I'm hoping some fellow Audioholics are boaters. I'm in the market for a small, entry-level bowrider type boat like a Bayliner or Galstron in the $10-$15k range. Anyone have suggestions on some new 16-19' boats like the two I mentioned in this price range? Also, I plan to use these in lakes and maybe the Charles River here in Boston.
Massachusetts does not require insurance on boats. Is it still worth purchasing? Also, I do plan to take a state-approved boating safety course.
Any help would be appreciated as I'm a complete newbie
DO NOT buy an old Bayliner. They're crap. The post-'99 models are actually pretty nicely made and when I worked on boats, my biatch was the Bayliner Capri because of how bad they were. Those and Rinker are the ones I hate the most, although a lot of them have their own quality issues.
If someone has a Bayliner with what's called an "L-Drive", run like the wind. Run faster than you ever have, or can imagine. Parts are no longer available (most parts were unavailable over 10 years ago) and it's just an outboard motor with a stern-drive held on with duct tape.
DO NOT buy anything with the 3.0 Liter motor. They're under-powered and if it freezes, the block cracks more easily than most, which is a problem because so many have cracked that there aren't enough good cores to supply the remanufacture/rebuild market and that means the replacement is prohibitively expensive.
The 4.3L, 5.0L and 5.7L are basically the same as what you would find in most GM cars and trucks except that when it's a mid-late '90s/early 2000s Mercruiser, they had a huge problem with run-on. This wasn't an inherent GM issue, it was a Mercruiser problem. One thing that would often occur at the end of the run-on is the motor would actually turn in reverse, resulting in it ingesting water through the exhaust (the vacuum produced by the pistons in what amounts to the intake cycle). Water doesn't compress, so it won't crank when it has water in it and that means the starter will die an untimely death.
Volvo-Penta uses the same motors but they don't have the same problems. I live in Wisconsin and I hate that Mercruiser screwed the pooch so badly and for so long but I had to work on their stuff and it was no picnic.
How will you be using it- skiing, tubing, fishing, just cruising around and being sociable? If you want to ski and you'll pull older kids and larger adults, a jet boat isn't the best choice, even though they have the benefit of no prop to hit logs and rocks with. A larger skier will pull them off-line and it will be harder to get them out of the hole. The 3.0L is also a bad choice for skiing. The 4.3L and larger is fine and like cars, the smaller motor will use less fuel. On a 16'-19' boat, the 4.3L should be fine. The 5.7 isn't even offered by most manufacturers until you get to the 19'.
Large, bulbous hulls are very inefficient and hard to control at low speeds. Rinker and many of the Glastrons tend to wallow, even with a trim tab (if you look at a Mercruiser prop, it's the round, aluminum part just above the blades, usually with a plate that's about 4" diameter). If it has a trim tab and is hard to keep going in a straight line, it's going to be hard to control when docking or loading onto a trailer. This is important.
As far as insurance, so you really want to risk it? Most of the coverage is for liability, just like car insurance. Sure, some boats are damaged by idiots or storms but liability coverage isn't something I would avoid. It's not terribly expensive, either. IIRC, BoatUS is one place to look if your agent doesn't write this kind of coverage.
Look at the Regal 1900 LSR boats in this link and compare with the 176, 1799, 1800. The 1900 has a lot more room. The step hull (you can see this in the notch on the hull) makes a difference in fuel efficiency and power requirements. The 4.3L will do what many need a 5.0L or 5.7L to do, both in getting out of the hole and top speed. They handle well, too. Some, starting in late '99, were available with Volvo-Penta motor/outdrive and that's a good thing.
If you're able to do mechanical repairs, it's possible to get/work out a smokin' deal on something that hasn't been well maintained but still hasn't been rode hard and put away wet. If you really want to have the most peace of mind, get a marine survey, performed by a qualified person. If a dealer does this, they may even offer some kind of warranty.
One thing that will absolutely kill a boat motor is overheating. This is caused by foreign material getting onto the raw water pickup and by people who don't have the raw water impeller replaced when they should. It's not the cheapest repair, but it will avoid a catastrophic failure, or even a fire (IIRC, the flat-rate books indicate about 3 hours of labor- ask them to charge for actual time, not the flat rate).
If this is your first boat, TAKE A BOATER SAFETY COURSE. In some states, this can't be avoided and that's a good thing. Learn the Coast Guard regs and stay current- it will be safer and more fun.
