Hi there,
My wife and I need a bit of advice on a boat we're
looking to purchase.

I grew up around boats back in my home country of Australia, and
having lived in Florida for the last seven years I decided that it was
high time for my young kids to start building up similar great
memories of days out on the water. To this end my wife and I have been
looking at getting either a cuddy or a small cruiser, and as my wife
seems to be leaning towards wanting a bit of space below decks we've
been leaning more towards the latter, in particular something in th
24' - 25' range.

Of our stated aims the first to come to mind was that we wanted to
keep the width of the boat we buy within the legal Florida limit of a
8' 6" beam to make it less of a hassle transporting the boat around
without a need for permits.

Second was the weight concerns. I have a large Dodge 1500 RAM
conversion van with the bigger V8 under the hood, so it can pull a
decent weight, but I didn't want to overload the vehicle with too big
a boat/trailer combination. A friend who's a pro fisherman with a big
boat of his own suggested that I stick to a maximum of 5,000lb.

So with all that said and done we began looking around a few weeks ago
at what was on offer within our tight budget, and came up with some
interesting possibilities, then a couple of days ago an interesting
deal came our way that on the surface seems like a good buy but flies
in the face of the very guidelines we set down for ourselves. It's a
Carver 1989 Santiago, a 27' footer with a 10' beam and a dry weight
nudging up to 7,000lb! We wouldn't be considering it except for the
fact that it's available t an excellent price and is in pretty decent
shape for its age.

The two questions that spring to mind of course are to do with the
beam and the weight. I've read plenty of views on various forums of
people claiming they tow boats over the 8' 6" limit here in Florida
without a permit and never get pulled over, which is all well and good
on the surface of it, but what happens if you have an accident? If
someone rear ends you, or sideswipes the trailer and/or boat, I'd
think your insurance company would bail out on you. I don't mind
legally covering myself from this angle by getting a permit every
weekend that we take the boat out - as much of a pain as that might be
- but can anyone tell me how much they cost in Florida, and whether
I'd have to have a vehicle following behind with flashers for a wide
load? If the latter applies it just wouldn't be worth the hassle.

Secondly, is the weight just too much for my van to deal with at a
boat ramp? As we live in Central Florida we don't have far to go to
reach the water from our place. It's 40 miles to the Atlantic, 70
miles to the gulf, and only 20 odd miles to Lake Monroe and its access
to the St. Johns river/Intracoastal waterway. So it's not like we have
huge distances to take the boat for outings. But it's the concern
about whether the van and it's lack of four-wheel drive has enough
grunt and strength in the auto transmission to pull the boat out of
the water that has me concerned.

The boat may just be too big for us to really consider, but I just
wanted to get some opinions on the matter before we decide to turn our
backs on the deal.

Thanks