Boat Shopping

[Gatorade Frost]

I don't know anything about boats, so from that I don't really know how to do searches online for help.

Basically my family just bought a lake house in the last month, which is sitting on a small 2 mile lake, and it has a much larger lake about 15 minutes away from it. While we have a really old 20 foot boat with a small motor on the back to fish from, we're eventually going to be buying a larger boat.

Basically for fishing (for my dad) and what I want to do, water skiing (For all of us college kids).

But from that I don't know where to start looking for boating information. Could anyone help me out or give me recommendations?

[maleficent]

first i'd be sure that the lake will allow motorized boats (one of the houses my parents had when i was a kid, was on a pretty big lake, that had fish and stuffin it -but no motor boats were allowed... no outboard motors... only canoes, rowboats, or sailboats with the engines out of the water)

Friends of mine bought a boat years ago.. a gorgeous 60 foot sailboat... I think they paid about 100 dollars a foot for this boat - it needed a bunch of work on it but in the end - they got an amazig boat... it was bought thru a seized property auction... Check your newspaper (especially if you're near a larger city) for auctions.

[Gatorade Frost]

Well, the small lake that our house allows all boats, I think, just not SeaDoo's and water skiing and that sort of thing. It's mainly fishing and swimming. The larger lake allows people to go water skiing, and there are a lot of lakes in the area we could go to.

[amonkie]

The size of the boat will matter - my family has a 30 ft Searay, and technically to have it on the road requires the use of a commercial truck as it is an oversize load. We had ours in a slip at a marina, and drove up every other weekend instead of hauling the boat for this reason.

If there is a marina on the larger lake, that is a good place to start as well - if people have boats housed on the lake, or use the lake frequently, the marina will be a good networking place and may also know about the type of usage a boat gets.

Dry storage or wet storage is another issue - If a boat is already in the water, you will want to see if you can get it on the dock to inspect the hull for age and water damage.

Where do you plan to keep the boat? If you are keeping it at the smaller lake, will you have it in the water or on a trailer?

[politicophile]

My understanding is that a boat needs a considerable amount of power in order to be any good for waterskiing. If you're planning on buying something for waterskiing and fishing, I'd suggest something on the small side with good power. Maybe under 20' with at least 150hp? My uncle's a big waterskiing fan: his boat is about 14' and it has an inboard 351 Ford Marine V-8 with 285 hp. Not that you neeeeed it, but damn is that thing fun to drive.

[amonkie]

I'll agree on the smaller boat - you want to be able to safely turn on a dime, and the 15-18 foot range can do that extreeeemely well 120-150 hp should give you enough power.

[Gatorade Frost]

What about brands and that sort of thing? Now that I have a general idea of the boat size and that sort of thing, I'm still a bit lost as to where I should go next.

I'm so new in all of this that everytime I open the Tilted Motor forum I get confused as to why I'm here.

[amonkie]

My best advice would be to get thee to a boat show, if at all possible. I am not sure where exactly you are geography wise, but I grew up going to boat shows. In this area, you will be able to see firsthand different boats from different brand makers, and talk to them about what you are looking for in your boat. I'm not saying you have to buy one there, but you will be able to start to form your own judgement for what fits both your overall budget and your tastes.

[Bossnass]

I used to own a boat rental company on a small lake in Alberta. I've owned a few ski boats; I'm a pretty avid skier, wakeboarder, and I try to get barefooting a few times a season. If asked nicely, I'll even pull my wife's cousins in tubes.

Three main types of sporting boats. Outboard, Inboard/Outboard, and true Inboard. They go up in price in that order as well, as long as you are talking about small runabouts that someone would fish/ski behind. A 30' searay would be a little above the class I think you're looking at or which I'm talking about.

Outboards are just what they sound like. A basic boat with an outboard engine stuck on the back, with cables/hydraulics running up to a steering wheel that turns the entire engine. Cheapest, easiest to maintain for the most part. Arguable performance and handling.

Inboard/Outboards have the engine within a compartment onboard. They used to be more special because you could have a 4-stroke engine (quieter, cheaper to fuel) inboard, but now that new outboards are mostly 4stroke too, it isn't that special. The prop and skag (the sticking down part) are still shaped mostly like an outboard and are located at the very back of the boat. In general, IOs have a better seating layout in the back quarter section. In my opion, IOs are terrible; they are more expensive but without suffcient reason. You have increased engine cost and decreased performance, the props are more difficult to change (and you will need to change a prop if you're boating on unfamiliar lake waters).

Common names for outboards and IOs are Campion (great Canadian company), Glastron, Fourwinns, and Larson. I've loved every Campion I've owned (two outboard Allantes, one IO allante, and one small explorer). I had a larson too that was nice, but underpowered and heavy. I wouldn't go shorter thatn 17, 17.5', and I wouldn't go longer than 22'. Horsepower rating depends on the weight of the boat and if you are going to be barefooting or slaloming. I wouldn't go smaller than 130HP. You can get an ok used one for under 10K. Get an open bow to help balance and for extra seating.

The boats that I like are true inboards, or tournament boats. I wish I could afford to own, insure, and fuel one. Fortunatly, my wife's family has a nice one, as do a few lake-friends of mine. They are performance boats, with large 'real' engines in them. Usually located balanced in the middle, sometimes in the stern. Where IOs have 'Mercruiser' or 'Volvo Penta" boat engines, these boats have peformance engines that are more comparable to car engines. The boat I've skied behind the most is a Ski Nautique, (long the best tournament boat) with a bored and polished 351. These boats usually have the engine weight balanced, the propeller and rudder are optimally located about 1/4 of the way from the stern. They have incredible pull, accelleration, and handling.

They are also rediculously expensive. A friend of mine sold his '91 Ski Nautique last summer for $20k Canadian and bought a brand new Campion Allante. A new one runs about 65k (CAN). Big names include Nautique, Mastercraft, Malibu, Supra, Tige, etc (could be a long list). Nautiques are still the best slalom boat, but Malibu has become the leader recently in family-crossed sport performance boats. Mastercraft currently puts out the best wakeboarding boat.

Feel free to post or PM with questions, I should be able to field most basic questions.

[Scorps]

my buddy at work bought a 16 foot bass boat those are awesome for fishing, and its hella fast!