Mi first boat was a rotten 14 foot flat bottom wooden jon boat. My brother in law and I got this boat for $25, and rebuilt it. He had used this really ugly chocolate brown paint as his trim paint on his house and we painted that old boat with that, and man it was ugly. The thing weighed in around 400 pounds I think, and was a really tough thing for the two of us to handle. Oh, did I mention we used 3/4 inch plywood rebuilding it? Sheesh.. we even had it in the back of his truck, and backed it into a tree, pushing the transom in about 3 inches, and it still did not leak!! Also, we had no trolling motor, only paddles.

My next boat came many, many years later, and after I was married to my second wife. She did not grow up on a boat like I had, and was scared of the water. So I bought a pontoon first, and had it out fitted for fishing. I kept it for a couple of years, and sold for a thousand less than I paid for it new.

Next was my first bass boat. I got this after my wife got to where she could not fish anymore, and I was always fishing by myself. I spent about 2 years shopping for the boat, and bought it new in '95. I kept it for almost three years, and sold it for about $1,500 less than I paid for it.

Now I own my current boat. I bought it new in March 2002, had it ordered, and again, spent considerable time shopping to make sure I got the boat I wanted and the one that "fit" me. My boat will be completely paid for this March.

One thing, I try to never finance the boat for more than 4 years. I'd love to have been able to pay cash, but I am not mechanically inclined, so I feel only comfortable buying new. But hey, that's just me.

Good luck, and let us know what you get.

Danny