It's looking increasingly likely that we're going to pick up the aunt's Bayliner. The $10k boat market is a tough one (I'm not really interested in gambling more than $10k on this experiment), and locally $10k boats tend to have some spotted history and/or rough around the edges. Aunt's boat is turnkey always maintained in great shape...but what I've discovered is that the 2150 model with a V8 (this one is a 5.0 Mercruiser) is particularly rare in our area. We've talked to a few friends and I called a few local dealers regarding some listed boats, and the general consensus is a V8 boat (any) that's been maintained and cared for under $15k is a boat worth buying in the current market in northern MI. They simply aren't listed for sale, and a
told me that he's been selling V8 boats as soon as they come in, even during the winter. If we want a good boat to enjoy this summer, the options are really slim.
Then, to make the case better, Aunt invited us out to lake mead where the boat is where she and her husband will show us everything there is to know about the boat, take us through launching it, trailering it, the whole 9 yards, and if we decide that it's not for us, they'll sell it elsewhere and we get a learning vacation out of the deal. Being our first boat, this is big to me. No other seller is going to do this, and I even looked to see if there's any sort of "beginner boating" type courses locally and couldn't find one. One dealer said they sometimes will take clients out on organized events in the spring, but nothing one-on-one.
The plan that's being hatched is to drive out for Easter. I've been jonesing for a cross-country adventure, and this is perfect. Spend the weekend in lake mead with the family, learn the boat, and if we like it, hitch it up and take it home with us. It just so happens to be the time when my dad is planning to start heading back east in his bus for the spring, so we're hoping to follow along with him and stay in the bus to make the trip more affordable. I'll probably take 2 weeks off of work and plan on hitting up some notable lakes and national parks on the way back. Thinking lake powell in UT/AZ, Ozarks in MIssouri, etc to make the trip home a vacation on its own, all while getting to exercise the boat and experience water that we'll probably never get to again.
Last piece of the puzzle we're working on now is with the HOA to get our slip and understand lift requirements. Our house has apparently never had a slip, so there's some logistics to iron out. Should be enough time before spring, but we'll see.