I've always thought highly of Chris Craft but right now I'm hearing dealers are having a hard time geting paid for warranty work on top of other scary things. Wonder if they'll be able to bounce back.

The one option the Cobalt doesn't have, is the "nameplate delete". That would save about $8-$12k depeniding on the boat. They are proud of the name but it's a sweet boat.

I've demo'd a Sea Ray 210 Sundeck. I'm setting up a demo in a Crownline 230BR. I never thoguht buying a boat would be this involved, but I guess I'm glad. Just when I'm ready to say "yes", I learn something else that muddies up the decision.

The one thing that bites about it is, I started out thinking that for <$10k I'd buy a preowned boat to tinker with, and now I'm looking into custom ordering a boat in the close to $40k range. And I thought this site was expensive.

 

Family Ride,

What did you think on the Searay 210? That is the boat I've been day dreaming about. I've never seen one in person. Are they roomie? How was the power? Which engine did you test? How much $$? Thanks a bunch.

 

V10 Man,

It's a great boat. The one I took out was a 240HP 5.0ltr EFI with the Alpha I. Planed up quick and smooth. For a 21' boat, it handles well too. It's built on the same hull as their bow rider so it handles, cuts, hole shots just like a sport boat, not a deck boat. And yes, it's very roomy. You can get one of 2 seating arrangements and although I like to captains chairs, the port side lounger is nice and give you even more storage.

The head probably doesn't get used much in these so it makes a great strorage closet that you can clean out and take care of mother natures biz if you need to.

I rode in the bow, which is large and very comfortable and it's great. Not wet at all and you can feel safe. The fore and aft tables are a nice touch too.

New 2001 equipped with that engine will list at about $36.5. You can add some more options and crank it up. I've been quoted just under $34k so far. I'm looking harder at the 240 now too. I'd feel better about taking it out on a larger lake, and it's got room for about 20 people (well it seems) but it lists closer to the mid $40's. I'm also looking at a 2002 Crownline 230BR. Hopfully will demo one in the next week. It's a much larger boat than the 210 but it has a lot of the same features but in a bow rider (walk through transom, head, serving area, pressurized water system etc.).

Not sure where you are, but they also have a preowned 2000 model that's clean for upper $20's equipped the same. It's the one we took out. If I come to my senses, I may end up buying that one.

I've gotten boat fever bad.

 

I recently bought an 18' Caravelle bowrider (www.caravelleboats.com) and am very pleased with it.

One thing that's often lost in measuring a boat is its beam (width). I also looked at an 18' Chapparal but for the same length it was 10 inches narrower.

I've had several people say that my boat felt much larger once they got in it, and I attribute that to the little extra width they crammed into my particular model.

It came with a Volvo Penta 190 hp I/O 4.3l V6 engine out the door at just over 16k brand new.

 

Doug you're right about beam and that's great to get that wide in an 18'.

I'm starting to get a little excited as I get closer to having a boat but i'm back and forth on 2 boats. I loked at Cobalt today and wow, they really are nice, but not so much so that I can see the $20k differecne. Yes, $20k. Of course the actual seling price wouldn't be that much more but I'm comparing list to list.

Right now the Sea Ray seems to fit our needs, I mean wants, (afterall a boat doesn't fill a need unless you're a fisherman) better. Hears a pic of what we've landed on.



It'll give the Expy a towing challange too! Depending on which of 2 of them we choose, weight with fuel on a trailer would be in the 6500# range! I htink my sig proves it's fate, the Expy has been modded to tow this baby!

 

http://www.thehulltruth.com/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi?

http://www.floridasportsman.com/cgi-local/Ultimate.cgi

These are two great sites.

 

The two most joyous days in a boat owner's life are the day he buys it and the day he sells it.

"A boat is a hole in the water, lined with fiberglass, that you throw money into."

17.5 Glastron runabout, 140 HP Johnson, ski tow... anybody wanna buy it?

 

Looks like you'll have plenty of room in that. Where are you gonna keep that boat? I don't think it will fit in a garage As far as towing it, I'd use a weight distributing hitch setup. You might want to put on a bigger fan cooled tranny cooler like NEAL THE HP FREAK has. You'll be OK at #6500 I would think, maybe just a little slow heheh.

Beastrider: Tell me about it. Engine problems, leaking gas, screwed up trailer wiring, throttle cable, trailer bearings, the cover tearing up. And that's with our new one. You don't wanna know about the old boat

 

My Expy passed the test with flying colors and clinched the deal on the new boat!

At about 7200 pounds, my Expy had absolutly no problem with it. Pulling it out of the water, up and down hills, bumpy curvy roads, you name it. Almost like it wasn't even there. The only time she struggled was when I would idle into a hill, then try to accelerate up; she did it, but not without some work! She made me proud! Now I can get the boat and wil be picking it up in the next week...........

 

My cooler is packed. When is the free ride?? Congrats!!

 

Oh man. I didn't realize your Expy is a 4x2. I sure hope the ramps you are going to use are well maintained. If they're slippery and steep, you are gonna have a lot of "fun" getting a load that weight up and down the ramp.

A couple of things to expect. When backing down the ramp, your front wheels will tend to lock up. When they do, you won't have any steering control, so be prepared for that. When pulling up the ramp, expect the rear wheels to spin.

 

3.55 LS

The family I'm buying the boat from has an identical Expy to mine, but in 4x4. They've never "slipped" even with theirs not using 4wd. If I didn't have the LS it would be a joke. I've compared mine to one with an open rear on a very slick road. "I was following him". I couldn't get mine to spin, and he couldn't keep his from spinning.

When I tested, the ramp is fairly steep and was soked, of course I was down in the water too. No problem. I could see the lock up backing, but a 4x4 would do the same since you're still dragging the frint end.

I'm getting a little anxious now....

 

In actual practice, when in 4x4 mode, all 4 (actually 3) wheels roll and stop at the same time since the front and rear axles are locked together via the transfer case. In other words, if you lost all your braking power to one axle, you'd still have limited braking power from the other axle thru the transfer case.

I've seen many many many 4x2 vehicles go sliding down the ramps out of control when they lock up their front wheels and the rear wheels (usually drums that don't work well in reverse anyway) keep rolling down the ramp. You also gotta remember that the center of gravity moves towards the rear of the tow vehicle on boat ramps which increases the chances of locking up the front wheels.

I'm not saying that's gonna happen to you, but just trying to clue you in to a potential problem.

 

I never had any problems with my F150 or my F250 pulling up the ramp. Easy throttle seems to be the best answer.

 

Well I picked up my new boat today. I posted in Expeditions and Navigators under "My Expy Towed Like a Big Dog". The results of towing her ack about 120 miles were outstanding!!!