Leaving the Pontoon world

[Cycleman07]

Congratulations on the new boat. My good friend (on my lake) has the comparable Cobalt boat with the 502 engine and DuoProps. He put about $4K in electronics on it, and it's nice to have weather radar on the screen.

Those big bowriders are very classy rides.

Thanks! We looked at Cobalt and Sea Ray equivalents to this one but couldnt find anytning "better" about those and this being a new leftover 2013 the price was right (albeit way more than I ever would have thought I would spend). I have the upgraded wetsounds speakers/amp/tower speakers on the Chap. I wanted this to be my go anywhere do anything boat and I think it fits the bill. This one has the 502 in it as well. Cockpit and underwater Led's. I am sure I will find something to upgrade on it in the near future but the DW will surely veto any changes in the near term

[ROLAND]

cycleman.. congratulations on the new boat.. man, she's gorgeous... I know you and your family will really enjoy the upcoming boating season.. congrats again....

[Cycleman07]

cycleman.. congratulations on the new boat.. man, she's gorgeous... I know you and your family will really enjoy the upcoming boating season.. congrats again....

Thanks Roland. We are very excited. When my wife walked into the Tulsa boat show and said "we are buying a bigger boat" I tried to contain my excitement. Most toy expenditures are my idea so to have it be her idea was a little surprising. We looked at so many...cobalts, sea ray, crown line, but kept coming back to the Chaparral. The fit, finish, and quality were hard to walk away from. Plus Gary Nichols at Nichols marine Monkey Island has been amazing to work with. He made me a fair deal on my trade and negotiated the price. Being a little upside down on my South Bay I still came in at 85% loan to value after all was said and done.

[OK Toon]

Why is it always the wives that decide a bigger faster boat is needed? When we bought our "new to us" boat, the PO's wife was the one that decided she wanted a bigger "go fast" boat. So he was selling the pontoon to get a Rinker.

[Blessed]

Congratulations! Beautiful boat!.... 502.... YES!

[Cycleman07]

Congratulations! Beautiful boat!.... 502.... YES!

Thanks! Come on warm weather!!!

[Strake]

[/quote] I plan on keeping this boat for a while. It's my first V hull or IO for that matter. 8.2 Mercruiser (380 hp) with DTS and duo props. Should be an interesting learning experience.[/quote]

Congratulations Really nice boat. We came from a V hull Sea Ray 250 SLX (26.5 ft) just a few months ago. We also had the big block 8.1 Mercruiser (496) engine with Bravo III outdrive, DTS and twin SS props....... super easy to get used to, and much easier docking, or backing into a dock with the twin props. Way easier than I am finding out with our Yamaha 200 single SS prop on the Berkshire toon.

I was just wanting to make the switch to a Toon after riding on our friends many times in the past 2 years. Here's a pic from what we came from this past Nov (2014)... It was a GREAT boat, and had tons of fun with it, but we're even more excited about the new toon....

[Cycleman07]

Great looking boat Strake! Sea Ray, Cobalts, Formula, and Chaparral are unparalleled in the big bow rider category. My dream boat is the Sea Ray L650 Fly. Some day...ha ha

[Soonertoon]

Where you going to keep her at Grand? I'm hooked up with the group that owns Shangri La..not officially but they are like family to me.

[Cycleman07]

Where you going to keep her at Grand? I'm hooked up with the group that owns Shangri La..not officially but they are like family to me.

Not keeping her at Grand. She will be mostly used on Keystone, but taken to grand a few times and the 4th of July. Yes I will trailer her everywhere.

[Axtellboy]

Congrats on the new boat. We love our bowrider, but we'd miss the winter boating on Grand if we didn't have the pontoon!

[Discovery]

Cycleman07 congrats on choosing what works for you and family. I too will not have a toon this year. Love them and know they make the most sense for what I and the Wife enjoy about boating, but Wow. Bubble in price I hope. Maybe next year.

I am taking cash and buying an 18' aluminum so we can get out west and cruise some rivers. The sh!t is that now I am back to using a single axle trailer.

[Cycleman07]

Boat prices are crazy for sure. We originally went in looking for a cuddy cabin..something like a sea Ray 260 sundancer or something...my wife and I looked through a lot of 35 and 40 foot cruisers and decided if we were going to get one it would have to be big. At this point in our lives we want to be able to trailer it and pull the kids on water toys etc and that we will wait till it's just me and her to go real big. Not that a 28 1/2 foot long 9' beam boat is small. Ha ha. I can't get over the sheer size of this boat. It's almost overwhelming how big it is.