I am back in the boat market and looking for a quality cruiser, 27-34', 2002 or newer, twin screw or IO and would like your observations. My fist question has to do with selling prices. I know asking prices are generally best case scenarios for sellers but what are these boats actually selling for these days? Is there a % off asking price that is a good starting place for an initial offer or is it just a crap shoot? Secondly, I'd like your opinions on overall quality. I know we're all passionate about out boats so it's not my intention to start any arguments, just to solicit opinions and hopefully get some specifics behind those opinions. I've generally concluded from my reading that boats fall into one of four quality tiers: top of the line, premium, good and entry level. Here is my observation. Feel free to re-rank, agree or disagree but I would greatly appreciate objective examples of why (or not) a boat brand gets a better or worse rating.
Top of the line: Tierra, Formula, Cobalt; Premium: Sea Ray, Four Winns, Cruisers, Doral; Good: Regal, Chapparal, Rinker, Larson, Monterey, Maxum, Crownline; Entry: Bayliner. I purposely left out some because they don't seem to be big in the SC class (Carver, Silverton, Meridian, etc.) and a couple simply because the styling doesn't do anything for me (Chris Craft, Wellcraft). So that's it. I'd prefer inboard but in this class it looks like the IOs dominate. For the record, those top tier boats are probably out of my price range so, realistically I'm likely looking at the premium and average tier boats. And, finally, it looks like power-wise you get either Merc or Volvo Penta in about any of them so not so concerned with that aspect, more concerned with quality of build. Thanks to all! I look forward to getting your input.
Top of the line: Tierra, Formula, Cobalt; Premium: Sea Ray, Four Winns, Cruisers, Doral; Good: Regal, Chapparal, Rinker, Larson, Monterey, Maxum, Crownline; Entry: Bayliner. I purposely left out some because they don't seem to be big in the SC class (Carver, Silverton, Meridian, etc.) and a couple simply because the styling doesn't do anything for me (Chris Craft, Wellcraft). So that's it. I'd prefer inboard but in this class it looks like the IOs dominate. For the record, those top tier boats are probably out of my price range so, realistically I'm likely looking at the premium and average tier boats. And, finally, it looks like power-wise you get either Merc or Volvo Penta in about any of them so not so concerned with that aspect, more concerned with quality of build. Thanks to all! I look forward to getting your input.
