rizqcon
04-30-2012, 08:06 PM
Hello all, I'm a 29 year old IT Admin from Puerto Rico. My pops started boating when I was 2 years old in 1984. He started with a 21' single outboard boat with a cuddie cabin (he doens't even remember the brand of it), had it for only a few years and moved to a 24' Robalo with twin outboards and walkaround cabin. During those years he taught me to fish with a hand reel, we went to Palomino, Icaco, Vieques and other nearby spots.
In 1989 he bought a brand new Phoenix 29' Sportfisherman and started going to Culebra every weekend and taking off to the Virgin Islands every summer, fishing offshore, etc. At this point boating was what the family revolved around. In 1992 he had the oportunity to upgrade to a 1985 41' Viking Sportfisherman witch he spent half a year fixing up. That became our home away from home until 1999 when he sold the boat due to me getting busy with college and my sister getting married. He basically switched to moving to a big house and started preparing for retirement.
Now, I'm married, a few months away from turning 30 and I took my wife off to a short trip to Culebra on a friend's 24' Robalo Center Console. To my amazement she realized why she had to endure to all my drawn out stories about the boating days. After that weekend I went back to the folk's place to talk about the trip and out the blue the old man started to get me going on the idea of getting another boat. Now that he's retired and in his 60's he wants to have something else to do; go fishing, work on the boat, maintain it, etc. I want to get back into fishing and to be able to take the wife out to the islands and be able to sleep comfortably on the boat.
I've been looking at was is available in the local classifieds and trying to keep a budget of below $50k I've found a couple attractive options. I saw a 1989 29' Phoenix like the one we used to have but it was going for around $55k and it obviously required a slip witch is more expensive than a dry stack and the added maintenance of having to take it out once a year to clean and re-paint the bottom, etc. The more realistic options incude a 1999 29' Stamas Express with twin Yamaha 250's that was going for $30k but it doesn't have a generator for the a/c. We've also found a 1999 30' Grady White Marlin also with twin Yamaha 250's and a 5kw Kohler generator that seems to fit every bill for $45k. Sleeps 4, has outrigers for fishing, well equipped and best of all, livable by the wife and me with two other guests.
I'm thinking the Grady is the best all around choice for my purposes, but I want to make sure it's comfortable enough for the old man to handle 4 - 6 foot seas while trolling offshore and cruising to Culebra for old time's sake, etc. Any opinions? How easy would the Grady be on the old man's knees?
In 1989 he bought a brand new Phoenix 29' Sportfisherman and started going to Culebra every weekend and taking off to the Virgin Islands every summer, fishing offshore, etc. At this point boating was what the family revolved around. In 1992 he had the oportunity to upgrade to a 1985 41' Viking Sportfisherman witch he spent half a year fixing up. That became our home away from home until 1999 when he sold the boat due to me getting busy with college and my sister getting married. He basically switched to moving to a big house and started preparing for retirement.
Now, I'm married, a few months away from turning 30 and I took my wife off to a short trip to Culebra on a friend's 24' Robalo Center Console. To my amazement she realized why she had to endure to all my drawn out stories about the boating days. After that weekend I went back to the folk's place to talk about the trip and out the blue the old man started to get me going on the idea of getting another boat. Now that he's retired and in his 60's he wants to have something else to do; go fishing, work on the boat, maintain it, etc. I want to get back into fishing and to be able to take the wife out to the islands and be able to sleep comfortably on the boat.
I've been looking at was is available in the local classifieds and trying to keep a budget of below $50k I've found a couple attractive options. I saw a 1989 29' Phoenix like the one we used to have but it was going for around $55k and it obviously required a slip witch is more expensive than a dry stack and the added maintenance of having to take it out once a year to clean and re-paint the bottom, etc. The more realistic options incude a 1999 29' Stamas Express with twin Yamaha 250's that was going for $30k but it doesn't have a generator for the a/c. We've also found a 1999 30' Grady White Marlin also with twin Yamaha 250's and a 5kw Kohler generator that seems to fit every bill for $45k. Sleeps 4, has outrigers for fishing, well equipped and best of all, livable by the wife and me with two other guests.
I'm thinking the Grady is the best all around choice for my purposes, but I want to make sure it's comfortable enough for the old man to handle 4 - 6 foot seas while trolling offshore and cruising to Culebra for old time's sake, etc. Any opinions? How easy would the Grady be on the old man's knees?