LA Boat show with Thomas - 1-31-2006

I picked Thomas up from school early. He had a Minimum day on Tuesday. School ended at 1:30 pm. We went downtown and did the Boat show together.

see www.scma.com for info on the boat show...
It was 7 for parking and 7 to get in with AAA discount. Thomas was free.

We looked at info on Lake Powell house boating. We have a family trip planed for September with Aunts and Uncles and 3 or 4 other families. So we sucked that up a little.

But what we really did was walk boats. All the top floor of the show was boats and large hardware. We looked at the new reverse Volvo drive. We walked boats. Thomas took his shoes off so many times it wsa getting tiring for him.

But we found some really sweet boats. I followed him through some of the 50 and 60 footers I had no interest in and he did a great job of helping me look at the boats in the 27 to 32 foot class. Oooh we had fun. There at a few things in the family cruiser size that works for a next boar up. I really liked the ones with the amidships cabin. Makes the Express type boat a good compromise and have the sleeping space needed for the family of 4 and guest kid that is likely to come along with either of the boys. I need sleeping for 5... Wow. It may be possible.

But the prices are way scary. The Rampage 30 Express was the first one to really nock my socks off. All the nice stuff in the cabin with lovely wood. Has Diesel power and Generator and Radar and Fish Finder and GPS Map and Vacuflush head. And is goes 27 knots for maybe 360 miles on a tank that holds 250 gal. Now that is usable range. But what about the $230,000 price tag. Wife is right to not want that heartache.

12 boats later I fell in love. We found the Sea Ray Amberjack 290 a great option. Loaded with stuff and 230 gal fuel capacity and fishable and nice to look at and Nice to be on. Only $139,000. Ok it has s funny thing with Stern Drives. ( I/O ) with an odd thing with a large under with water exhaust that will drag in the water or catch a line when a fish dives under the boat or... but it may help my wife to not smell the engines. It may help the boat to track true? Or to reduce the stern rocking motion. But it sure is new to me. Really stood out when I looked under the boat.

All in all a fun boat show to visit. Thomas did a few knots down at the lower hall at the CG Auxiliary booth. And we got a raffle ticket for the boat they are giving away. This one will be Thomas' if we win. Ryan has a Dinghy and a Sailboat. Thomas is ready for a tender. Would be fun to take to Lake Powell too.

After searching the boats on line I found a Amberjack that works nicely in Salt Lake Utah for 79k in "like New" condition. Now I may be getting closer to our smaller budget.

It is almost like a extra third car or a weekend vacation property. One needs to use it to get the value out of it. An Express cruiser would get used for vacations and my fishing addiction.

Thomas liked the fun of crawling into the small headroom mid cabin bunks to have his own play place. Hmm If only the $ were there.