Re: Boat show blues? Not here!
 

Oh my now I have choices to make


Wife kids mortgage college tuition cold weather high stress job bills

VS

Warm weather , retirement good fishin all year low stress job

HMMM?

Re: Boat show blues? Not here!
 

I too went to the boat show recently in Los Angeles. It was a real eye opener. The prices were out of sight for anything that would give the same utility as the V20. Many of the boats that I looked had spongy decks. They were bad enough that if I were buying any of the boats used, I would think that there was dry rot damage. I'm 6'2 and 210 lbs and can jump on my 82 V20 and it's solid as a rock. The only boats to compare were the Grady's and Whaler's at 50K a pop.
It was amusing to look at all the different kinds of boats available. There is one for every purpose. There was even one with a built in blender in the bow lounge! Good for mixing up the chum I guess? I would look at the boats and ask myself "would I want to bring a stuck albacore or bluefin on board?". The answer was usually a big no way.
One thing that I did learn at the boat show was that I am really satisfied with my V20 and my Skipjack. They are both paid for, mechanicaly sound, and do everything that I want out of a boat.

BassOMaticII
On the left coast in search of Whales

Re: Boat show blues? Not here!
 

Bass, I noticed the same thing about the spongy decks. Even on the Grady 22 Tournament the floor felt a little spongy. The only new boat I would be interested in to replace my V20 would be the Sea Hunt 22 DC, thats a nice boat. And one other thing, has anyone noticed that alot of the new boats dont have any access to the gas tank?

Re: Boat show blues? Not here!
 

I did see one at the New Jersey boat show last week, my friend and I were shopping, mostly for him, he has the money :-/ the Robalo 25' W/A Cuddy with hardtop and enclosure was fabulous with twin 150 Yammi 4strokes. The design was built to fish and do it well. Access to everything mechanical is wide open and the fit and finish was better than anything else at the show which included basically all the major manufactures. We had looked at everything for close to four hours and their were a lot of great boats but the thought put into that design and the quality of workmanship was superb. And price wise they were right in the middle among the top quality boats like regulator etc etc.

Re: Boat show blues? Not here!
 

Something interesting was how it had the built in platform for the engines and full transom, but the platform itself had a bevel built into it so that when you would be backing down on a fish or just backing into waves it provided the back of the boat with lift actually lifting the engines up.

Re: Boat show blues? Not here!
 

I have got a dollar or 2 saved, but I can tell you, if I was forced to buy a new boat to fish in, I would quit fishing. The prices are beyond comprehension. I can go buy a new loaded F250 diesel for what a new center console costs. *As close as I come to a new boat will be to re-power an old one with a new engine. I stare in amazement when I go to work (on a boat) and see all these 50-150K boats out riding around Panama City. *It seems that some how the boat buying public has been connvinced that you MUST have 50kts, built in head, stainless fold away cleats, and a hydraulic retractable electronics box to go 2 miles out and trol for kingfish. *I take care of and capt a boat for a guy, it is a 2005 grady 330 express. *he used it 8 times last yr. *we caught maybe 25 fish (keepers) those are some very very very expensive seafood dinners. Some where in the neighborhood of $18,000 a plate.

Re: Boat show blues? Not here!
 

Thats because like you I and probably most others here we are working guys with families to take care of. When you make multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars a year or more you don't see things the same way. God bless them but they live in a different world.

Re: Boat show blues? Not here!
 

I hear ya guys. I was reluctant to buy a new boat, but with trading in my V20 I got my new boat for under $23,000 - boat, motor and trailer. I was gonna drop another $500 - $600 on the outdrive, then i really needed a new trailer. And still would have had plenty of stuff left to do. I passed by many 30K and up boats, my new one just happened to be on sale at the end of the model year. Originally my boast "listed" at $32,000

Re: Boat show blues? Not here!
 

you did really well on that one franco

Re: Boat show blues? Not here!
 

Thanks Phester, If I could have found a V20 CC with a seadrive or bracket, I would have jumped all over it, but I would have missed out on some skinny water fishing - got my first snook and my first pompano today. Had to drag 'em out of the mangroves on 6lb test line!