Wakeboard boat or runabout for the sea?

[saltwater_cowboy]

You'll most likely find you do the same amount of fuel in a 5.7 shaft drive as a 4.3 stern drive, well at wakeboard speeds anyhow so its a no brainer on the engine front.

The 04 avalanche looks sweet. Bet those side swipe exhausts sound nice. You can't get CE approval on 06 boats imported with them so new boats either won't have them or they will have to be retro fitted.

The trailer you could sell but I don't think a US (not UK legal) painted trailer is going to be that sought after. I have the saem on my boat and will be replacing it with a UK galv'ed one in the future. If the trailer has seen some saltwater then it will be rusting from the inside out and you can expect another 3-4 years serviceability from it.

Resale, well trying to sell it without a trailer will be tricky. Most people will have to budget £2k for a trailer on top of the price. Centurian are not as well known as MC or CC but if your a serious player (you should be if your in the market for a vdrive wakeboat) then it doesn't take much googling to find out they are decent boats.

If its been standing it shouldn't be an issue as long as it was laid up correctly. Should be a reason to get in there and bid low. I'd go in with an offer of 26, maybe 25k and see what reaction it gets.

Must admit its a very sweet ride.

[1080]

I reckon resale will defo be a problem - epecially with the colour

the 03 on the azure site looks nice - and is cheaper - just get them to lower the price and give you a good warranty.

A white boat will always sell more easily than a cloured one - just look at all the boat sale sites


Keep on lookin cause thats as much fun as actually buying the thing

Ps

If it where my money in your postion I would go for a searay - 20' + with a tower and P/pass - They depreciate fairly slowly, are well built and kick out a decent wake.

[j3r3m7]

It's interesting how I'm finding my choices going now that I'm thinking more seriously about it, and climbing in and out of lots of different boats.

After looking at the runabouts in the flesh I'm finding that they don't really satisfy my need for the wakeboarding features (built in ballast, perfect pass, decent tower, sound system) that really make the difference when out boarding. Also, I actually like the rather flambouyant colours, styling and graphics that make a purpose build wake boat look mean.

My brain is whispering easy-to-sell runabout, my heart is countering loudly with 'mmmmm, wakeboard boat'.

I've pretty much made my general boat style decision now , to go for a sub 30k priced wakeboard boat that has some good salt water features (e.g. a 2 yr old demo boat that the dealer needs to shift ;-).

If I can't find a suitable wake boat then I'll move onto suitable runabouts knowing that at least I tried to get the boat I really want ;-)

On the searay front the local dealer is also located in front of my house so will wander over there later in the week. Last time I asked they didn't really have much knowledge about their wake suitable boats so I might try harder to get a demo from them.

[j3r3m7]

So I've decided to go for a wakeboard specific boat that has good saltwater performance. I'll create a more focused topic on my search for a well priced (e.g. mid 20k) boat that hits the spot.

Now that wakeboard boats have been good for a few years there are some good 2nd hand and dealer demo boats out there in my target price range.

Cheers for the help in getting me to this point chaps, now comes the even more fun bit of tracking down the exact craft I want.

[j3r3m7]

Just posted a separate topic relating to that 04 Avalanche as I'm visiting it this Friday:

http://www.wakeboard.com/wakechat/sh...8584#post28584

Thanks for the comments so far, really helping me out in my boat purchasing fun ;-)