[chumbucket]

Hmmm, don't know how old I was when I got my first boat. My dad gave me a wooden rowboat that was kept at our camp in Maine and provided many years of fishing fun on that lake. We threw a small 2hp motor on it after a couple years. I bought my first boat myself in 1973. A 14' Mirrocraft side console with a 25hp Johnson at the Boston Boat Show. Boat, motor and trailer for $800. Had it up until about 7-8 years ago and sold it for about 2X what I paid. 8)
My first "real" boat (if you want to call it that) was a '78 20' Glastron Cuddy Cabin with a 115 Merc inline six (God, I hated that motor). That boat was very solid and lots of freeboard with a decent layout for fishing.
A 24' Century powered by a Merc 260 I/O. That I/O gave me so much trouble. Seemed I was always working on it more that out fishing. I sold that one after 1 1/2 seasons and beat it like a rented mule at the end.
Next came a 26' Stamas Pilot house similar to the layout of the Parkers. This one was also powered with a Merc 260 I/O. You would think I'd have learned my lesson from the previous boat. Found out after several misadventures that the previous owner installed a motor donated by one of his trucks and never changed the camshaft or anything else. That motor gulp water while trolling at 3 knots and that was all she wrote on that motor. I threw a big block in it with a Bravo outdrive and the power was so much better. I loved this boat to fish from but it was an absolute PIG on gas with either motor. I think the boat tipped the scales at close to 10,000lbs. We liked to make the run across Cape Cod Bay to fish the Provincetown Race and it cost a fortune in gas even at $.99/gallon. Hated to do it, but got rid of that boat.
Then came probably the best boat I've owned. '87 Grady-White 22' Walkaround powered by an Evinrude 225 on a bracket. Yamaha 4 stroke 9.9 kicker motor with electric start. Nice full enclosure for the helm and a huge cockpit for fishing. This one was "The Boat" for me. It had everything I wanted. Then a few years later, my daughter was pregnant with my grandson. After he was born, I made the difficult decision to sell the Grady to help put a down payment on the house right next door to mine. So now I get to see my little buddy everyday, so that's not a bad thing right? ;D 8)As pre-arrainged, I made it known that when the Grady got sold, I would be buying something else for a lot less $$.
This is where the Wellcraft came into the picture. After extensive searching, I found the V20 Center Console the boat for me. I loved fishing this boat and the mobility it provided me. I really shouldn't have sold it, but the guy wore me down with an offer that I couldn't refuse. So, I sold it for considerably more than I paid.
The search has been on for a while now for a replacement but between working lots of hours and some other priorities on the homefront, I haven't seemed to be able to make a connection on anything. I've made a few offers on boats. There's a 17' tin boat sitting in the driveway that I've been using. Powered by a 60hp Evinrude, it's actually not a bad Striper fishing boat, but I want something a little more than that.
I'm 50 years old now, so maybe I'll settle down and keep whatever I get this next time around. I'm really not looking for a project boat. Too many other priorities to get saddled with a project. I've attempted a couple of those and just never found the time to complete them, so they were sold as is. I still have a bracket from one project. If I find the right boat, maybe I'll sell the bracket to get those thoughts out of my head. Whenever I see the bracket, I start thinking of taking something on to apply that bracket to.
Oh well, the search continues, but this is a tough time of year in the Northeast to do any real looking, so we'll see what pops up come springtime.