First Boat Help/Don't Hurt Me

thinkxingu · 07-13-2014, 04:41 PM

Hi!
First off, sorry this is so long--my question is below, if you'd like to skip through the background.
I have searched and read and searched but haven't been able to come up with my answer, so: Hello! I'm new to this forum and to boating. My wife and I were able to acquire a small camp on Hanson Cove with lake access and, though I thought I could wait a few years to get on the water, it's just too tempting.
That being said, I am looking for advice on purchasing our first boat. We have two small children, 2 and 4-years-old and a limit of 20' for where it'll be kept. At first, we were set on a pontoon, which looks like it'd be relaxing, but then we started looking at bowriders because they look sexy and we could scoot around a bit more. And THEN we saw a couple deck boats that we think would be a great compromise (Hurricane SunDeck Sport, etc.).
But then I found some threads here about choppy waters, boat size, and deck vs. bowrider (cutting vs. slapping, etc.).

SO: If I plan on mostly scooting around the Hanson Cove area and, probably at most over to Moultonborough Bay (as opposed to the broads), would a 19-20 foot deck boat be a good choice?

Any other suggestions or things I should be considering are very welcome. Thanks!

07-13-2014, 04:41 PM	#1
thinkxingu Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2014 Posts: 5,946 Thanks: 1,154 Thanked 1,963 Times in 1,213 Posts	First Boat Help/Don't Hurt Me Hi! First off, sorry this is so long--my question is below, if you'd like to skip through the background. I have searched and read and searched but haven't been able to come up with my answer, so: Hello! I'm new to this forum and to boating. My wife and I were able to acquire a small camp on Hanson Cove with lake access and, though I thought I could wait a few years to get on the water, it's just too tempting. That being said, I am looking for advice on purchasing our first boat. We have two small children, 2 and 4-years-old and a limit of 20' for where it'll be kept. At first, we were set on a pontoon, which looks like it'd be relaxing, but then we started looking at bowriders because they look sexy and we could scoot around a bit more. And THEN we saw a couple deck boats that we think would be a great compromise (Hurricane SunDeck Sport, etc.). But then I found some threads here about choppy waters, boat size, and deck vs. bowrider (cutting vs. slapping, etc.). SO: If I plan on mostly scooting around the Hanson Cove area and, probably at most over to Moultonborough Bay (as opposed to the broads), would a 19-20 foot deck boat be a good choice? Any other suggestions or things I should be considering are very welcome. Thanks!