Wife really liked the mid cabin open bow on the Sunsation 288. I've never actually seen another boat with that feature.

So, my questions are...

What year did they start producing the MCOB?
Are there any other boats out there with an MCOB?

I heard that Sunsations are "smaller" than most? How so?

Sunsation makes a great boat.

Make sure you compare equal size boats to equal size boats. Some manufacturers have 28' boats that INCLUDE an 18-24" molded in swim platform; hence only having a 26' boat's worth of hull in the water. Other manufacturers have 28' hulls, and then a bolt on platform.

Check this thread:
http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...d.php?t=168995

There are at least a half a dozen manufacturers with Mid-Cabin-Open-Bow offerings.

I took a look at the offerings from Nordic in both 25 and 28'. They have 20 and 22 degree deadrise angles. I'm thinking that the Sunsation 24 deg deadrise will ride much better in the rough?

Oh, one thing my wife immediately noticed... "Where are the bathrooms on those other boats?"

So far Sunsation has the lead. Obviously with the season basically over, I've got all winter to ponder things over and get hot and cold over a dozen or so boats before we take the leap.

I'd be more than happy with any of the boats mentioned thus far.

This time of year is the best time for buying used boats, no one wants to pay storeage on a boat that they are sellng anyway and there are those that are haveing new ones built over the winter so now is when the deals start poping up. Good luck.

2003 was the first model year for the 288 MCOB.