Gould 0738 wrote:

Larry, many more people boat today than in the days of yesteryear. One of
the
reasons that is true is because boat prices, relatiely speaking, are
reasonable
in comparison to income. If all that were available was the Hatt-level
quality
you swoon over, far fewer people would be boating.

Is a "crappy" Sea Ray that gives twenty years of useful service before it's
ready to be scrap really that bad of a product? It certainly isn't a
Hattaras,
but a comparable Hattaras might cost twice as much, if Hattaras made a
competing product to traditional Hattaras standards. And far fewer people
would buy it.

Sometimes the mark of a good product is not that it lasts forever. A product
can also be good for delivering functionaliy for less money.


-- Rich Stern
www.nitroowners.com - The Nitro and Tracker Owners Web Site
www.mypontoon.com - The Pontoon Boat Web Site
www.fishingreportdatabase.com - The Fishing Report Database
www.mysporttrac.com - The Sport Trac Web Site


One of life's little comedies: Many people who drive run-of-the-mill mass
produced automobiles, live in pre fab houses in cul-de-sacs, buy their clothes
and furnishings from Sears, drink cheap beer, and go "out to dinner" at Pizza
Palace will insist they wouldn't be caught in anything except the world's most
perfect and pristine boat.

This group is an exception, since most folks here have a boat, but all too
often the
guy who won't consider anything except
the top boat from the top layer in the top drawer uses that as an excuse for
not actually having a boat at all. "You've got a boat, and I don't. But your
boat is a POS!
My boat doesn't exist, (and years have gone by while I've putzed around with
the economics of trying to afford one), but when (and if) I finally get one,
it will be a fine, handcrafted work of art, not some mass produced hunka junk
like that major brand name you own (and enjoy). Even though I'm only going to
boat in the summer months, on a medium size freshwater lake, and the highest
wind ever recorded in the months of June, July, and August in my area was 20
knots, you can bet your bottom dollar I won't settle for a boat that won't
stand up to a hurricane well offshore in the Atlantic! Anything less is a POS!"

A lot or "Brand X is always crap" comments are like that old song "row, row,
row your boat." It hangs around from generation to generation, and nobody takes
it too seriously. It's easy to learn and quickly repeated, and gives you
something to vocalize over if you haven't got any idea how to actually sing.


Aside from issues of taste or style, your boat purchase decision should
be a result of an examination of your financial condition, your intended
use, and the waters where you intend to use the boat.

If you're an inland lake boater and the waters you frequent are not
large or challenging, almost any boat will do. You certainly don't need
an ocean-capable salt water boat to ply the waters of Lake Lanier. Even
a small Bayliner will serve you well there. If you're a skinny water
fisherman working the ICW and its creeks between the Georgia border and
down the east coast of Florida, your best choice might well be a flat
bottomed skiff with not much freeboard. You don't want your boat blown
around on the creeks while you're trying to sneak up on some finned
critters...

I see some odd choices of boat out on Chesapeake Bay, including some
huge sportfishers that never see the ocean and some little aluminum
punts that look as if a wake from a jetski might swamp them. I can't
figure out why anyone would go out on the Bay in boats as small as some
I see.

Heck, if you live in Greater Wichita, Kansas, and do most of your
boating vicariously from whatever magazines you pick out at the barber
shop, you don't need any boat.





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