Wanting a hole in the water to throw $ in...

[Whiskey]

shade2u2:

some boatin' sites you may want to visit

go boating america

trailer boats magazine

boating ABC

 

[Jagmandave]

Well, in defense of Bayliner. I had a 21' Cuddy in San Diego, ran it in salt water, had it for 5 years and never had any problems. Ran in rough water at times too. I had a 125 hp outboard which was enough, unless you wanted to pull more than one skier on a slalom ski, then it need a different prop.
Fuel economy could have been better, but with a 33 gal tank, I just filled it up on the way to the boat ramp. I spent many wonderful days out bobbing on the ocean, reading a book, swimming, pulling my daughter on skis etc, and I really miss having it. However, in San Diego, boating is a year round activity, (I can remember many years being out in the boat on the bay for a Christmas parade of lights) here in the midwest, it's 6 months at best.
I think you should buy the best quality, biggest (for your needs), nicest boat you can, and use it as often as possible. If you scrimp, you'll always be wishing you'd bought something else......

 

[shade2u2]

Thanx for all the replys...
We (me, wife, 11 yr old daughter, friend here & there) expect to use the boat for tubing, cruisin', swimming & picnicking off of, running up & down a 75 mile secondary river to the Ohio river, etc. It would be good if my wife & daughter could handle putting it in & out of the lake 15 minutes from the house.
We have learned the medicinal value of "leisure boating"... kind of like tractoring only with the family on board.
The jet boat was great to run & handle, but we determined a little larger would be better. No prop is very high on the wife's list.
I thought that I/O may be a good route to go.
My impression always was that Bayliner was the "Chevy" of boating. This 18.5' Bayliner looks like new other than the bottom 1/3 (roughly) off the "rudder-fin-thing" at the bottom of the outdrive is broke off. They apparently drifted into some rocks while waiting at the boat ramp once. It has a new dry cell battery in it. They supposedly paid $17000+ for it new, will take $9500 for it at this point... the NADA = $8-9,000 from what I can see.
The boat basically has what we want other than recently I was thinking about one with a covered front small cabin area on it for long river touring days.
I was under the impression that Rinker makes a quality boat?

 

[RobertN]

I have been around a few boats. I like prop drives. I have been around high performance v-drives and jet boats. The V-drive had comparable engine, but got about 2x the fuel economy of the Jet. It takes a lot of power to turn the jet pump. The water behind the boat seems smoother in a prop boat.

Of some small note is money put in to jet boats. A friend used to race them. After $$$ in cams, carbs, intakes, engine blueprinting, and such, he had his jet pump balanced/blueprinted. That made more differenc than did thousands of dollars in engine mods. And, it was cheap; if memory serves it was about $800 15 years ago.
One thing of note though, is swimmers/tuber/skiers around a jet pump is a lot safer than around a prop...

 

[Jagmandave]

It's a little bit tricky, but fun, skiing in the frothy wake of a jet boat........but they are pretty inefficient, even today, compared to a prop of any type. Best way to be safe around a prop is to just shut the engine off.

 

[ronjhall]

Bayliner = The closest thing to boating. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Dargo]

I'll have to go with the consensus on Bayliner boats. I've had about a dozen boats over the years, and the one Bayliner I had for a short while was by far the lowest quality of any of the boats I owned. The glass in the hull is thinner, the plywood in the floor was thinner and was not completely sealed in fiberglass, the quality of carpet was a lower grade, the gelcoating is thinner than other boats, the mil thickness of the vinyl is thinner etc. etc. There is a distinct reason they don't hold resale value. Many of the marine lenders will not loan money on a Bayliner that is over 2 years old.

I was well pleased with several brands of boats that I owned, but not the Prayliner. My last boat was a 34' cuddy cabin with twin 502's. It looked like the U.S.S. Minnow from Gilligan's Island, but would run 65 mph. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif However, the 120 gallon fuel tank would not even last half a day if I was running it hard. With that boat, by the time I figured in the cost of gas, maintenance items, beer, sodas, food, trailering, launch pass, insurance, and depreciation, I figured it cost me somewhere around $1500 each time I got it wet. I'm currently out of boating after 20 years worth. I think I got it out of my system. I'll gladly ride on someone else's boat though. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[super7]

Sorry, Bayliners are not the Chevy of boating more like the Yugo /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif. Take that as a note on the standpoint of the hull, they are not put together all that well, that being said Bayliner had/has? a Trophy line for fishing that does have a good hull and their large cruisers were also put together quite well. but they suffer from the "entry level" Bayliners syndrome.

It normally takes a pretty good whack to break a skeg off have a mechanic look at it. remember the propeller is on a shaft that sits in bearings that goes to gears and if its bent....$$
If your a new person to boating stay with mercruiser power for I/Os more parts/mechanics to work on them. If you have a local marina talk to the service guys and see what they work on and what they don't like to work on. Outboards I like, the boat tends to be lighter and the newer O/Bs aren't to extremely thirsty or smokey.

Long days out?? wife and kids?? = cuddy cabin and portapotty

also i'm a fan of horse power if you want to pull two people on tubes or skiers a four cyl is just weak, it might do it but your going to run one hard and at its limit. 6 cyl ok 8cyl much better the engine just doesn't seem to "work hard"

Older Rinker hulls kinda sucked but the newer one are much better (they had to step up to the plate)

now
22' Boston Whaler Revenge 235hp Johnson(soon to be a new 250hp E-tec or Verado can't make up my mind)
15' Hobie center console 50hp Evinrude(great in the shallows)

in the past(long time ago and slow by todays standards /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif)
2) 16' Donzi one I/O one O/B
18' Donzi 330hp 454
27' Magnum Sport twin 330hp 454
35' Cigarette twin 575hp

Good luck looking for the "next" boat
Tony

My use of a boat is different than yours i'm on bigger choppy water (that has boats with basements) that pounds a hull so I will have a different point of view.

 

[ByronBob]

This 18.5' Bayliner looks like new other than the bottom 1/3 (roughly) off the "rudder-fin-thing" at the bottom of the outdrive is broke off

Umm..This worries me. If the seal on the propeller was jarred loose and water is getting in with the gear oil on the transmission you might be looking at rebuilding the bottom half of the outdrive.

I would have a professional look at this. I AM SPEAKING FROM EXPERIENCE ON THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!

My dad hit bottom and jarred the seal. Back in 1992 it cost him $1800.

 

[SnowRidge]

<font color="blue"> My impression always was that Bayliner was the "Chevy" of boating. This 18.5' Bayliner looks like new other than the bottom 1/3 (roughly) off the "rudder-fin-thing" at the bottom of the outdrive is broke off. They apparently drifted into some rocks while waiting at the boat ramp once. </font>

The "rudder-fin-thing" sounds like the skeg. Skegs don't break due to drifting into something, unless they are already cracked. Sounds like somebody struck something hard whilst at 'full boogie.'

I'm with ByronBob. Have a good marine mechanic do a thorough survey before jumping into that one.