On Wed, 03 Mar 2004 22:50:44 +0000, pmiller wrote:

I have a question for this group, The past couple years I have been looking to
buy a small cruiser The boat I have in mind is a Wellcraft St Tropez 32' Here is
my question ... I have never owned a boat before... Some of my friends
are saying I am crazy to buy a boat that size for my first boat.

I haven't found that bigger boats are necessarily harder to handle. But a few
Big Points:
1. If you hit something with a Big Boat, damage (to it and to what you're
hitting) is Expensive.
2. Bigger boats typically have More Stuff to take care of: Pressure potable
water (hot and cold), shore power, heater or A/C, etc.
3. Twin engines add to the complicated mix

and most important:
4. Do you want to spent that much money on your first boat? It's VERY rare that
you "keep" your first boat. It may be too small, or too big. You might find
you'd prefer a trawler, or a skiboat, or even a sailboat! Or, you might find you
don't like boating after all, and it sits at the moorage eating money.

Try a smaller, preferably used boat first.

Lloyd Sumpter
"Far Cove" Catalina 36

Paul,

I just bought a Sea Ray 268 Sundancer and it's plenty big, but it has
really taken some getting used to. My first boat was a 20 Maxum
bowrider that handled like a breeze after two or three trips out. Not
much in rough water, but easy to dock and would turn on a dime. I
think that 32 feet would be even toughter than the 27 feet I have now,
so might want to consider 20 to 23 feet for your first whack at it.
What ever you do, take at least on boating course, go slow and be
safe.

Good Luck!