Looking for a boat, and yes I posted in the boat section...

I thought I would post in the NE section.
I'm looking for a bow rider boat. Something around 20' with a trailer.
I'd like to spend about $12000.00.
I'm flexible.
Does anyone have one for sale.
I'm also interested in words or wisdom from experienced boat owners.
Thanks
Ron

 

Hello Ron - Having a boat is great if you live on a lake and can keep it at your dock. Trailering, launching and reloading is time consuming....and there's just so much free time.

I had a Cape Dory 25 and a 21' Eastporter lobster boat for about 2 years each at different times. The problem was that I had them on a mooring inside Beverly Harbor. I kept a 9' dingy with a 2hp Tohatsu at the club dock; motored out to the mooring; climbed on board and got the boat ready to go and towed the dingy behind the boat r left it at the mooring depending on where I was going.

At the same time I had my 308 now for 10 years including the 1st 3 years of boat ownership. Again it was a matter of free time. On a sunny day I could either walk into my garage and take the Ferrari out or do the boat drill. After trying power and sail the Ferrari won out.

It's no fun driving a Ferrari in the rain and it's no fun being out on a boat in the rain with reduced visibility.....and there are just so many sunny weekends.

Only one person can drive the Ferrari only one person can be captain on the boat. The people along for the ride sometimes got bored.

If you have the facilities to do both the free time and sunny days is less important because you can do either or both on the same day

Loved being on the water, I just couldn't manage both on the same day.

PM me if you would like to hear about boat maintenance and storage

 

I know of a one owner, 19' bowrider with a 3.0, forsale. MINT shape. A little smaller than your asking about, but I confidently recommend this boat. I am friend of the owner. The boat lives in Suffield, CT.

I own a 19' bowrider with 4.3 carbed. We love it. BUT, we are as green as it gets to being new boaters. 2012 was our first summer with it and we had a ball. I have nothing to compare it to. My pro's are the boat and trailer fit snugly into the one bay garage so it's never out in bad weather, and doesn't get full of leaves and stuff. I do trailer my boat to and from every time I use it. At the cottage I pack the boat with everything we'll need and prep it for launch before leaving. Our launch is about 1/2 mile away. Once I waited 5-10 minutes at a launch for someone to load and we mumbled to ourselves how the boating coarse recommends having all of the procedures ready ahead of time, but managed to get to talking to these people and met some of the nicest people. Some of our best advice has come from locals at the launch. I also like the option of going to any lake or launch in the area. Our association has a waiting list for a slip, but I'm fine with the system we have to go boating and I don't feel we take much longer to load the boat, launch it, park, then get in and go compared to the slip guys who uncover their boats, make multiple trips carrying stuff from the car, then finally get under way. We never had this "luxury" of a slip so I can't compare, only give observations. Launching and loading the boat, with practice, can be a one man show if you have calm waters and are able to leave the boat unattended for a few minutes. It's most stressful because you have no one blame and you know everyone is watching and waiting for the mishap. One big plus to a slip, imo, would be if you are jumping in the boat for a joy ride by yourself. Another "luxury" I don't have, and would probably get bored, not sure. When we go its kids, friends, tubes, towels, snacks, and a ton of fun!!!
Just like the cars, learn to do the maintenance yourself and they very affordable.