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Originally Posted by reefsquater
Looking forward to meeting you Sunday on the PUOSU
You had a 25 Carolina Classic, correct? That is a big riding 25 that can do a lot, even more than many bigger boats. Everything is a trade off as you now but it seems to me that you might be looking for a little more creature comfort or fishing room??? I would ask myself if that was the reason why I liked the coastal and if so, that might open up a whole other bunch of boats. If you want a boat that can take a licking and keep on ticking you may want to stay with that Carolina/ Ablemarle hull.
Most twin gas motors limit the range of where you can fish, if you are not heading to the canyons they may still be your best choice. If it were me, I would not look at 30 plus foot boats with gas motors. Resale suffers and when you have a bigger hull you will want to put longer further trips n her, adding to your hours.
The Albemarle and Carolina classic are very similar and hard to beat for pounding through a sea, I however am not a huge fan of the lower gunnels orvtheir drifting ability. I am also not convinced that there are many twin outboard boats that will push through the slop they way that hull did for you. The hulls that cut through the slop and can be pushed offshore loaded up with a pair of outboards are not creature comfort boats either, run and gun center consoles typically.
Sounds like you want the best bang for your buck and are trying to keep in a very reasonable budget. I am curious as to what you decide and what your thoughts are as I have been looking around as well and have always struggled with why would be best for my 100 hour a year use.
So easy to talk yourself into and/or out of a boat!
Tough decision
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Reef - Not planning on going out to the Canyon on this boat. If I head out to the canyon, especially for an overnighter, I want a 40 plus sportfisher under my butt with a leather couch, TV, air conditioning, Captain and mate. Getting soft in my old age.
Main purpose will be for inshore fishing with an occational trip out to the Mudhole. I would also like to be able to spend the night or weekend on the boat down at the Marina. The 25 Carolina had one of the biggest cockpits in it's class and was perfect for what I needed fishing and range wise, but the cabin was too small to overnight in comfortably.
I also like to do some skinny water stuff like crabing, beaching the boat etc. Our marina entrance is sometimes less then 3 feet so that is in the mix as well. Part of the reason I like the outboards is the ability to tilt the engines up and on the 30 plus footer outboards you also have a mid cabin bunk bonus, which would be great for the kids. Add to that the new 4 strokes are fairly fuel efficent, quiet, reliable and, because of their power to weight ratio, higher RPM range and ability to trim, you also tend to get a bit more speed and ecomomy out of them.
Leaning that way for now but who knows. We just make take the easy/price road and settle on a twin inboard gasser... Lots of bargins out there on these type of boats. Typically 20 or 30 less then their diesel or outboard counterparts.
