bigtwinhog wrote:
Greetings, am considering a little 19ft stingray CS (2001) as starter
boat for use around NC coastline/intercoastal around Willmington. I
have avoided considering inboards focusing on outboards due to input
from all my hard core off shore fishing friends who swear by outboards,
but for a starter boat I hope to keep 1-2 years then trade up, will
this be a bad choice? Any input greatly appreciated.

Bigtwinhog

Two comments:

1)
I doubt that 19 ft boat is a true inboard, (with a prop shaft)- it's
more likely a sterndrive (or "outdrive") configuration. Given the
amount of problems commonly associated with the drive units, I think
that an outboard might be a better choice for any very small boat
designed and configured to be rigged sensibly with an outboard.

2) How much of a stretch is it to get to the boat you really want? I
always get concerned when I hear a new boater talk about getting a boat
that he or she acknowledges doesn't fit their needs or desires on the
very first day of ownership. That's a lot like reasoning,
"I need a four door sedan to take my family on of five on vacation to
Yellowstone, but since we haven't owned a motor vehicle before I think
we should start with a Moped."

Even the math doesn't pencil, a lot of times. If you figure that you
are very likely to lose
at least a few thousand at resale or trade in time (even on an
inexpensive boat) and that you will be dumping money into the "wrong"
boat for maintenance, repairs, insurance, fuel, etc....

My advice would be:
Take the money you're going to lose buying and selling the "wrong" or
"get by" boat, add it to what you'd spend for the 19 footer that you
already know isn't the boat you ultimately want to own, and see if that
isn't enough to get something that you don't see yourself trying to
trade out of in 2007 or 2008.

Best of luck.

The most important thing is just being on the water. Just as there's no
single absolutely and exculsively "right" way to go boating, there are
darn few "wrong" ways to go about it as long as the vessel is safe,
seaworthy, and appropriately selected for conditions.