Yea we have still a 21' Legend fishing boat ( Great Lakes Salmon and Trout fishing) 125 Merc and a 9.9 4stroke for trolling, we love but do not use it enough. Buy the time we got it all equipped for the fishing , GPS, Depth finder, fenders, on and on, over $40k CDN, I could not sell it two years after I bought it for $30k and only about 8 hours.

Anyways we still love it.
1st boat was a hande me down from pops old and a lot of work
2nd was a 19 Thundercraft IO Blew the mottor $4000.00 and neede to replace the trailer $1800.
3rd ( went all the way ) 36' searay T-Top Express cruiser, twin 454, geny ect and then some more, could not afford to fuel it and up dock and use , store and winterize, on and on.
4th ( liked this one the best) 21' Ranger Commanche 200 Merc, bass boat, what a blast, had tow drive 2 hours min to use it safely.
5th the one we have now.

Just becarefull what ever one you get, as there is a boating fever that happens called "2 footitace" ( which mean your boat is not quite big enough so a couple feet bigger will probably be better) I say avoid it and just go big from the start.

You will enjoy it for a while at first, but then the work on it.

Ralph

 

I have a Century 2290 bay boat, Yamaha150 saltwater series, tow it 70 miles to the ramp at least twice a month in the summer, it was the reason for buying the Dodge. I changed jobs and havent been out since, though I hope to get a dry day this weekend and take my brother from Iowa out to catch some real fish. Sadley its winter and the Kingfish have followed the warm water far away so I won't be able to catch the real fish.I knoe its a bay boat but I can safely go about 10 miles offshore to a spot that holds Kings in the calm months of summer. The most fun thin to do is to watch a 70lb boy catching a 38 inch king. It is a dead even match may be like me catching a 80-100 lb fish, just all he can do to make it happen. Then he razzes me about catching the biggest fish.

 

My last boat was when I was married to the 1st ex (only 1 ex btw) we lived on the water in Discovery Bay, 20 miles west of Stockton...(Ramtradxb should have heard of this place...). we skiied ('85 ski supreme) 2-3 days a week in the summer, 1once a week during the winter when weather permitted. the delta was the only place to ski (for it's flat waters and many courses out there). My brother in law had a houseboat so there were many weekends out on the water fishing & skiing. We spent many weekends at the boat ramp watching the ones who over indulged try to yank their boats out... quite entertaining (just had to add that comment)...

AKAChewy hits the nail right on the head... lasting memories. I have always been the type to bring the family together for camping & hiking & boating adventures (in the past) and the stories keep coming up from all of the kids from time to time. These days it's hard to get them all in the same room at the same time... even @ the holidays.

When figuring the expenses... here in CA it can start adding up pretty quickly... storage, registration, luxury tax (yeah it sucks but CA has to get money anywhere they can i guess) all that from what I figured adds up to about $125/mo... 1/3 of a car payment these days. doesnt sound like much but when you factor in the $150 bux or so a weekend in fuel for the boat & truck it does get kinda pricy for a weekend of fun.

The picture is getting pretty clear... Thanks you guys for all your input. it is greatly appreciated.

 

That's why you guys should forget the nice fancy boats and get a nice little 16' Xpress Duck Boat with a 30 hp Johnson and go out and shoot ducks every chance you get...
$10 of gas lasts about 10 trips out to the blind and back. Can't beat that with a paddle! [sm=smiley20.gif]

 

lol, very good point... a year ago we looked into renting a houseboat on one of the lakes we want to explore... $800 bux for a week in the off season (after labor day which is fine with us)... ends up being alot cheeper. the downside is you dont have the flexiblity to take it to whatever lake you want...

 

I bought a boat this summer, my first one and we were at the lake every chance we got, but with my work schedule that wasn't often enough. also it is the reason we got rid of the hemi and bought the ctd. Our boat is a 1970 17' Starcraft with a 115 evinrude on it the kid had no idea what he had since it wasn't running. It had new seats and carpet in it and has always been babied, when this kid bought it he didn't want to buy a battery for it so he tried to jum it off a running pickup and fried the electronic ignition brain. paid 500 for the boat and trailer and 200 for the ignition brain, best money i ever spent

 

Couldn't have siad it better myself.

3words of advice when you own a boat........GOOD INSURANCE CARRIER.

I got rid of my last boat about 2 years ago; 21' Starcraft Bow Rider. Loved being out on the water, hated the money you had to pour into it. Ended up selling it while I was down here in GA / AL, simply no good place to run a deep-V boat. Everything here is either a fishing boat or a pontoon.

One thing to keep in mind, it is generally cheaper and easier to maintain an I/O, rather than an outboard. Outboard parts and labor rates are incredible. For an I/O (mine was a 4.3 Merc) you can get 90% of repair parts and maint items at a local Napa or other parts store.

For outboards, you hafta go to a stealer or marina. $$$$$

 

anything i'd get would be an IO or direct drive (if I got motivated to start skiing again)

 

Although most disagree, my brother and I both had (he still has) Merc Black Max outboards - and they were actually great motors that don't cost a lot to run or maintain. Every two years I'd do an impeller replacement with new plugs and lube, and that was about it. All the jokes about a hole to pour water into never came to fruition with me. And that boat (circa 1983) is still plying the Delta waters with the people I sold it to. 150 horses with a primarily alum engine is a great power-to-weight ratio - could smoke (literally as a 2-stroke) the big 460 or 454's out of the hole with a 17p prop.

Yes, I do know Discovery. I spent literally every weekend from April to October at Tower, and spent a lot of time at going back and forth between there and Lost Isle - great memories! (that was before they fenced in the alcohol at the Isle, and toned down the hedonism) For a lot of reasons, the Delta just isn't the boater's paradise it once was - a lot of the resort owners will tell you the crowd that used to frequent it (likely the one's you remember Steve) just don't seem to go there anymore. If I lived where you do, I'd get something like a Donzi to take out on Tahoe every chance I could - now that's a paradise!

 

Here are a couple of pictures of my money pit. Notice the last pic was when I still had that Frontier. That truck sucked at pulling the Bu out of the water, hence da diesel. The Bu is a Wakesetter 21Xti, Direct Drive with a 5.7 Indmar Monsoon.

Steve, anytime you are up for some Skiing let me know.