Yes I had the same experience. I originally purchased a 2010 2250 GCW with twin elliptical tubes with no strakes and a 115 Yamaha. I was told the boat would run around 30 mph, which it would with just one person on board, but my typical load is several people on board and we love to ski. With a load and trying to ski one person sloloming, it was only running 24 to 25 which is just a hair to slow. We also thought we would love the rear loungers, but seems no one wanted to sit in these as they were facing away from the rest of the croud. Also we needed the double Bimini top as everyone was fighting for shade. The GCW would not accomidate the double top. I wish I had done more research before my purchase, but fell in love with the looks of the boat and it was on the showroom floor, so I pulled the trigger to quick.
This year I was looking at adding lifting strakes and possibly trading up to a 150 horse. Actually had the strakes on order when my wife of all people, suggested I call the dealer and see if he had anything we could trade for reasonably. I got lucky. He had a 2010 2275RLI with the ESP tube package and a 150 Yamaha that only had 32 hrs on it as it was a demo. He added the second Bimini top and it also had the center tube storage and all the bells and whistles of the R series. We finally made a deal of trading for difference in the original MSR price of the two. I can tell you, there is nothing like the handling and ride of the ESP and the 150 horse is plenty for what we do. I can now pull two adults on with 4 to 5 adults on board and still run 31 to 32 mph. In fact, this last weekend, we pulled up 4 skiers at once, two on 2 skis and two on 1 ski. I will be posting some pics of this as it was a special moment. My dad who is 82 still skis on two and my grandson is 14. We had 4 generations up at once with myself, my dad, my son and grandson.
Good luck on your trade. My trade was the best decision I have ever made, yea, it cost some more money, but I am totally happy with my boat now and plan to have it a long, long time.
