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Thoughts and ruminations on next boat.

Dr. Evil

Dr. Evil

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I know they say to buy your last boat first but we weren't sure exactly what we wanted or needed at the time. I've been looking on the build a boat part of the website and found out you can get a 20' with the express tube, a 115 Yamaha and a performance package.

We love our 20SL we have now but that package really peaked my interest. Anyone have an opinion or experience with this package?
 
  Yes, it is not a express tube, it is basically  same as the SPS for all the other size boats, just in the 20ft version, so it has three full length toons.

The wife and I test drove this in Elkhart last fall at the club event, After being on this boat, my mind was pretty much made up that we were going to order 

a new one with three toons. Being a shorter boat with the tritoon was exactly what we were looking for. 

I will have to say though I did go to a 21 instead because I wanted the 150.

 

Here is the link to the  performance bulletin on the exact boat we were on.

http://www.yamahaoutboards.com/sites/default/files/bulletins/BNT_20SLX_F115XA_2013-08-20_PNT.pdf

 

Here is a picture of the same boat. I also have a video but could not get it to upload at the time of this post.

 
Thanks for the info CL.

We're not opposed to a 22' boat, even a somewhat standard 22 footer with 2 tubes and a 115. We really love the swim deck on the back. That is the number one thing we have found we use all the time. Any boat we get will have to have that. Right now our 8 year old is happy to tube at 15-18mph but that will soon change as he gets older I'm sure.

We keep our boat at the house and tow to/from the lake so keeping it at 22' or less is important. I'm 5 miles from the lake but have some curvy back roads to the launch. That and anything over 22' just isn't something we need.
 
Dr. Evil

I think if you read the forum, you will find that most of the people that have upgraded in the last year or so all loved there previous boats they just wanted a little more performance, myself included. we loved our layout and kept the same with the new boat. 

If your 8 year old likes tubing on the back of your toon, you are right you will eventually need more power and speed.

So if you are looking at possibly upgrading I would defiantly consider some sort of a performance package, even just lifting strakes on a two toon would help. And if possible see if there is any way you could do some test drives.

I am sure that if you do decide to buy again, the members of this forum would help out in any way they can.

One other thing. I was also looking at the build site and I seen that the swim platform on the 20SL appears to be bigger then on the 21SL or even on the 22SL.

Here is the video I mentioned before, there was three of us and we were doing about 30mph 



http://s1274.photobucket.com/user/Chrisdarcy/media/IMG_2646_zps6fa7839c.mp4.html
 
Dr. Evil said:
Thanks for the info CL.

We're not opposed to a 22' boat, even a somewhat standard 22 footer with 2 tubes and a 115. We really love the swim deck on the back. That is the number one thing we have found we use all the time. Any boat we get will have to have that. Right now our 8 year old is happy to tube at 15-18mph but that will soon change as he gets older I'm sure.

We keep our boat at the house and tow to/from the lake so keeping it at 22' or less is important. I'm 5 miles from the lake but have some curvy back roads to the launch. That and anything over 22' just isn't something we need.
Click to expand...

Yep.  Kids get big.  And they collect friends.  And the 115 won't be enough.  Been there.  I'll see if I can find the link to my story.

When my 10-year old rolled over on the tube on his back, interlaced his fingers behind his head, and pretended like he was sleeping while he was tubing, we new the 115 wasn't enough.

Oh, and I agree on the extended deck.  If you do watersports, its essential to have!  It gets crowded back there...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Haha, my tipping point on the first boat was when the brother in law started trying to STAND UP on the tube! Granted that as soon as he started to I did my fastest hand over hand turn to try and throw the bugger off! He's never tried behind the 200 or the 250 though. Hehe
 
I'll say it again............love your signature line..........."1969 model wife stock no mods". Cracks me up when I read it!

Also great profile picture! Thanks for serving...............
 
We rarely have more than 4 or 5 people on our boat so a 20 footer is fine. I'd like to have an extra 1 or 2 feet but its not a deal breaker. What we love most is the swim platform out back. When we're stopped or anchored up in a cove its where my son, any friends he brings along and me spend most of our time. A smaller swim platform isn't an option, its the one thing we have found we love.

We were out for about 7 hours on the lake yesterday and did a bit of swimming, tubing, cliff jumping and general tomfoolery. Top speed yesterday was 19.6mph per GPS. My wife drove the boat while my son and I tubed on a Airhead Double Dog. We probably didn't get above 15 mph with the wife driving but my son had a lot of fun. FWIW, He's only 8 but is 56" tall and weighs just over a hundred lbs already so he's a tall, big kid. I don't see that changing anytime soon. Our lake is also quite big and to explore it all it'll take more than 19mph to get to other areas.

We're content right now but I'm thinking next year might be time for an upgrade. The wife thinks 2 or 3 years from now so we'll see who wins that battle.

CL, thanks for the video. Its great to get feedback from actual owners with real world experience.

Kay, I'd love to get a 150 but like most things its a balance between prudence, finances and priorities. I'm not saying I wont but I'll just have to see what the market will bear at that point.

Bulldogs, I doubt I'd ever try that knowing I'm behind something with a SHO on it. That's just asking to be thrown off. :)

Big, That pic was my when I came home from Iraq, on my son's 5th birthday no less. I had just stepped off a C-130 and he 'broke red' to run to me. Thanks for the compliments. You have to have a sense of humor to get through life.  
 
Nice pic Russell and thanks for your service. Your son will remember that time forever. Great moment.
 
Dr Evil,

One other question for you, Is the under belly of your toon Skinned ? If not. This could be one thing that would be worth doing to your current boat to improve your ride and maybe get you a touch extra performance by eliminating any water hitting your frame cross members and causing your boat to surge once in a while, especially in a little rougher waters.
 
CWAG, thank YOU for letting me do it. I enjoy it (mostly).

CL, it is not skinned. I thought about it but I'm not sure it'd do much for me performance wise. Mine is currently powered by a 50. There's not a lot to squeeze out of that type of power band. Your boat is the closest thing I've seen to what we want with the SPS package on a 21' boat. I went to the build a boat site and I added most everything I wanted and it came out to $26236. That's a 20SL with the SPS 115, the SPS add on and a few other options. So just over 26k for a straked tritoon. Not bad at all IMO. 
 
Was that list. If it was that you can figure up to another 15 to 25% off of that. Your right not that bad of a deal.

If you do do something like that,  :D
 
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