Quote:
Originally Posted by j.lev
I started boating about a year and a half ago and have the bug. I mainly rented boats around the country. This summer I joined a boat club in South Hampton and spent the summer on the water on a Cobalt R3 and a Regal 230 OBX. Great experience. I spend about 3-5 weeks in South Florida in the winter and want to own a boat instead of joining a boat club there. Might be crazy, but I want to check owning a boat off my bucket list. Going used. Question is should I go with a broker and does anyone have an opinion about a good brand for a 28-29 foot low maintenance starter boat? Sea Ray SLX 280, Sea Ray SDX 290 OB or a Cobalt A28 were suggested. Highest hours on those is 260, lowest 50.
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Can't speak to brands/models in that range, but...
You may find it useful to draw up a list of features you must have, want to have, would be nice to have... before you shop for specific models.
For example, in that range, you can often have a choice of wide side decks (smaller interior), small side decks (wider interior), or step-thru forward windows. You pick. OTOH, it may help you to know if you can navigate the step-thru option or not, etc.
Another example, some in that range (see SeaRay Sundancers) have a mid-cabin (sometimes called an aft-cabin) in the aft end of living quarters but actually underneath the
helm. Do you need/want that?
What for:
fishing, cruising, both?
Cooking facilities? How elaborate? Convertible dinette for addition sleeping?
Inboard? Inboard/Outboard?
Outboard? Who will do maintenance; you, or hired? If you, examine access to
service points on inboard engines... to decide whether the candidate is viable.
And so forth.
Then shop new manufacturer's websites to see what they offer/offered... that meet your specs. Once you've identified likely candidates, shop the used market to find good examples of your targets. A buyer's broker can help, but then again many boats in that size range aren't listed with brokers... and instead are on craigslist, thrhullthruth.com, and other
used boat advertising sites.
-Chris