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Buying my 1st boat


BadgerBoater55

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Hey everyone!

I am fairly new to this forum, but I have always wanted to get my own boat. I am fresh out of college and that means I finally have to get my own as opposed to friends and family. The purchase is probably 4-6 months from now so I have time to look around and see my options. I'm not huge into wakeboarding anymore, but wakesurfing is a lot of fun and less taxing on my ankle that I broke a couple years back.

Looking for good suggestions on a first boat, obviously would love to hop into a brand new 2016 but that is not a financially responsible decision right now...

Any tips on how you have bought/sold boats in the past to ensure you are getting a good deal and minimizing depreciation loss. Model suggestions would be great as well!

Thanks!

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I see we share a birthday after looking at your profile... Discount? haha

Interesting. It would be a fair deal for what's been a great boat, has every upgrade I could think of doing. But I want a deep V hull so it's time to let her go.

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My boat would be a great cheap first boat… its the same SV23 Wake hull as the Wakesetter up till 2005 when they changed to the V25 Wake. I am with racer808… I would love to find a deep V!

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Pick a particular model and then look at nada for a particular year and then look at each previous years values as well for about 5 to 10 years. That will give you some idea of how they lose value. You need a budget as well. Make sure you have all your other needs met first like no student loans, no cc balances, no car loans, have a place to live, savings and a job.

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Well I made it a goal to buy a boat ASAP and that turned out to be just under 3 years after graduation... because I first had to buy a car that could tow said future boat, pay off student loans, etc. Until then, I used the 'friends and family boats' option. I'll just assume you're loaded rather than broke... because if you're broke, you probably just wanna listen to the other's advice. Boats are expensive!!!

I can't really tell what your situation is, but assuming you're handy with tools, don't care what it looks like and want a party/surf boat... Anything with the V25 hull would probably be sweet.

http://www.boattrader.com/listing/2005-Malibu-VLX-WAKE-SETTER-102534389

Maybe offer them $20k - spend $1k on having someone local check it out and having it shipped back to WI - spend $1k on random repairs that are bound to be necessary on arrival and another $2k to add a ton of ballast. There is a $24k boat for surfing! Sweeeeeet!

Its ugly though - and a new sound system + interior / carpet + a boat wrap would probably end up totaling closer to $35k when all is said and done, so either skip all that junk and never change any of it or just find a different boat.

I would just save my $$ and look for a better boat that I can pay for in cash... but if you want a cheap boat thats good for partying and throwing a huge wave, that one looks like a start. (Although I see a ton of red flags in that ad alone, so who knows.)

Edited by jonredcorn
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:welcome:

I see you are in WI across the pond from me. Buying 4-6 months from now will be in the dead of winter and hard to get a good test of the boat if you are buying in the Midwest. I would wait until spring if you are going to buy for the 2016 season ... even though prices do rise a bit in the spring.

Just my 2 pennies worth.

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I'm gonna go against the first reply and say it would be fine to finance a boat depending on what you have for existing debt. First off, financing a boat is quite a bit different than say credit card debt. While tradition classifies it as a depreciating asset, I have seen that the used boat values have been remarkably stable and even appreciated in the case of my 05. It is also secured. Couple that with a simple interest loan at a very low rate (money is still really cheap) you could do worse than financing it. I know there are a lot that say save up and buy it... you can do that, if you want to have one of these boats 15-20 years from now. Financing has always worked for me in the past as well because i know I am not going to be in this same boat even 5 years from now. You get into trouble, lose your job, etc, it would be very easy to get out of it. I found that a well kept boat for a decent deal moved quickly (within a couple months). Just have to decide your ability to take on that payment. I mean it may have been doable in previous years, even a necessity when interest rates were hitting 20% but just imagine if somebody applied that logic to a house. It is nearly impossible to buy a house these days without a mortgage. Even if I had all the money to pay off my mortgage, I wouldn't because the money earns more in the market on average than I would save by paying off my sub 4% mortgage or boat payment.

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Well I made it a goal to buy a boat ASAP and that turned out to be just under 3 years after graduation... because I first had to buy a car that could tow said future boat, pay off student loans, etc. Until then, I used the 'friends and family boats' option. I'll just assume you're loaded rather than broke... because if you're broke, you probably just wanna listen to the other's advice. Boats are expensive!!!

I can't really tell what your situation is, but assuming you're handy with tools, don't care what it looks like and want a party/surf boat... Anything with the V25 hull would probably be sweet.

http://www.boattrader.com/listing/2005-Malibu-VLX-WAKE-SETTER-102534389

Maybe offer them $20k - spend $1k on having someone local check it out and having it shipped back to WI - spend $1k on random repairs that are bound to be necessary on arrival and another $2k to add a ton of ballast. There is a $24k boat for surfing! Sweeeeeet!

Its ugly though - and a new sound system + interior / carpet + a boat wrap would probably end up totaling closer to $35k when all is said and done, so either skip all that junk and never change any of it or just find a different boat.

I would just save my $$ and look for a better boat that I can pay for in cash... but if you want a cheap boat thats good for partying and throwing a huge wave, that one looks like a start. (Although I see a ton of red flags in that ad alone, so who knows.)

Thanks for all of the input guys... Little on my situation. No student loans, no CC debt, and a solid and secure job. I guess I would like to keep it under $20k to start.

It sounds like you probably had a better idea of waiting a few years to get situated. I am not broke, but not "loaded" either. Has anyone on here had any experience "co-owning" a boat with anyone? That might be a more logical option at this time if people have had a good experience with that..

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I bought my boat the spring I graduated. No regrets. Had a 6 year loan on it and paid it off early. Get it now while you are young and can enjoy it. You will never have a better time in your life for watersports.

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Thanks for all of the input guys... Little on my situation. No student loans, no CC debt, and a solid and secure job. I guess I would like to keep it under $20k to start.

It sounds like you probably had a better idea of waiting a few years to get situated. I am not broke, but not "loaded" either. Has anyone on here had any experience "co-owning" a boat with anyone? That might be a more logical option at this time if people have had a good experience with that..

OK, now we have a budget. Let me find you a 35K boat you might like ;)

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You live in Madison, get some more wake surfing friends. :) They are out there.

Check with Redline and Rich's BoardSports for hooking with others. There are others from the Madison area on here too. Don't know if they surf/wakeboard.

I don't use foreign objects on my feet much.

Other than that can't help you much with surfing boats. But many others can.

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I bought my boat the spring I graduated. No regrets. Had a 6 year loan on it and paid it off early. Get it now while you are young and can enjoy it. You will never have a better time in your life for watersports.

If you don't mind elaborating... What boat did you buy and how much was it? Just to get an idea of what you started out with.

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If you don't mind elaborating... What boat did you buy and how much was it? Just to get an idea of what you started out with.

In 2004 I bought a 98 Sportster. The boat was 14k. I added a tower, wedge & perfect pass for about 5k as soon as I got it.

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A TMC member sent me a private message with his case, and I think he solved my questions!

Thank you to everyone for your help! Probably just going to wait a year or two and get involved with the wake community in Madison for the time being!

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if you want to surf and you want to spend less than $20K... I'm going to go ahead and say you shouldn't be looking at malibus. I'd be looking for a tige 21v or 22v or a centurion avalanche (which will likely be more like mid 20s at the cheapest but a very good surf boat). I love me some malibu but being realistic all you'd be able to find would be an early 00's vlx which surfs "ok" at best, and that's running it very heavy (in a way that a person might consider dangerous).

EDIT: Example: http://nh.craigslist.org/boa/5154984882.html

Edited by shawndoggy
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Good plan, I suggest buying a house first. It will help a lot with financing if you want a more expensive boat. nothing looks worse than a man living with his parents, who owns a boat. Lol

HA. I make good enough money were a boat would be feasible and I already have my own place... But good laughs!

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