New boat owner need help

[gckanable]

Hey guys were wondering if you can help. I have never owned a boat and am having some trouble figuring out what to buy. Within my budget of $6,000 dollar or less there are several 18' or smaller open bow ski boats with 3.0. I have a chance to buy a 1993 regal 24' open bow ski boat with a 5.7 Volvo penta motor which is excellent shape considering its age for $4,600. But here my question is this more boat then I need. The one thing that will keep me from using a boat is gas. I am 275 pounds I have a five year old that likes to tube with me so the boat will be pulling about 330 pounds max on a tube. When not pulling a tube there will probably be 3 grown adult and one child on the boat so about 725 pounds of just people. My question would this be too much for a small bow rider to handle with a 3.0 or V6? Would a bigger boat with a V8 be a better choice? By the way none of us ski I may do the knee board thing every now and then.

[seapuppy]

first off...welcome to the zoo...2nd off...regals are nice boat but for your planned usage...I'd say you might wanna look for something with a little bit more freeboard....3rdly....the engine your looking at might be a bit anemic for what your planning to do.....especially with the amount of weight your talking about...lets face it....you got some heft and that little engine as old as it is will not have the amount of torque you need to tow you on a knee board...then what if you find the need to water ski.....
finally...whatever boat you decide...get it surveyed and take a boat safety class...you and your whole family.....70% of all death and injuries are caused by people who have never taken a boat safety course...


SP

[gckanable]

We took the boat out and is preformed great with that amount of weight in it. They put a high torgue dual prop on it. I have no doubts that the boat will do what I need. But from what I gather from your post is that I better stick with the V8's the 4's and even the V6's wont have the amount of power I need correct? And no we wont ski not even sure about knee boarding will have to see both me and my wife have bad knees her from cheerleading mine from climbing poles at work

[Twmcneilly]

Good luck with your search.
Two things come to mind: first is I have never heard anyone wish they had a smaller boat, second, I never heard anybody complain they had too much horsepower

Another consideration I've heard is it's best to buy your second boat first. The theory is everybody outgrows their first boat and you'll probably take a loss on it with the resale, so go ahead step it up by your second boat first and never look back.

Good luck and hope you have a wonderful summer on the water

[seapuppy]

what he said!!..



SP

[TBarCYa]

Not to disagree with the old salt's on the board, but I have a 1800MX with the 3.0L and over the weekend had 4 adults aboard plus gear totaling about 700lbs. I pulled the tube most of the day with anywhere from 200 to 360lbs on the tube and didn't have any problems with the weight although I definitely could tell the difference when the 230lb guy was on the tube as opposed to the two ladies. As far as fuel, on my last tank I did two tubing days and one day with just the fiance and I cruising the river and burned 14 gallons of fuel. Not too bad considering that a tubing day is typically 3-4 hours of pulling the tube up and down the river trying to throw the kids off.

I definitely agree that you will probably never wish for a smaller boat nor will you wish for less horsepower... Until you're at the fuel pump.

It is very nice that you want to buy your own boat. Regal is nice boat but your budget is high so i would suggest you to buy something bigger. You can search on craiglist or boattrader , you will find old as well as new on.


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