Best Boats for Beginners – Getting Your Feet Wet
The best boat for beginners varies by what water activities you and your family intend to participate in, the body of water you’ll be on, and your budget. In addition to purchasing the boat, new boaters should also consider the registration fees, storage costs, and maintenance costs.
Bowrider Boats
Bowrider boats are popular lake and inshore boats that can range in size from 18-feet to 40-plus feet and can accommodate 6 to 12 or more passengers. These boats can range in price from $30,000 and up and are most commonly maintained on trailers at home, or a storage lot. Owners like to cruise these boats to popular gathering places and dockside restaurants as well as ski, wakeboard, tube ride or simply enjoy the day on the water.
Fish and Ski Boats
If your family plans on partaking in multiple water activities, fish and ski boats offer a myriad of options. A cross between a fish boat and a bowrider these boats can range in size and costs and most likely use an outboard powered motor. Like bowriders, fish and ski boats can be operated in choppy water conditions but being open boats, they are generally more suited for fair-weather and calm conditions. They can be maintained on a trailer or in rack storage or docked at a marina wet slip during the season on freshwater lakes.
Pontoon and Tritoon Boats
Very popular, pontoon and tritoon boats offer a stable boating alternative. These boats are designed to seat a crowd and entertain with large open decks where people can move about easily when sitting still. Manufacturers design these versatile boats for different activities including fishing, cruising, tow sports, and more. These fair weather boats are relatively less expensive to own and can be maintained on a trailer, at a marina or high and dry rack storage facility.
Headquartered in Clearwater, Florida, MarineMax is the nation’s largest recreational boat and yacht retailer. Focused on premium brands, such as Sea Ray, Boston Whaler, Meridian, Hatteras, Azimut Yachts, Ocean Alexander, Galeon, Grady-White, Harris, Bennington, Crest, Mastercraft, Scout, Sailfish, Sea Pro, Sportsman, Scarab Jet Boats, Tige’, Aquila, NauticStar, Nautique and Yamaha Jet Boats. MarineMax sells new and used recreational boats and related marine products and services as well as provides yacht brokerage and charter services. MarineMax currently has 63 retail locations in Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Texas and operates MarineMax Vacations in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. MarineMax is a New York Stock Exchange-listed company. For more information, please visit www.marinemax.com.
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