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I wuz thinkin' about that style of boat for this young family. There are some other brands that may not be as pricey but I do love me a Grady White.

Hey, Lonesouth. I think you got the responses you were expecting from this audience. But really, everybody knows that you can't have one boat to do everything. Best you can do (if you can only have one boat at a time) is assess what and where your primary use will be, and choose accordingly. You already said it, "70/30 sporting/fishing" on inland lakes/inshore St. Marks. Dude, the bowrider I/O will be a great boat for your needs. Go for it!

Just a suggestion. Talk to several of the local marine service centers and ask them what they think of an I/O. It might influence your decision.

Just an example: There was an I/O in a local shop a couple of weeks ago with a bad starter. It was a GM engine. No big deal, or so they thought. They had to pull the engine to replace the starter.

I'm just sayin......

So... I like the Boston Whaler Dauntless/Ventura, but they are impossible to find...

I'll probably put it off for this season and wait till the fall/oil drives supply up and prices down...

lonesouth wrote:I'll probably put it off for this season and wait till the fall/oil drives supply up and prices down...

Some darn smart thinking there. You may end up being able to afford an I/O rig AND outboard rig.

Found my boat...but its in Hilton Head and I've got a busy next couple weekends

http://hiltonhead.craigslist.org/boa/1807862696.html



Think I'd prefer a Ventura 180, but as mentioned earlier, they are impossible to find and never under 10k.

There you go. That looks like a good boat for what you want to do. Family friendly and fishable. That's a lot like the setup I mentioned. Mako used to make one like that as well, but have discontinued dual consoles.

Just to bring this thread full circle.

I took some of the advice here about the outboard, but ended uup with a bowrider despite opinions that a CC or DC would be more useful. I went this route for two reasons, 1. I will probably spend most of my time cruising, and 2. I have access to a 13' whaler for flats, lake and river fishing.

I was in no hurry to buy, other than I had an itch, and found an outboard bowrider locally. It is a Glastron SX170 with a Johnson 115 and EZ Load trailer. I took it out for a spin on Saturday, had one of the Bellflowers take a look at it, ran a compression test(all were 100 +- 2), and brought it home the next day. So far, the wife loves it, and it looks like we will spend a lot of time this summer on the water!