[onewhippedpuppy]

I grew up boating and have owned a boat for 15 years, best investment in family fun that we ever made. First boat was like $7500, I’m now on boat #4. A few thoughts:

The competition style ski boats are possibly the hardest boats to drive. They have a shaft drive prop and a rudder, so they are nearly impossible to steer in reverse. If you aren’t planning to ski or wakeboard I would strongly recommend that you look at a more conventional stern drive, they are way easier to drive, more common, and probably cheaper.

Get the absolute most power you can find, especially if you plan to load it up with kids and pull a tube. Nothing sucks worse than an underpowered boat that you can’t even get up on plane.

Older boats in particular are dead simple to DIY. Pushrod engines, cable drive throttle and shift, simple 12V electrical systems, no computers, etc. If you get into early EFI motors it’s TBI with a really simple ECU, so easy. One thing that gets overlooked, buy something where you can actually reach the engine. Some companies make it impossible to reach anything and that makes life suck. Basic maintenance would be plugs, wires, impeller, fuel filter, clean the intake screen, change the oil, change the drive oil, all basic stuff.

It’s hard to equate mileage and hours because cars and boats get used so much differently, but I always thought of 500 hours as the equivalent of 100,000 miles. A well maintained freshwater boat can typically go 1,000 hours, some more. Look inland and do your best to avoid salt water boats, it’s worth a drive to get a freshwater lake boat.

Mechanical check out is like a car, bare minimum you should run it on muffs in the seller’s driveway but I would strongly recommend a lake test before handing over cash. Fiberglass basically lasts forever unless there are obvious areas of damage, your biggest concern should be rotten floors as most older boats used plywood. Be very thorough in pushing around on the floors especially around edges, corners, and where the seats mount. It’s something you can DIY repair but a pain.

I’ve done a LOT of boat shopping and have universally found that boats that have been kept clean and stored indoors are nearly always well maintained. Conversely a ratty boat that’s obviously sat in the driveway with a tarp over the top has probably been neglected. I find that it’s probably harder to find a nice boat than a nice car, people just don’t take care of them.