What Size Boat?

[BrettA]

Hello fellow boaties,

I am interested in buying my first boat, I have only experience in very sheltered estuary and very close in bay boating in a 12 foot tinny.

I have a young family, myself, my partner and a 7 year old daughter.

The boat is required to be very multi purpose. I would like a fibreglass runabout that can handle the bay on nice days and the estuary on not so nice days.

Some tubing would be required but no water skiing. It would also be very nice if I could get out to at least Peel Island, but Straddie and Moreton would be a great bonus!

My budget is probably about $5000.

I have seen a 4.3m (14 foot) cruisecraft rogue for sale with a 60hp Johnson on it. I haven't yet had a look at it but I was wondering if it would fit the purpose I have described above?

Is it too small?
Is it underpowered?
How many people could it take?

Ideally I would like a new/newish bowrider but would like to start with something cheap to determine if its something I want to invest a lot more money in to.

Cheers,
Brett

[BrettA]

I forgot to mention also, the competition is the Haines v146r and they seem to have donks closer to 100hp on them. What would I be better off with? Should I save some and try for a v16r or similar?

[ozscott]

I used to have a V163/16C with a 2000 60hp Merc 2 stroke. I used to take it out around the bay, but really shes a bit tender when stationery for my liking. She handled chop nicely but anything around a metre and she was ploughing the nose a bit. Great boats, but for the bay, particularly now with 3 kids I like a bit more weight, length, width and freeboard hence the 20 odd foot of Vagabond. Having said that as long as you dont mind a bit of banging and not a lot of freeboard they are really tidy machines with a great hull - just dont overpower it. the 60 was a great compromise on power v weight. Anything over and you add significant weight.

Cheers

[davez104]

Can't comment on the rogue, as I know bugger all about it, but you won't go far wrong with the Haines. The 146 won't really need 100 horses though, I reckon a 70 would be stacks. Not real sure how far out the islands you are talking about are, but I would have no hesitation in going 20-30 kms offshore in one up here, on a good day, but we do have plenty of islands for protection.

Try to track down a copy of Jeff Websters magazine "second hand boat workshop" It has a list of many older boats and there good points and bad points. Might give you a better idea of what you need.

Dave.