Found my next Rinker

Well, I did a good thing yesterday. I went to the Louisville boat show.

I spent the better part of 5 hours with my fiance climbing into, out of, around, on top of, and through every boat we could find. From the Cruiser 470 Express yacht, to the little 18' bayliner runabout. If it was a fiberglass hull, and floated, we were in it. The salespeople were usually somewhat annoyed at me, as I opened every compartment, every hatch, climbed into every berth, and sat in every seat. I figure thats what they are there for, and by god I was going to use them to the full extent.

After much research we learned a few things. Shelly is slightly clausterphobic, so a cuddy is probably NOT in our future. The larger cruisers were nice, but they had to have a couch type sitting area under the helm, and not the "coffin" style bed for her to be comfortable. These were nice and all, but we just bought the new Yukon, and don't really want to upgrade the truck again in the next 5 years to be able to pull one of those rascals around.

The compromise we found to most likely fit our boating style is the new Captiva 246 with the R2 watersports package. Tons of room in the layout, and Shelly was super excited about the little room with the porta-potti in it. I'm pretty excited about the available 8.1L, B3 outdrive, and what looks to be the sturdiest watersports tower at the show. Being a nice 24'6" in length, and only ~4,700lbs dry we don't have to upgrade the truck to tow it either. The one thing we weren't super enthused about. Even with boat show specials and rebates, they couldn't get us below $50k :(....Now I know it's a damn nice boat, and has a ton of super great features that we really like, but thats just not something we can afford currently.

So that leaves us keeping our eyes peeled for a used R2 to come up in the next few years, while we continue to enjoy our little 182. The 182 might even get a makeover in the next year or so as well. My best friend just bought an upholstery grade sewing machine to redo the interior on his Typhoon, and he's said he'd gladly rent it to me for cheap. I might be removing the back-to-back seats, and the rear jump seats, and installing a "couch" type setup like the newer boats, and some captains chairs in this one while I sit back and wait for a used 246 at a good price to show up......I'd also like to try and track down an extended swim platform for our little 182.

All in all, I have to say the moral of the story is that I found my way into a rinker on accident. PURE happinstance that I got into a rinker instead of chapparell, bayliner, sea ray, or some other brand.........However after looking over the other boats at the show yesterday, I'm pretty sure I'll be staying in one from this point forward. Gotta be one of the best values for the money out there.