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Small boat for kids

Is there any small boats for kids out there?

How old? I have a bayliner reflex jet boat

Buy them an older 13-15-17 Boston Whaler.........unsinkable and perfect kids boat.

Trivia- a 15 whaler is 15'5 yet a 17 is only 16'4. There is about a foot difference in beam though. 13/15s are usually sit down boats, the 17's tend to be a center console.

17' Mako C.C., Cheaper than a Whaler and rides better. Foam flotation.

I agree with the Whaler's. The 13's and 15's hold their value better than most anything. Buy one today, and 3-4 years later when the kids are done with it, you get the same money back that you originally paid. I finished this one about 2 years ago, and it's been a blast.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...9f3dc4c794.jpg

$100,000 + ski boat seems to be the ticket around here. Doh !

I had a 13' Mini Hawk with a 25 Tohatsu. The boat was so much fun. Your soo close to the water, it feels faster than you are going. Had complete guage set, fixed fuel tank, lights, battery, the works.

I've wanted to buy my kids a Donzi, and will at some point in the next couple years. Went and looked at a 16. They are quite small and I don't think would be right for our water. Think an 18 or 20 would be better.....

Recently seen a couple of 10’ GW Invaders locally.
Way cool boat w/style.

Also after w/the Whalers.
Grew up in a 13’ and have had two since then.
Unsinkable, float in a heavy dew, and as Ziemer said, won’t lose any money.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Twin O/B Sonic (Post 4698860)

. float in a heavy dew,

Hahaha

Definitely go with a outboard to prepare them for the future.

Any better perimeters than "small boat for the kids" - age of kids, expectations, use, budget, LOA and power min/max.

Personally, I would opt for a Mako CC over a Whaler - better/dryer ride, still holds value, can tube or whatever behind one (with appropriate power) and bigger resale audience...can carry more load (people or gear) w/o significant bow steer and loosing freeboard

Mini hawks are a cool lil beast... Grew or someone tried to get into the mini market (tons of osmosis).

16 Donzi - watch these things - nice ride, fun with the small block 8's and good manners around the dock. They can scare the hell out of you riding alone or if the load is off balance. Had a 16' 2+2 and if you backed off the throttle with one person in the boat or 3... the automatic tendency was for the boat to flop off riding the v and it was an underwear filling few moments until the boat resettled - ours wasn't the only one... 18 and 22 did not do this in the slightest and ride only gets better with length..

We bought one to use for vacation one yr.

Place we were staying had rentals but were expensive and border line rigs.
Knew this from staying there before so bought a 13’ Whaler just for that trip then tow it north after vacation and sell.

I remember two things.

Number one was where we were you had to pay attention to tide and shallow backwaters if you were on the golf.
Based on that we drove the boat to a large local marina to buy a chart of the local area for navigation.
I remember the guy asking what boat we had and I pointed to our dock lines going down below the bulkhead from their dock posts and you couldn’t even see our boat :-)
He handed me a chart, laughed and said this will be fine.
We went back the next day to get another chart for more area of exploration!

Second part of the story was going out the next day and exploring, and knowing that it had a 6 inch draft that a mako does not, and heading into 5 inch deep water at 20 miles an hour and coming to a grinding halt.
Got out in my flip-flops, tilted up the motor and pushed it into Deepwater.
Without the Mrs. even spelling her drink.

I have many whaler stories that another boat could not have done.

Quote:

Originally Posted by seafordguy (Post 4698869)

Hahaha

I like the Whaler suggestions as I too had 13' and 15' Whalers growing up, then an 18' Donzi while in college at the Jersey shore. The Whalers were great boats, lots of fun, and the Whalers gave my mother peace of mind that it was unsinkable, and my father liked the idea of the Whaler never decreasing in value (we bought used Whalers), which they held their value.

I would have preferred an Allison, Hydrostream. or a 16' Carlson tunnel boat but my desire for speed at age 5 through 18 was not the deciding factor, my parent's common sense that I would have been driving the hot-rod type boats beyond my skill set as an elementary school age kid was the reason. I had flipped a 10' aluminum boat with a 5.5 Evinrude O/B with tiller control arm in Absecon inlet while jumping while sport fishing boat waves, causing my small boat to fly like my father's Cigarette and previous Donzi's that were entering and leaving the Farley State Marina waves at age 7, with my parents on the beach at the Cove in Brigintine.

Thank goodness the bench seats had flotation or it would have sunk; I was thrown a rope by the same sport fishing boat that I flipped from it's wake then hooked the rope to my nasal green colored aluminum boat and I was towed close enough to the beach so that the adults could swim out and pull me onto the beach with my boat barely afloat. My parents were scorned and lectured by others on the beach that day for allowing their young son to boat on his own so young in that "sh*t pile" aluminum boat. It was quite the spectacle. But I was an athletic and rebellious boy who demanded redemption so back out on the water I went. My father got the motor fired up, I got out on the water again and went boating, again, but less reckless that same day. Mother insisted since I was a maniac boater trying to emulate his father that I need an unsinkable Whaler.

Whaler's are good fun choice. I also think a sunfish would be a great boat for kidos. No motor to worry about or maintain and it's a lot of fun for adults too. Sailing with them is a great fun way to spend time with kidos. Cheap at around $1,000 with trailer. Will last forever, no maintenance really. Lots of clubs around for racing if they get into that. Can be a time consuming sport or just a fun toy. Light enough they can dolly it down to the shore or trailer to the shore and lift off the trailer themselves. Could probably hitch a trailer or dolly to the back of a bicycle they are that light, could also put it on a pulley system at a slip. I just bought one, still trying to get my 9 year old to sail with me, she is a bit leary, but think I just need to get her out there and flip it over so she can stop worrying about it flipping over. My 5 year old boy likes to sail on it tho.