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The Boat Fanatic Thread


Yarbr

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Red tide keeping me off the water this weekend.  Dead fish everywhere, 400 turtles cleaned off the beach. Whale shark even washed up.  The worst was a baby manatee clinging to its dead mother. 
 
It it is fucking  brutal
Lake O related? Or two separate shit shows?
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30 minutes ago, Ogie Ogilthorpe said:

Red tide keeping me off the water this weekend.  Dead fish everywhere, 400 turtles cleaned off the beach. Whale shark even washed up.  The worst was a baby manatee clinging to its dead mother. 

 

It it is fucking  brutal

Sitting on a Sanibel now and it’s a sad mess. In 20 years of coming down here, I haven’t seen anything like it. We tried walking the beach yesterday and it has improved, but the smell of death is still strong. The fisheries have taken a beating based on what I have seen on the beach and floating in the water the last few days. Ended up not doing any fishing because of it. Bought another house while here though, so hopefully it gets better.

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1 hour ago, troph said:

@G650 ... https://www.yachtrentalsincancun.com/luxury-yachts-in-cancun/azimut-100′-luxury-yacht-rental-in-cancun/

Math comes to $8900 per couple, for 5 days assuming 15 couples. Max out at 30 people with only 5 cabins. Gay boys would love it, the rest of us not so much.

15 couples is a lot of motherfuckers on a 100 boat!

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On 7/31/2018 at 8:25 AM, HOOKEM4 said:

@Bone3421  I grew up sailing the Caribbean with my family on a Cal 39. Very solid boat. One other thing to think about is draft. There are a lot of places you cannot get into with over 6' draft.  Ours was a shoal keel version which was at 5.5' I believe. At times it was even a bit much. Just something to keep in mind. 

Overall, it is one of the greatest things my parents did for me. Don't rush anything, make sure you have redundant safety systems and do your homework. I look forward to reading about your travels.

Thx for tip...yeah still browsing and been googling sailing shit...will see if i take the leap and as mentioned before will ne probably a year of sailing bay and gulf before anything big

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I saw one post earlier about Freedom boat club.  Looking at joining in Conroe and was wondering if anyone had any experience with boat availibity and maintenance specifically at that location...  Also interested in the availibity of getting boats in Clear Lake and Austin as part of the Conroe membership... Google search for reviews has been mostly positive...

Edited by Grimas
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2 hours ago, Grimas said:

I saw one post earlier about Freedom boat club.  Looking at joining in Conroe and was wondering if anyone had any experience with boat availibity and maintenance specifically at that location...  Also interested in the availibity of getting boats in Clear Lake and Austin as part of the Conroe membership... Google search for reviews has been mostly positive...

Given the buoys on your avatar you shouldnt have any problem docking in Austin. 

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Given the high end boats on this thread, not sure if this is the right place to post this. If not, delete post, ban user, etc, etc. Grew up spending pretty much every weekend I wasn’t playing ball at the lake fishing and skiing. Some of my best memories. Wife spent a ton of time doing the same (well, skiing anyway) in Calgary growing up. Have decided that we’re going to start looking at boats so we can do the same with our kiddos before they get any older. Daughter is 11 and son is 6. Boat I grew up on was a 21ft Glastron fish and ski. What is the shag consensus on good fish and ski’s now? Have looked at the Tahoe’s at Bass Pro. Look nice but haven’t run into a lot of real world reviews of them. Would like to be 21-24ft and 200+hp and under $40k new. Wouldn’t mind a good used one either but seems like the good quality ones hold value pretty well and don’t necessarily save tons of cash buying used. Anyone on here running a great weekend warrior fish and ski you love?

Edited by lonestarsooner
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I know nothing about the fish/ski models. A deckboat maybe? In you price range, I’d suggest looking for used bowrider. I’d stay away from the bottom tier brands like Tahoe, bayliner. Look at some I/o cobalt, chaparral, regal, crownline boats. Go big on engine size and get the duoprop.

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Do you live on a lake or have a lake house? Do your kids like to get up early and go fishing? Does your wife like fishing? If not, go ski boat of some kind. Under $40k and you can get some nice runabouts and some really decent used wakeboard boats.

Good luck!!

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I hate the fish and ski's because they dont do either very well. You're also getting to the point where your kids are going to be more into social activities with friends than they are now. I would bet they would be more interested in skiing/tubing/surfing on the weekends with friends than they would a 5am wake up call for fishing. Especially your daughter.

If I'm accurate, then I would go ski boat all day every day. And if you play your cards right and shop wisely, you can get something really nice for under 25k.

I would go inboard, with a tower and speakers. Preferably v-drive. Everyone will say master craft, Malibu, nautique, etc. Those are all good but crazy priced.

Lots of other good options out there if well cared for and low hours.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

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You will have to wait on G650 as he is the only one qualified to make boat recommendations.

Do you fish or are you looking at that style because it is what you had before? Have you had boats as an adult? What type of lake/river are you on as far as rough, fairly smooth, etc? Do you like to cruise, carry many people, just want to pull tubes, etc?

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1 hour ago, Handcruser said:

I hate the fish and ski's because they dont do either very well. You're also getting to the point where your kids are going to be more into social activities with friends than they are now. I would bet they would be more interested in skiing/tubing/surfing on the weekends with friends than they would a 5am wake up call for fishing. Especially your daughter.

If I'm accurate, then I would go ski boat all day every day. And if you play your cards right and shop wisely, you can get something really nice for under 25k.

I would go inboard, with a tower and speakers. Preferably v-drive. Everyone will say master craft, Malibu, nautique, etc. Those are all good but crazy priced.

Lots of other good options out there if well cared for and low hours.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 

You just have to shop, be willing to travel, and not plan on buying new within that budget. I bought an 06 MC X-1 for the number you have above and wouldn’t sell it for close to that if someone laid cash in front of me tomorrow.

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Anyone do a seasonal type membership with Freedom Boat Club or one of the others rather than an annual? I’m trying to get a rough cost to decide whether I just want to buy, but I don’t really want to call them and get on their radar yet. We’ll be in South Florida for 3 months a year going forward so it makes some sense to look into it so we have a variety of boats to use. I’ve also got restrictions on what can be kept at the house so owning may end up being too much trouble and I don’t think the MC is going to be that useful down there.

I’m also curious whether you run into issues using boats back to back days as we’ll be out quite a bit. 

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The deal I have now at Freedom is 3k initial payment to join and 300/month for year round access. I've been on their mailing list for 3 years now so I've seen all their deals and could probably hold out for the same deal in December for 2K membership but I'm ready to go now... It also allows me to get a boat at any other "affiliate" 4 times a year (per location). The real issue for me is availibity...  I don't really want to be on the lakes on the crowded weekends where the idiots take over so a Friday off or a mid- week reservation works for me... Having had several boats (sail and motor) in the past, the price is attractive once I factor in what I used to pay for storage, maintainace and insurance alone...  Unlike a time share, a 60 day notice before the annual renuwal gets me out of the deal...

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6 hours ago, Goofyboy said:

Do you live on a lake or have a lake house? Do your kids like to get up early and go fishing? Does your wife like fishing? If not, go ski boat of some kind. Under $40k and you can get some nice runabouts and some really decent used wakeboard boats.

Good luck!!

We live in The Woodlands. Don’t plan on spending much time on Lake Conroe. Not a fan of it. Would probably be driving to Canyon Lake on weekends we go out. I’m just introducing the kiddos to fishing so yep, it’s probably going to be used for more social/recreational than fishing unfortunately. Would still like to take it out myself fishing occasionally. 

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6 hours ago, Handcruser said:

I hate the fish and ski's because they dont do either very well. You're also getting to the point where your kids are going to be more into social activities with friends than they are now. I would bet they would be more interested in skiing/tubing/surfing on the weekends with friends than they would a 5am wake up call for fishing. Especially your daughter.

If I'm accurate, then I would go ski boat all day every day. And if you play your cards right and shop wisely, you can get something really nice for under 25k.

I would go inboard, with a tower and speakers. Preferably v-drive. Everyone will say master craft, Malibu, nautique, etc. Those are all good but crazy priced.

Lots of other good options out there if well cared for and low hours.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 

This is my main concern about a fish and ski. I’ve read they don’t do either well also. Between this sage take and the other one I quoted, guess I’ll start looking at ski boats. 

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30 minutes ago, lonestarsooner said:

We live in The Woodlands. Don’t plan on spending much time on Lake Conroe. Not a fan of it. Would probably be driving to Canyon Lake on weekends we go out. I’m just introducing the kiddos to fishing so yep, it’s probably going to be used for more social/recreational than fishing unfortunately. Would still like to take it out myself fishing occasionally. 

If you have the room, I would look for a ski boat/cruiser/wakeboard boat that fits your needs and pick up a cheaper boat for fishing. The difference between them has a lot to do with how much you want to spend and your specific needs. I’ve always had a wakeboard boat as it is the most versatile for me because we don’t do much riding around/cruising. We also rarely ever beach it as we use a pontoon as a floating dock on the weekends and we’re not running in water depths that could cause problems for an inboard.

A fish and ski isn’t going to have the space or the layout to get multiple people on board. I see more and more people on the water using bay boats to pull tubes though, so you can always go that route.

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All good points Brew, this last one and your ones above. Between us and the kids and their friends I’m probably looking at carrying at least 8, skiing and pulling tubes. I had that old Glastron I mentioned above for most of my 20s before I passed it along to a younger cousin. Not in a super rush and tend to do my due diligence with big purchases so I’ll start looking around and be patient until the right one comes along. 

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This is my main concern about a fish and ski. I’ve read they don’t do either well also. Between this sage take and the other one I quoted, guess I’ll start looking at ski boats. 


Will your wife ski now? Not to get you further off your fish&ski thing, but you may want to check out wake surfing. I’ve seen numerous guy’s wives who don’t have much interest in skiing or wake boarding anymore get into surfing (its low speed, no 20mph+ face plants, easy on the knees and back). The bad news is boats that will surf cost an additional premium.

You may really like surfing as well, and you don’t need smooth water. If you’re driving 3+ hours to central Texas it’s going to be hard to hit the 7-8am glass.

This is my ‘01 Super Air Nautique 210. A skiable wake unloaded, a great wakeboard wake when loaded, and an ok surf wake when loaded heavy with a wakeshaper. Tons of great family fun.

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The early-mid 2000’s V-drive wake boats are depreciated out. I bought mine 3 years ago for $25k, and like Brew said, I probably could, but wouldn’t, sell it for that same amount now.

Also, as a side note, you might consider a Zup board for the kids:

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I drove 11 hours to pick up my last boat at Texas Marine. The two before that were both bought south of Chicago 8 hours away. Once you narrow down the boat, keep your eyes out for a good buy everywhere.

8 people is a big number especially if you don’t have a house as a base of operations. Are the lakes set up to where you can pull in and out from a good shore spot or are you on the water beginning to end? Water toys and stuff you need take up a lot of space and there is no good way to carry tubes while doing other stuff. You’re going to need to be in the 24 foot range to have the space you need. You can also become really good buddies with someone that has a 28 foot pontoon and eliminate the space problem.

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...Once you narrow down the boat, keep your eyes out for a good buy everywhere.

8 people is a big number especially if you don’t have a house as a base of operations. Are the lakes set up to where you can pull in and out from a good shore spot or are you on the water beginning to end? Water toys and stuff you need take up a lot of space and there is no good way to carry tubes while doing other stuff. You’re going to need to be in the 24 foot range to have the space you need. You can also become really good buddies with someone that has a 28 foot pontoon and eliminate the space problem.

 

This is all completely true, Brew you should charge for all of this info.

 

Two of my friends have early-mid 2000’s Malibu 23 LSVs, which have been great boats, are plenty roomy for 4 adults and 4 kids, and are listed around $30k on BT. Sooner, you might checkout onlyinboards.com as well.

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Another thing to consider is that typically you'll get a better deal on a used boat at the end of the season in the fall, then you will at the beginning of the season in the spring.  Many people that plan to sell want to unload and not have to cover storage during the off-season.  Of course, that means that YOU'LL be the one covering storage in the off-season, so there is that.  

Also, because more people are selling for higher prices in the spring, the selection tends to be better then, compared to the fall.  But, it's something to consider anyway. 

 

Edited by utee94
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19 hours ago, Brew said:

You will have to wait on G650 as he is the only one qualified to make boat recommendations.

 

 

I'm glad you've come to accept that.

 

Seriously though, I think the various lake fellows here are probably correct on the ski boat rec. But carrying 8 is going to be a stretch just though.

 

18 hours ago, Brew said:

Anyone do a seasonal type membership with Freedom Boat Club or one of the others rather than an annual? I’m trying to get a rough cost to decide whether I just want to buy, but I don’t really want to call them and get on their radar yet. We’ll be in South Florida for 3 months a year going forward so it makes some sense to look into it so we have a variety of boats to use. I’ve also got restrictions on what can be kept at the house so owning may end up being too much trouble and I don’t think the MC is going to be that useful down there.

I’m also curious whether you run into issues using boats back to back days as we’ll be out quite a bit. 

 

Where in SFl? Trying to get availability in winter is quite the pain for boat clubs, and the boats frankly suck. Are you trying to ski or fish? Or just cruise?

I wouldn't own anything but a center console in Florida as far as small boats. You can probably get the same boat we have, a Jupiter 31, for reasonable money these days.

 

Edited by G650
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2 hours ago, G650 said:

Where in SFl? Trying to get availability in winter is quite the pain for boat clubs, and the boats frankly suck. Are you trying to ski or fish? Or just cruise?

I wouldn't own anything but a center console in Florida as far as small boats. You can probably get the same boat we have, a Jupiter 31, for reasonable money these days.

 

Sanibel, so it would be out of the Ft Myers club. Fishing and cruising would be the only use there but we will be flipped from most people. We’ll be there from the middle of May until early August going forward as well as from 12/15-1/10 and then a few weeks intermittently through the year. I was looking at buying a 24 foot bay boat but our neighborhood is pretty restrictive. I could probably get away with a 24 foot with no t-top but then I got to looking at the Freedom deal and saw they had a short year option.

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15 minutes ago, Brew said:

Sanibel, so it would be out of the Ft Myers club. Fishing and cruising would be the only use there but we will be flipped from most people. We’ll be there from the middle of May until early August going forward as well as from 12/15-1/10 and then a few weeks intermittently through the year. I was looking at buying a 24 foot bay boat but our neighborhood is pretty restrictive. I could probably get away with a 24 foot with no t-top but then I got to looking at the Freedom deal and saw they had a short year option.

Yeah, in that case it may work for you. Still not going to have great boats, but you should be able to get out whenever you want. I don't think having a T-Top less boat would be all that bad, really you want a flats boat in that area, it's all very shallow, but I don't know how much comfort your family is looking for. A Maverick or Abaco would be perfect. You could up ante a little bit with an Albury Bros and get a bit more boat.

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Bit the bullet and joined the Freedom Boat club on Conroe.  Was pretty impressed with the boats they had at the dock (all in great shape) and only 2 boats were out when we stopped by this afternoon... Wake/surfwake, fishing and pontoon boats... living 30 minutes door to door sealed the deal... now need to buy some tubes and wakesurf boards...

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53 minutes ago, Grimas said:

Bit the bullet and joined the Freedom Boat club on Conroe.  Was pretty impressed with the boats they had at the dock (all in great shape) and only 2 boats were out when we stopped by this afternoon... Wake/surfwake, fishing and pontoon boats... living 30 minutes door to door sealed the deal... now need to buy some tubes and wakesurf boards...

They don't provide the tubes and boards?

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Thats kind of crazy they don't provide the water toys. Our club here in Austin provides all of that, I would hate to have to lug all of that back and forth. 

 

What about life vests?

 

We went out yesterday and it must be because of the end of summer but there was no one on the lake. It was like glass from 3-8.

Edited by LebongJames
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