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Talk to me about boats and boating

Deacon923 said:
My wife grew up on boats and has been kind of agitating to get one for years. I have come around to the point where I am seriously considering it. I have many questions and I'm hoping there are boaters here who can help me.

1. The boat will need to be based at a lake because I've no place to keep it at home and no desire to trailer it. I live in Greensboro. I am looking for good information on slips for rent and marinas who will store and maintain the boat for me.

2. Which lake? Probably boils down to Badin, High Rock, or maybe Smith Mountain. Needs to be close to home so we can get to and from the boat easily, so about an hour or hour and a half from GSO is the max to get to the marina where the boat lives.

3. Dealers that you have had good or bad experiences with.

4. The boat will probably be a moderately priced triple log pontoon suitable for partying, family stuff and possibly towing a skier. Good brands? Brands I should stay away from?

5. Other general tips and advice. I plan to take a Power Squadron or similar boating safety course.
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You really need to come to grips with what parts of your question 4 are most important, because its a rare boat that does all three well.
Second, figure out how much you want (are able) to spend on a boat, insurance, slip, maintenance etc. Then find a boat you estimate will run about half your budget. You will spend the rest on unplanned expenses.
 
lol at owning a boat while living in fucking greensboro. el oh fucking el.
 
Yeah this sounds expensive as hell and a ton of trouble just to use a boat 5 times a year.
 
A boat is only a bad buy if you are a poor. I Had a Mastercraft for the last 10 years and just bought a decked out Air Nautique. This summer is going to be doooooope.

If you do buy a boat keep it dry stored at a marina. They have a set up so all you do is call in advance and your boat is in the water waiting when you arrive. To dry store a ski boat it will set you back 1500 to 2000 a year, not bad

There are only three brands of boat that you should consider. 1.) Nautique 2.) Mastercraft 3.) Malibu. Possibly you could consider an Axis but only if you are really down for a hardcore tow boat without the name brand recognition. Do not buy a pontoon boat they are exclusively for low class rednecks.

From GSO I would recommend keeping it at the north end of Norman.
 
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Its a smaller lake, but have you given any thought to Belews Lake? My mom's family is from Stokesdale, and grew up going to Belews. It's less populated, and the size of the lake in comparison to the steam plant makes the water warmer and more suitable for swimming/skiing earlier and later in the season.

We had a pontoon at our lake house on Lake Norman when I was growing up. It was a standard 2 pontoon boat, and had I believe a 100 hp Mercury outboard on it. It was plenty to pull us kids on skis, knee boards, and tubes. It didn't do that well trying to pull adults thought. We mostly used it to cruise the lake playing oldies and hanging out.

I still have your blue cooler that you left at a tailgate btw. I need to arrange getting it back to you somehow.
 
Buy a Hurricane brand deckboat. I recommend the sundeck outboard, but I go to the coast some. If you'll stayu on a lake, get the inboard/outboard.

Comfy over the wakes, low draft in the water, powerful enough for the skiing. Plus, not too expensive. A used model can be had for under $20k.

SML is pretty awesome in the summer, but COLD from mid-Sept to late May. Don't know the rest.
 
My advice with a pontoon is don't be swayed by the fancy décor. There are some models that look really nice at a boat show, but at the end of the day it is still a fucking pontoon boat. Especially if you keep it outside (and I wouldn't pay to dry dock a pontoon), it is just going to get dirty and mildew and depending on the lake you're probably going to be beaching it and hitting logs and shit so expect that it will get dinged up. Benningtons are nice, but can get pricey. Bentleys are cheap but serve their purpose, and there isn't really too much to a pontoon to go wrong other than the engine. If you put a Yamaha 150 or 200 on it, it should be relatively maintenance free (basically like the Honda Accord of boat engines). And while not ideal, it should have enough power to pull a skier especially if it is a kid. But yeah, with a pontoon I would focus more on the engine than the creature comforts. A boat is only fun when you can use it, so if you don't keep it at the house to work on it then you want one that is going to start every single time without having to worry about it. Nothing worse than getting the wife and kids and all the gear loaded up and the boat won't start.

ETA: and definitely go to a boat show so that you can see lots of makes/models at once. Most dealers don't have a whole lot of showroom inventory, so it can be tough to compare apples to apples at dealerships. You missed the big one in Charlotte about 2 weeks ago, but there might be one in the triad or triangle coming up, I don't know.
 
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I've owned two (small, around 20', center console) boats. I was thrilled the day I sold each. You'll never use a boat half as much as you imagine, and the cost and inconvenience of ownership is astounding.
 
One thing to realize with boats is that, unless you are paying somebody carte blanche to handle everything, you have to enjoy maintaining it. The maintenance (engine repair, winterization replacing seats, cleaning, fixing holes in the cover, working on the trailer, etc.) has to be your hobby. In my experience people who complain about boats are people who normally do not like to do things like that. For people who enjoy that sort of thing in their free time, it is a great hobby because the payoff is fun for everyone.
 
2&2 Slider To Leyritz said:
My advice with a pontoon is don't be swayed by the fancy décor. There are some models that look really nice at a boat show, but at the end of the day it is still a fucking pontoon boat. Especially if you keep it outside (and I wouldn't pay to dry dock a pontoon), it is just going to get dirty and mildew and depending on the lake you're probably going to be beaching it and hitting logs and shit so expect that it will get dinged up. Benningtons are nice, but can get pricey. Bentleys are cheap but serve their purpose, and there isn't really too much to a pontoon to go wrong other than the engine. If you put a Yamaha 150 or 200 on it, it should be relatively maintenance free (basically like the Honda Accord of boat engines). And while not ideal, it should have enough power to pull a skier especially if it is a kid. But yeah, with a pontoon I would focus more on the engine than the creature comforts. A boat is only fun when you can use it, so if you don't keep it at the house to work on it then you want one that is going to start every single time without having to worry about it. Nothing worse than getting the wife and kids and all the gear loaded up and the boat won't start.

ETA: and definitely go to a boat show so that you can see lots of makes/models at once. Most dealers don't have a whole lot of showroom inventory, so it can be tough to compare apples to apples at dealerships. You missed the big one in Charlotte about 2 weeks ago, but there might be one in the triad or triangle coming up, I don't know.
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Thanks for the engine advice. There was a boat show in Greensboro this past weekend, attendance at which led directly to the creation of this thread.
 
2&2 Slider To Leyritz said:
One thing to realize with boats is that, unless you are paying somebody carte blanche to handle everything, you have to enjoy maintaining it. The maintenance (engine repair, winterization replacing seats, cleaning, fixing holes in the cover, working on the trailer, etc.) has to be your hobby. In my experience people who complain about boats are people who normally do not like to do things like that. For people who enjoy that sort of thing in their free time, it is a great hobby because the payoff is fun for everyone.
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Good point here. I was one of the people who did not enjoy such efforts as a hobby and paid someone else to deal with them...also dry storing the boat at a full service marina was over $300 a month. I was also dealing with salt water issues on top of regular maintenance challenges you would deal with in fresh water.
 
Over $300 per month just to store it? Plus all the other costs associated with upkeep? F that.
 
2&2 Slider To Leyritz said:
One thing to realize with boats is that, unless you are paying somebody carte blanche to handle everything, you have to enjoy maintaining it. The maintenance (engine repair, winterization replacing seats, cleaning, fixing holes in the cover, working on the trailer, etc.) has to be your hobby. In my experience people who complain about boats are people who normally do not like to do things like that. For people who enjoy that sort of thing in their free time, it is a great hobby because the payoff is fun for everyone.
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AKA - Your wife wants a boat because she never had to, and never will have to, do all the maintenance. All the fun, none of the mess.
 
there appear to be some options for storage on Baden and north Norman that run between 1500-2400 per year and include a slip and dry storage during the winter, including transport to the lake in spring and from the lake in fall.
 
Deacon923 said:
there appear to be some options for storage on Baden and north Norman that run between 1500-2400 per year and include a slip and dry storage during the winter, including transport to the lake in spring and from the lake in fall.
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North Norman would be nice if you don't mind the drive from Greensboro enough to do it regularly. That lake is just so enormous, there is always something for everyone (from tits to toddlers is the unofficial motto). But that kind of marina set up goes to my earlier point about maintenance. You're going to drive 45 minutes or so to get there, and the boat will have been sitting in the water for 2-3 weeks since you've last been there. You want the easiest rig to uncover, quickly brush off, gas up, load your cooler and floats, and get going. The last thing you want is a surprise maintenance issue after going through all of that effort. So in that regard I would go pontoon over deck boat, definitely a Yamaha engine, and upgrade the cover if possible. Keep one storage compartment designated for sponges and cleaning supplies. If there is a hose and power dockside, get one of those little electric pressure washers to keep there also. Keep an extra battery at the house on a trickle charger, and bring it with you every time in case somebody leaves something on and the primary one is dead when you arrive (I always get nervous when someone uses a car jump box to try to jump a boat, especially in a marina, as there are always a lot of fumes wafting around). And always, always, bring your toolbox with you whenever you drive over, or keep a second one on the boat.
 
Or, just get two boats so you'll have a backup.
 
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