I am almost ready to pull the trigger and need a little insight. First, let me air some laundry so you know a bot more from my perspective.
I am a DFW area transplant from coastal Texas. I have built a life here with my wife and two kids, one who is a senior at A&M and the other in middle school. I am a teacher who spends my free time fishing and hunting. I am pretty hardcore in regards to both. I take an international trip every 5 years and go to the roughest ends of the earth to fish. It works out well because I hire locals to not subsistence fish and take me with them instead. My wife works for an airline, so travel is not a big expense. Tackle, visas and food are the lion's share. Each trip is an absolute adventure and usually I sleep under the stars, eat with locals around open fires and cast to fish which have never seen a lure. These are some of my best memories aside from those built with my family
Being a teacher, I am very conservative with my funds. I have paid off my home, drive my trucks 10+ years, only eat meat I hunt and have owned my current boat for 17 years. It is a 18' aluminum tunnel hull that floats in 5" of water. I don't carry debt and pride myself with that. The only debt I have is my truck. My biggest payment is my son's college and we planned for it. He is a brilliant kid and the best son anyone could ask for. He earned a scholarship and we pay the deficit. He also works as an EMT to help.
I have kept my boat in good shape and it has served me well, but it is time to get a bad ass rig that I am proud of and will serve me well as I get older. I also fish a lot. I plan to own it for 12 years and sell it once I retire to buy one more for my sunset years. I fish my current rig along the Texas coast and lakes and have been trailering to fish Florida in the summer since a couple of buddies have moved there. I love Florida boats. Minimalist boats in terms of size, but with caps and more storage than Texas rigs which are bigger without caps and minimal storage.
I have just came back from Florida to test East Cape's Vantage and this is what I believe would serve me best from what I have seen so far. Build quality is great, the guys (Josh and Kevin if you have met them) there are genuine and I feel like I am supporting a smaller business for people who are doing for their families like I am. This goes a long way with me.
I also have a friend in San Antonio who has a neighbor who bought a boat winter of 21' and he has not been fishing it. He knew I was looking and asked him if he was interested in selling it. He said he would consider it if someone paid it off or took over payments. Apparently, he had high aspirations when he retired, but has not fished it since breaking it in. I guess his eyes were bigger than his drive and they have become grandparents now. The boat is a BT Vengeance with a 90hp (12 hrs), trolling motor, Simrad unit, 24V lithium battery for TM, charger for batteries,12V lithium for cranking battery and is generally loaded with other small options. Pay off is 49K, which I could pay without taking on any debt. Used boat loans would suck in terms of interest rates anyway.
So, the choice is putting the money down on a EC and having to finance the rest or buying the BTV. I have never tested the BTV and don't really know if I would regret it knowing I could have gone with the EC. The BTV is parked off site and I will have to go look at it with testing it.
This has also made things tense with my wife with a slowing economy. Buying power is less with inflation, she does not feel as comfortable with the purchase as I do and feels better with the money in the bank. She thinks we should wait one more year and let the people who have debt start to liquidate assets. Liquidating assets is not an option for us. We are conservative people who are comfortable because we live within or below our means. It also means I will not be traveling to fish halfway across the planet the next summer (last trip was 4 years ago and next year would be normally be a trip) or probably the next 5 years. Still, a new boat means more. This is a big deal for us. What would you do?
1. BTV?
2. ECV?
3. Wait and pounce?
I am a DFW area transplant from coastal Texas. I have built a life here with my wife and two kids, one who is a senior at A&M and the other in middle school. I am a teacher who spends my free time fishing and hunting. I am pretty hardcore in regards to both. I take an international trip every 5 years and go to the roughest ends of the earth to fish. It works out well because I hire locals to not subsistence fish and take me with them instead. My wife works for an airline, so travel is not a big expense. Tackle, visas and food are the lion's share. Each trip is an absolute adventure and usually I sleep under the stars, eat with locals around open fires and cast to fish which have never seen a lure. These are some of my best memories aside from those built with my family
Being a teacher, I am very conservative with my funds. I have paid off my home, drive my trucks 10+ years, only eat meat I hunt and have owned my current boat for 17 years. It is a 18' aluminum tunnel hull that floats in 5" of water. I don't carry debt and pride myself with that. The only debt I have is my truck. My biggest payment is my son's college and we planned for it. He is a brilliant kid and the best son anyone could ask for. He earned a scholarship and we pay the deficit. He also works as an EMT to help.
I have kept my boat in good shape and it has served me well, but it is time to get a bad ass rig that I am proud of and will serve me well as I get older. I also fish a lot. I plan to own it for 12 years and sell it once I retire to buy one more for my sunset years. I fish my current rig along the Texas coast and lakes and have been trailering to fish Florida in the summer since a couple of buddies have moved there. I love Florida boats. Minimalist boats in terms of size, but with caps and more storage than Texas rigs which are bigger without caps and minimal storage.
I have just came back from Florida to test East Cape's Vantage and this is what I believe would serve me best from what I have seen so far. Build quality is great, the guys (Josh and Kevin if you have met them) there are genuine and I feel like I am supporting a smaller business for people who are doing for their families like I am. This goes a long way with me.
I also have a friend in San Antonio who has a neighbor who bought a boat winter of 21' and he has not been fishing it. He knew I was looking and asked him if he was interested in selling it. He said he would consider it if someone paid it off or took over payments. Apparently, he had high aspirations when he retired, but has not fished it since breaking it in. I guess his eyes were bigger than his drive and they have become grandparents now. The boat is a BT Vengeance with a 90hp (12 hrs), trolling motor, Simrad unit, 24V lithium battery for TM, charger for batteries,12V lithium for cranking battery and is generally loaded with other small options. Pay off is 49K, which I could pay without taking on any debt. Used boat loans would suck in terms of interest rates anyway.
So, the choice is putting the money down on a EC and having to finance the rest or buying the BTV. I have never tested the BTV and don't really know if I would regret it knowing I could have gone with the EC. The BTV is parked off site and I will have to go look at it with testing it.
This has also made things tense with my wife with a slowing economy. Buying power is less with inflation, she does not feel as comfortable with the purchase as I do and feels better with the money in the bank. She thinks we should wait one more year and let the people who have debt start to liquidate assets. Liquidating assets is not an option for us. We are conservative people who are comfortable because we live within or below our means. It also means I will not be traveling to fish halfway across the planet the next summer (last trip was 4 years ago and next year would be normally be a trip) or probably the next 5 years. Still, a new boat means more. This is a big deal for us. What would you do?
1. BTV?
2. ECV?
3. Wait and pounce?