Atlantic City Boat Show.....observations

[Pipe_Dream]

Originally Posted by inaforty

We sat on a 32' Everglades at the Providence boat show. I think it was 374k! Nice boat but I would never spend that kind of $$$$.


I own a sport fisher and so does my good friend Rick (Viking owner). We both also own V 20'S.
The sport fisher market crashed in 2008. Good running boats can be had for short $$$ (50k-/+) and some with diesel power. You must be able and willing to do your own maintenance to make owning one reasonable cost wise. However you still have the cost of insurance,slip,storage fees.

We were thinking of moving into a thirty something with twin outboards.
After looking at things carefully I'm thinking I might keep the sport fisher and repower with reman 3208 CATS. I can repower w/remans cheaper than a new set of 250 hp outboards.
No express or W/A is going to give the room or the ride of a sport fisher with diesels.
The drawback is you don't get the speed of an outboard powered boat or the skinny draft.
.
The old sport fisher keeps me busy all season. Just had a riser /shower head fabricated.
I get bored and have to keep busy. I love anything with an engine....tractor,car,truck,boat, whatever.
Not sure how long my body will allow me to enter and exit the engine room but I'm having fun with it now.

Thanks for sharing your perspective. As someone who has always had the I-wanna-bigger-boat thing going in the back of my mind, the reality is that it's not going to happen unless some long lost uncle leaves me his lotto winnings. That's TWO incredibly long shots, if you're counting.

While I'm still in the workforce, and expecting to remain there for many more years, the V-20 does what I want it to do given the limited amount of time (sadly) that I get out on the water. And perhaps best of all, it's easy to single-hand.

Cheers!