Family Boat

Finding what works for you is a tricky business, but in my experience, it comes down to a two basic things 1) your intended usage pattern and 2) how easy it is for you to use it. Where is starts to become tricky, usually straight away, is that answering those questions can be a bit complicated. By how easy, I mean how far do you have to tow it to get to your usage spot? Or how long to get there if it is on a mooring? Big difference between being 5 minutes away and an hour plus. Where will you store it? What tow vehicle do you have? The simple fact is, the easier it is for you to use it, then the more often you will use it. The size of the boat will also be a factor here, especially if you have to tow, launch and recover each time.

A 175 or similar is a great option for keeping things simple. Easy to tow, launch and recover. Great for spinning about with towable and good for skiing behind. Nice option for a bit of distance on a lake and, as it is a bowrider, it is quite spacious. In short, it is a really nice all rounder. However, it is a day boat and a good weather day boat at that. You could load it up with camping gear and head off for a night or two, but that’s about it.

As for fuel, well it all depends on how you use it. If you are flying around at high speed for most of your outing, then yeah, she’ll drink juice. If you go out, have a spin about, swim, picnic, and relax. In other words, if you make the speedy part, a portion of your outing then you could have a day out without burning loads of fuel. It all depends.

Next step up size wise is a ‘cuddy’ and anything with a half decent cuddy is going to be 19ft+. So, it’s bigger and heavier. In the bigger ones, you can overnight but the ones around 19ft are realistically still day boats with the added advantage of somewhere to sit if it starts to rain. Bigger means more expensive to run, marginally more difficult to launch, and recovery + towing may necessitate a bigger car etc.

If you want to do comfortable weekends (as a 2+3) then you start to verge into sports cruiser territory or do an about turn to a cruiser. These days, you are going to need deep pockets to run a sports cruiser. A cruiser, well that’s very nice, and you could have great weekends/weeks away but you ain't going to go skiing behind it. Both would require a berth or mooring.

As for the boats you have mentioned the 175 and the 15ft cuddy (I’d say that is not a lot better than a broom closet), nobody can really advise you, as you have not stated [my first point] how you intend to use your boat. It all comes down to that! Concentrate on your usage pattern first and it will become more obvious to you what will work for you and what won’t.

I’m sure you’ve heard of the adage, ‘the two best days in boating...’. Personally, I think it is a load of crap. I’ve had my own boats (power and sail) for over 20 years and everyday I’ve been out has been fab. The thing is though, I guess there is enough truth in ‘the two best days’ thing for it to ring true, and is more likely to ring true if you don’t make the right choice for your situation.

Sounds, like a good plan. Best of luck with it.

I have an Orkney Fastliner 19 too. Great sea boat, plenty of room with the open cabin. In good weather we have gone 22miles off the coast!!