Boat vs Fun car idea

[Equalbracket]

Ugh Just read about a horrible local story of a houseboat backing into a 3 year old girl who was swimming back to shore to tell her mom how much fun they had. Her and her father were in waist deep water and the guy reverses in a three story houseboat with no spotters, while people are yelling at him to stop.

She got hung in the prop and her dad jumped to her to help and lost both his legs, and then she ended up dying. He was charged with negligent homicide.

If you get a boat tho, make sure and get something fast. Me and my friends had a manta ray tube that would lift 10-20 feet off the water and sustain flight. That was so much fun. That and throwing them off so fast they skip like rocks lol.

 

[Blown 89]

My wife has been bugging me for a boat. The issue, she wants a pontoon boat. I want a 33' contender with twin 350 Yamaha's.

Get a performance pontoon. They will hang pretty close to that Contender. My dad had a Premier that would outrun most boats on the lake. It maneuvered like something else at high speed too. That was his compromise for my mom wanting a pontoon and him wanting to have fun.

OP, get a car and rent a boat. Boats are expensive and they're a hell of a lot of work. We have a few boats and everyone loves them because they show up, have fun, then go home. They miss all of the fun stuff like paying for gas, maintaining them, and prepping and cleaning up for the day on the lake.

 

[nxhappy]

maybe a 17' speed boat, nothing crazy.

you might as well piss into the wind.

seriously, any boat you get, needs to be 21ft or more. You WILL need the extra room, and anything else will sink in any sort of chop. Also better to get open bow. A jet boat will be easier to maintain and less shit to worry about. as I like to say "blow and go".

 

[ViciousJay]

you might as well piss into the wind.

seriously, any boat you get, needs to be 21ft or more. You WILL need the extra room, and anything else will sink in any sort of chop. Also better to get open bow. A jet boat will be easier to maintain and less shit to worry about. as I like to say "blow and go".

My old buddy had a 17' with a built 350 and a 10" blower sticking out the top. You want to talk about cutting through a wake LOL

 

[nxhappy]

unless you have a super flat lake a 17-18 ft boat is going to be real rough lol. If it's a speed boat the water will only be about 6 inches from the hull. And pray to Jesus you have 2 excellent bilge pumps along with 2 buckets for bailing water LOL.

 

[Blown 89]

Ugh Just read about a horrible local story of a houseboat backing into a 3 year old girl who was swimming back to shore to tell her mom how much fun they had. Her and her father were in waist deep water and the guy reverses in a three story houseboat with no spotters, while people are yelling at him to stop.

Houseboats coming in are very dangerous. When we come into our slip we sound the horn and other residents come out to make sure onlookers don't "help". It only takes two people to get a houseboat into a tight slip. Our biggest problem is people trying to grab the ropes. The end up getting pulled into the slip or they pull the houseboat out of alignment and we take damage from the dock. We have a rule that nobody gets on or off the houseboat until it's properly moored.

A town council women got crushed and died trying to help with a houseboat a few summers ago. I worked with her for years and she was an uppity, know-it-all bitch that felt she needed to be in charge of everything and died because of it.

If you get a boat tho, make sure and get something fast. Me and my friends had a manta ray tube that would lift 10-20 feet off the water and sustain flight. That was so much fun. That and throwing them off so fast they skip like rocks lol.

There's nothing fun about that. I personally know two people paralyzed from the waist down from doing that. Every weekend someone is seriously or gravely injured at the lake doing that. Someone was taken to the hospital just this Saturday. I don't know from what but it's only ever one of two things....alcohol or those damn tubes.

 

[Equalbracket]

+1 on not getting anything smaller then 21"+ and a tandem axle trailer.

I had a 08 Searay sundeck 210 and it was the perfect choice for me, I liked the rear deck, twin captain chairs, open bow. Capacity of 7 or 9 cant remember. Good times but don't miss it now.

I have a 29" camper, and it's used like twice a year. But it's always a pain in the ass dragging them anywhere, setting up and having fun for a couple days then packing up and hauling all the shit back, got old quick.

I didn't see if you said what kind of bodies of water you live near, that to me would determine everything. When I had my boat one year we used it from mid April to end of October, pretty much 2-5 times a week. If you live up north and can only use it for a month or two, i'd get a car.


Also, a boat will show you your friends true colors. They'll always want to go out, and hell yours might be the best people ever and help out as much as they can. But from my experience everyone thinks $20 is enough gas for a weekend when it was always $100 to fill mine up and would burn that in a day.

But if this is just for you and your family I say go for it, you wont regret the years of fun you'll have, but the day you sell it, come back to this thread and it'll all make sense. lol GL

 

[nxhappy]

something like this would be titties: https://chicago.craigslist.org/nwi/boa/6171550248.html

 

[Twisted2v]

Some good points on here.

Unless you're a bachelor, or have boat buddies, I would stick to the hot rod.

 

[DHG1078]

I didn't read through the thread.

How about an amphicar?

 

[ViciousJay]

So I think I'm gonna go the boat route but I got this little one a few days ago....

http://imgur.com/lCWLgi5

 

[coposrv]

Posted some earlier but my god I'd never trade the ocean boat life for anything.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[hoamskilet]

Just spent the last 11 days on vacation boating and fishing.....try the boat.

You don't need to spend a ton of money to get into it. About 5 years ago we (I have a wife and 2 kids) decided to take plunge and upgrade my grandpa's old 14 foot aluminum fishing boat (doesn't really work for a family and very young kids at the time) to a 18' open bow. We decided to spend as little as possible in a boat that was in decent shape to make sure we were going to actually use it. Spent $4200 on an 18' 1991 Rinker and haven't spent squat on it outside of the little bit for fluid changes every year and winterizing. If you can turn wrenches and take care of it, it doesn't have to cost a fortune.

Yeah, if you insist on a slip and pay someone else to take care of everything, it'll add up quick.

Each year we've owned it we've used it more and more and more that the kids are getting bigger we're looking to go bigger in the next year or two.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[hoamskilet]

Speaking from first hand experience, i will 2nd the comment of going bigger than 18' as well. With the wife, my 2 kids (3 and 7), a cooler, and a tube, space runs out in a hurry. keep in mind that whatever a boat is "rated" to carry doesn't mean it will do so comfortably. We're looking to go about 22'. Big enough to carry 8 or 9 people, but not so big that it's a burden to tow/launch.

check out the couple of forums on iboats and the hull truth. lots of good info

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[sleek98]

I have spent way more time on our 20 ft Crownline than I have in my Shelby in the last 2 years.

Edit:
Also I would suggest 20 foot. Its big enough to have 4 adults, coolers and other stuff that you will bring but not a pain in the ass to store.

 

[SID297]

The boat in my sig is for sale.

 

[01yellercobra]

I have an 05 Searay Sport we picked up back in 2012. It had just under 100 hours when we bought it. Since then it's probably been one of the cheapest vehicles we own. Maintenance costs aren't any more than any of my other vehicles. Probably less since it doesn't get used as much. I am lucky in that I have a place to store it in doors. And trailering it has never been much of a concern to me. I don't look at it as a hassle at all. I actually enjoying towing it. But I'm weird like that.

Like anything else it's all about the upkeep. Most people are surprised to hear ours is "so old". If it's been maintained then you won't have any issues.

We're not taking it out as much as we'd like due to the kids getting older and having other engagements. The wife and I talked about selling, but we decided we'd rather have it just in case we get the chance to go out. Otherwise we'd want to go out and not have it.

As for friends, I've taken a few out. All have chipped in one way or the other. They've either helped with fuel or gas. And they help clean it after it comes out of the water. You just have to know who to invite with you.