boat owners

[Taylor]

When my brother had his boat he kept it at a coverrd slip at silver lake on lake gvine. Had the boat lift etc, was very nice new boat slip. Boat was a 26' runabout and the slip ran just south of $3k a year.

[DamonH]

I had a 20ft open bow, and just kept it at a storage place close to the lake. I think the open spot ran me about $60 a month. At the time, I couldn't find any slips on Lewisville Lake for under $250 a month, so the price difference wasn't worth the convenience of the dock to me. Ray Hubbard had way cheaper prices then Lewisville, but we didn't live out here at that time.

My brother-in-law has a slip with a lift. I will say it's nice to just pull up to the marina and just hop in and go. You also have to figure in Marina gas prices. Unless you are going to slap it on a trailer anyway to pull it out and fill it up, you'll be paying about a $1 more per gallon on the water. I honestly think it didn't take me THAT much longer to get on the water since my boat was kept close as long as the ramp wasn't busy, but when the ramp is busy it can take forever. Most of the fights/wrecks/idiot issues I found were on the ramps. There was always someone screwing up the process and it can be pretty frustrating.

I just pulled my boat home to winterize it or give it a good cleaning on occasion. Every time I pulled it out I gave it a 50% vinegar wipe down to keep it clean.

Boats are pretty expensive. I'd definitely recommend a newer boat, and have it checked out thoroughly before purchasing. Really lean on it when you take it for a test spin, and if anything doesn't seem right, move to the next.

[Hell-Bent SS]

I keep my bass boat outside at home, just get a good boat cover and lock. Best thing to do for the winter is to put some gas stab. in the gas tank and lower the unit all the way down so water cannot get trapped in the lower unit and freeze.

[bonnie&clyde]

25' is pretty big for a runabout under 15K with decent power. Unless you don't mind buying old and working on it to maintain. And yes you can always add a tower later, but may never care.

i was thinking about a 22ft one, i want one that can fit enough people to have fun with

[Ruffdaddy]

i was thinking about a 22ft one, i want one that can fit enough people to have fun with

How many people is that?

[trblshooter]

While on the subject of boats...I just bought this for mine. Woohoo open flames on the water

http://www.grillsforboats.com/maga10205.html

[DamonH]

i was thinking about a 22ft one, i want one that can fit enough people to have fun with

For the record, my 20 foot said it could hold 12 people or 1700 lbs, but it felt too crowded to me if I had over 8 on board. I'm not sure if the difference of 2 feet would be that noticeable, but I guess that depends on the configuration.

I was also going to suggest paying a little more and going with a good boat. Buy a good name - Cobalt, Crownline, SeaRay, etc. Stay away from Tahoe and some of the other brands. No offense to those that own them, but the better names will be easier to sell when it comes time and are more expensive for a reason.

[bonnie&clyde]

yeah im not planning on having that many people on, maybe like 5 or 6, to where we can all be comfortable, i know with life jackets and everything like that it limits the room we will have

[bonnie&clyde]

How many people is that?

For the record, my 20 foot said it could hold 12 people or 1700 lbs, but it felt too crowded to me if I had over 8 on board. I'm not sure if the difference of 2 feet would be that noticeable, but I guess that depends on the configuration.

I was also going to suggest paying a little more and going with a good boat. Buy a good name - Cobalt, Crownline, SeaRay, etc. Stay away from Tahoe and some of the other brands. No offense to those that own them, but the better names will be easier to sell when it comes time and are more expensive for a reason.

yeah thats more than i was thinking, maybe around 5 or 6, i know with life jackets and everything else the room on the boat will be limited

[bonnie&clyde]

For the record, my 20 foot said it could hold 12 people or 1700 lbs, but it felt too crowded to me if I had over 8 on board. I'm not sure if the difference of 2 feet would be that noticeable, but I guess that depends on the configuration.

I was also going to suggest paying a little more and going with a good boat. Buy a good name - Cobalt, Crownline, SeaRay, etc. Stay away from Tahoe and some of the other brands. No offense to those that own them, but the better names will be easier to sell when it comes time and are more expensive for a reason.

what about a four winns?

[bonnie&clyde]

also how much HP should i be looking at? my friend said that anything over 200 should be good

[TorchRedStang]

i have mine at a storage place with a cover on it. works good but make sure you get a cover that allows the rain etc to drain off. youll spend a bunch of money renting a slip not worth it IMO

For 6 years I had my boat in a covered and enclosed storage unit that was about half a mile from the boat ramp. It was at Lewisville Boat Storage by the dfwboats place off of I-35. $60 a month for a unit that held my 18ft runabout. My wife and I would leave our house and be in the water in 25 minutes and we were more efficient at getting on the water than anyone I had ever seen. I literally had multiple people that were showing boats from Marine Max, Phil Dill, and DFWBoats tell us we should teach a class or something.

We sold our old boat in July and upgraded to a bigger boat. No trailer so it has to stay at the marina in a 33' slip. The $260 a month for the slip was a little painful at first but after two months I can tell you that it would be hard to go back to not having a slip. We live 2.5 miles from the marina so door to dock is 5 minutes. We can go out for a 45 minute cruise and enjoy the sunset and a drink or two and then 5 minutes back home. Couldn't do that before without a hastle. At the end of a 8 hour day on the lake we just park the boat and go home versus having to fight with the morons at the boat ramp. Let me tell you, some of the dumbest mother fuckers in the world are boat owners! If you want some free entertainment you should anchor just off of a boat ramp on a busy day and watch the stupidity unfold. I have seen enough crazy/hilarious crap on a boat ramp to make a movie. It is expensive but worth every penny. I am going to buy a trailer as well at some point so I will be able to ocassionally go to other lakes and do maintenance. My marina only charges $12 a month to store a trailer if you have a slip.

As far as boats go. If you are typically going to have 2-4 people on the boat at a time an 18-20ft open bow would be fine. I paid $8000 for my 18ft glastron open bow 6 years ago and used the hell out of it but to excellent care of it. It looked as good as new when I sold it. I posted it on craigslist, it sold in two days for $7250! That's they way to go for your first boat. Pick it up in November-February when prices are at there lowest. Get a clean boat that is around 5 years old. Take care of it and you will probably make most of your money back.

[bonnie&clyde]

http://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/boa/2553289888.html would this be a good deal? im just looking around and just saw this one

[TorchRedStang]

Here is a nice crownline. If I was going to buy another open bow it would definately be a crownline. You can offer $10k for it and in a few years if you want to upgrade you will probably get $9k out of it.

http://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/boa/2496207416.html

[TorchRedStang]

http://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/boa/2553289888.html would this be a good deal? im just looking around and just saw this one

I think that is an early 90's or late 80's boat. Ideally you want to find a boat with an all fiberglass floor and fuel injection which is usually only going to come in a late 90's and newer boat.