Ideas for a good coastal boat ?

[SummerBreeze]

My wife and I love our SCR3200 and have no plans to sell her anytime soon. However, we have been offered, by friends with big trailers, to bring her down to the coast to travel the ICW from the Charleston area. I'm not big on bringing the 3200 into salt/brackish water...esp with the stern drives and the open cooling systems.

What I'd like to do is buy a separate boat and keep it in dry storage in the Charleston area, and use it primarily for ICW/Ocean use a few months out of the year.

I've looked at the Bayliner 2859 and that's a nice idea, but I'd like to hear your ideas for other makes/models that might work well for this purpose.

Specs....

1. Inboard or V drives
2. 28-36' with cabin arrangement (berth, galley, head, AC)
3. Hard top or flybridge with possible second helm inside salon.
4. 1990-present. Doesn't need to be new...lol...I cant afford new.

Thanks in advance for your ideas...
Jeff

[Cymru]

How about a 2900SCR Jeff? I have one in Atlanta looking to upgrade. ;-)

[SummerBreeze]

I'm guessing you didn't look at the specs I needed to stay within...last I checked 2900SCR had stern drives.

[seapuppy]

well...the 2859 is a nice boat for sure but comes with i/o drive....if you went with the 2900..it will also have an i/o drive....but overall...for the boat size your looking at...an i/o isn't a bad option....

it really depends on how much time your going to spend on it at each setting...are you going to spend ..say 2 mos onboard??..are you going to fish alot???.....how fast do you want to go.....do you plan on any blue watering....or just staying in the loop....
so..the options are million to 1.....and there are way many more east coast boat builders out there than out here on the west.....
then I'd go with a min. of 32 ft...35-40 would be better.....but that's just me...


SP

[ed & inge]

if you like sitting or lying in the sun on the 2859, there's not realy much place on that boat to do.....it has no chairs or a couch/bench to sit and relax on.....if you want to enjoy the sun while making a trip.....your always steering in the shadow under a roof.......and the shape of the boat is a little bit angular and old fashion....(but because of that a lot of place to live on at the inside)

but if you don't care about all these things......it's a nice boat.....

greatz, ed

[Cymru]

Duh! ;-)

Originally Posted by SummerBreeze

I'm guessing you didn't look at the specs I needed to stay within...last I checked 2900SCR had stern drives.

[shrew]

When you say Dry Storage, is that Rack Storage? In other words do they haul and launch your boat whenever you want to use it? That is not so bad on the engine and drives, especially if you have a closed cooling system.