vehicles (one to tow and one to daily) I think she might kill me lol. The new Denali with the 6.2 is rated at 12000lbs and shouldn't have a problem pulling AND stopping a 30-32 foot boat. I would really like to step up into the 32 range with twins.

We're gonna need pics of the wife in order to correctly answer this thread.

Thanks for your cooperation,

Signed,
Offshore Only

Spend the extra $ and get a duramax Denali. After a couple seasons your going to want a bigger boat, so get the truck now. Seriously though, I think that 1500 would probably be ok with a 35 fountain as long as you have good trailer brakes. I would not go any bigger or heavier though without having a 3/4 ton truck though.

I have grrrreat news for you!

A 35 Fountain really is a 30-32 foot boat. :party-smiley-004:

Oh no, you didn't! :food-smiley-007:

:)It took an hour though

I almost put a disclaimer in my original post lol... poor little fountains. But it does bring up an interesting point... are there any other boats in the 30-35 foot range that you would suggest for increased cockpit size... I'm sure the wife would enjoy a bigger cockpit :eekdrop::eekdrop: