Starting to Look Around

I've always liked riding in open bow v-drive runabouts. I actually like how stable the wider Reinell boats are. Throw a wake board tower on one and you have something that will have tons of uses.

I don't have a lot of experience though, just going by what I do know from what I ridden in.

Depends on what you are going to use it for ... and who is going to be on it?

Mostly ... where are you going?

Canyons? or inshore? big diff. Crabing? lobster? or lakes?

In that area personally I would want a boat with some shelter.

Mainly just cruise around, ski, wakeboard, minor fishing, swimming, and beer drinking.

Where: bays and rivers. No plans for ocean type stuff unless it is super calm.


Sort of considering a Yamaha ar230 if I can find a good deal. But looking in the 20-25ft range. Bow rider.

If you want a pure rec boat to just hangout on can't go wrong with a V bottom bowrider had a 20 ft crownline for 10 years besides winterization and the occasional hard bump against the doc never had a single problem. The v bottoms throw a decent wake and are great for most people myself included. That said if you want to really get into ski/wake boarding you can't compete with a Mastercraft, malibu, or Natique. The wakes those boats throw is borderline scary, the down side is new at least they run anywhere from 60-100k plus. Really it all depends on what do you want to do more if its drink and party go for a pontoon, if its fish center console, board get a competition boat. Personally the bowriders do enough of everything for most people just look into what suites you best

I got the Yamaha AR210 when it very first came out, and I LOVED that boat. The newer 4-stroke models are a bit slower, but better on fuel and they are also fuel injected. I want one of the new AR230HOs pretty badly, but I also hate to get a boat that only goes 50 mph in glassy water at best. The AR210 would do almost 60 mph in those conditions.

If you do find an older 2-stroke AR210, they go for 12 to 14k now. The first year they came out was 2003. I think they went to 4-strokes in 2006.

Jet drives are the way to go for wakeboarding, especially if you have kids! They are very safe.

That's a good choice, I would personally not go with an older 2 stroke and go with the 4 stroke. That speed diff is probably just weight as the 4's weigh more than the 2's. Some trim tabs will get that boat on the step faster.

I have never really been a fan off jet boats jet skis yes boats not so much. They are also a good alternative but what will you be doing most because at least down here we don't get glass on the lake too often so that extra 5 mph on the top end means nothing to me.

The safety is good but you still cant beat the wake on a V bottom :bigthumb: