I wanna boat. I went to the boat show in Long Beach CA and found the best boat for my money. It is a Bayliner 1950. 18'8" open bow with the 3.0L Merc. Seats 7. Price $13,998. Now, my wife has informed me that this is too much. So in compromise, I said well I guess I will look for a used boat.

What is a good make, model to buy that is comparable to the one above for about 8,000 to 9,000? I briefly searched ebay and boattrader.com and saw some comparable Bayliners, years 1998-2000 that were in the range. Plus two of them had a 4.3L v-6. All had approximatley 25-50 hours on them.

Any info is greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

Brian

Bayliners are a good beginners boat. They are really affordable with a pretty good quality. Just look at where the used ones have been...ocean, lake? You want to make sure that the previous owner flushed the motor every time he put it up if he was in the ocean. The 4.3L merc is a good motor, in fact it is a Blazer/S-10 motor. Just use good judgement when buying one, make sure the gelcoat looks good and all the componets are in workin order (steering, throttle, trim etc.).