Boat Buying Tips: Go Small

Living in the age of megayachts and super megayachts, it is easy to understand why the first time boat buyer would want the most boat they can get for their money – even if it means getting an older model boat to fit their budget. Maybe it’s trying to keep up with the Jones’s, or a pre-boat-buying case of foot-itus. Or maybe it’s that feeling you get at the concession stand at the movies when you are offered the extra-large soda for just a quarter more. It seems like a good value, but is it really the right decision?

TRUE NORTH: a 112-foot Westport, available at RJC Yacht Sales

We recently shared the top 10 reasons to buy a bigger boat (perhaps even as big as the Westport pictured here, offered by RJC Yacht Sales), but we also see things from a more practical point of view – especially in today’s economy.

If you are just starting out in boating, not everybody will tell you this, but you need to hear it. Bigger isn’t always better.

Buying a bigger boat often means:

Ending up with the wrong boat for what you want to do (fish, ski, etc)

Owning an older boat that is too-often in need of repair.

Learning how to boat on a bigger vessel than you’re comfortable with.

Having less usable space than you could get on a slightly smaller, but more modern boat.

Spending too much time (and money) at the fuel dock.

If you are still thinking of buying a new boat, and not sure how big to go, visit our FirstBoat guide on boat buying; specifically, check out our page on the benefits of buying a smaller boat. (Of course, if you are trying to justify buying a bigger boat, we've got ideas for that, too!)

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Clinging to Coolers and Trees

These are perhaps the three most outrageous boating incidents from Labor Day Weekend 2010, and there are some obvious safety lessons that can be taken away from all of these stories.

Clinging to a Cooler
Early Sunday morning, seven people (including 3 children) were found clinging to a cooler – 30 miles off the shore of South Carolina – 20 hours after their 38-foot fishing boat sank. All seven were wearing life jackets. However, a CNN article quotes a Coast Guard officer as saying, "They didn't have a VHF radio. They didn't have an emergency position indicating radio beacon ... that can pinpoint the location of a distress when a boat sinks. There was no signaling flares, nothing." Conflictingly, a local newspaper reports that the Coast Guard did in fact receive a radio signal around the time that the boat capsized stating, "Mayday. We're going down".

More Cooler-Clinging
The Detroit News reports that a 46-year-old man was rescued after spending four hours in Lake Huron on Monday morning, clinging to a cooler. The man – who had no life jacket - went into the lake after the 22-foot fishing boat he was on capsized. Another passenger on the sunken boat swam about 3 miles to shore.

Photo: League City PD

Boat in the Trees
The 82-year-old operator of a 23-foot sports boat lost control and hit the bank of a creek near Galveston Bay in Texas on Sunday morning, according to the Houston Chronicle. He must have been going pretty fast and hit an angle that previously only action movie directors thought was possible, as the boat crash-landed more than 100 feet in the woods. Tragically, a female passenger was killed, and the operator and another passenger – a 9-year-old boy – were both injured.

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