SoothingBlue
New Member
- Aug 25, 2014
- 10
- Boat Info
- 1987 SeaRay 230CC
Towed with 2003 Chevy Avalanche 1500 4x4
- Engines
- 5.7L (Chevy 350) Mercruiser 260
We've had "Soothing Blue" for about 2 years now - an '87 Sea Ray 230CC. It's been a great boat for us, and for what we do at the moment which is spend afternoons at the lake, eat dinner, pull the tube around, sometimes skiers. Lots of great memories in the 2 years we've had it.
We're talking about wanting to expand our horizons and get a boat that we could take a short (~1 week) vacation on and then also overnights at the lake when so desired. We're a family of 5 (three small kids - oldest turns 4 in October). The idea would be a boat that we could either take down the river (and then probably go back to retrieve) or tow someplace else like the Gulf and go travel around there, then tow back. We live in the Kansas City area, so we're right on the Missouri.
Constraints:
- Roughly $15k budget (some work required is fine, just depends on what exactly). This could go up a bit for the right boat, but probably not much at this point
- Must be trailerable without oversize permits by a 3/4 or 1-ton truck (we currently have a 1/2-ton that's marginal as-is, and would be upgrading as part of the deal)
- Ability to sleep the 5 of us in the cabin
Heat/AC would be nice, but it looks like not something that we'd get in boats of this range. In looking around, the mid 90s Sundancer 270s appeal to me. I generally like their layout and they meet the 8'6" beam requirement for not needing an oversize load. I wouldn't mind pushing my luck with a 9' beam boat, but not anything bigger. The late 80s Sundancer 268 is another option (and cheaper, always a plus), but I don't like the deck layout on those, I'd consider it a downgrade vs. our current deck setup.
Long term, we're considering doing "The Great Loop", but that is years off (if it ever happens) and we'd expect that to be a different boat, purchased specifically with the intent of longer term travel. The idea with this boat upgrade would be to "test the waters" before doing the loop, and get to do some more interesting vacations that would involve going places in a 1-2 week timeframe.
I'm also not necessarily tied to Sea Rays, but we've really loved ours thus far and browsing BoatTrader I like what I see of them. I don't know enough about the other boat brands to know what to consider, we more or less lucked out when we bought this boat initially.
A similar question would be if anyone has recommendations on destinations. The nice part of going down the Missouri river is it's right here, but it looks like there's a whole lot of nothing between here and St. Louis. Going to the Gulf sounds appealing, start off in Galveston (closest Gulf port to us) and then could either head east or west/south along the coast.
Thanks for any thoughts!
We're talking about wanting to expand our horizons and get a boat that we could take a short (~1 week) vacation on and then also overnights at the lake when so desired. We're a family of 5 (three small kids - oldest turns 4 in October). The idea would be a boat that we could either take down the river (and then probably go back to retrieve) or tow someplace else like the Gulf and go travel around there, then tow back. We live in the Kansas City area, so we're right on the Missouri.
Constraints:
- Roughly $15k budget (some work required is fine, just depends on what exactly). This could go up a bit for the right boat, but probably not much at this point
- Must be trailerable without oversize permits by a 3/4 or 1-ton truck (we currently have a 1/2-ton that's marginal as-is, and would be upgrading as part of the deal)
- Ability to sleep the 5 of us in the cabin
Heat/AC would be nice, but it looks like not something that we'd get in boats of this range. In looking around, the mid 90s Sundancer 270s appeal to me. I generally like their layout and they meet the 8'6" beam requirement for not needing an oversize load. I wouldn't mind pushing my luck with a 9' beam boat, but not anything bigger. The late 80s Sundancer 268 is another option (and cheaper, always a plus), but I don't like the deck layout on those, I'd consider it a downgrade vs. our current deck setup.
Long term, we're considering doing "The Great Loop", but that is years off (if it ever happens) and we'd expect that to be a different boat, purchased specifically with the intent of longer term travel. The idea with this boat upgrade would be to "test the waters" before doing the loop, and get to do some more interesting vacations that would involve going places in a 1-2 week timeframe.
I'm also not necessarily tied to Sea Rays, but we've really loved ours thus far and browsing BoatTrader I like what I see of them. I don't know enough about the other boat brands to know what to consider, we more or less lucked out when we bought this boat initially.
A similar question would be if anyone has recommendations on destinations. The nice part of going down the Missouri river is it's right here, but it looks like there's a whole lot of nothing between here and St. Louis. Going to the Gulf sounds appealing, start off in Galveston (closest Gulf port to us) and then could either head east or west/south along the coast.
Thanks for any thoughts!