Gould,
I'm looking to buy a 85 to 89 30 foot Sea Ray Weekender 300. I friend
has an 86 Sea Ray Sundancer 300 which is similar. I like the boat, how it
handles, the ride in a chop and the living accommodations. I wouldn't be as
satisfied in a smaller boat. Now the last boat I owned was an 18 foot
aluminum runabout. At speed it preferred to fly as opposed to go through the
water. :-)
With this new boat it'll be just like dating. Take it slow and easy, get
to learn each other. Show a lot of respect. Well it probably works better
with boats than it does with woman. :-)
Paul

"Gould 0738" wrote in message
...
They know what
they like, they know what they think they will need and they know what
appeals to them. But they know very little about boats and boating,
what's important, and what's not. They frequently find themselves a
year or two later with a boat that does not suit their needs.


A lot of boaters end up with a boat that proves to be less than ideal
after a
season or two.

I still bristle at the (very common) suggestion that a prospective boater
who
has done enough considering and evaluating to know he or she is looking
for the
characteristics commonly associated with a 30-foot express cruiser should,
instead, buy a 20-foot runabout. That removes ending up with the "wrong"
boat
from a group of possibilities and promotes it to an absolute certainty.

More people probably get out of boating because they start off with a boat
that
is too small, too light, (and powered by a worn out, cantankerous, single
gasoline engine) than leave the pastime because they bought a boat that
was of
adequate size and displacement for their intended purposes.