benjen

Some good comments here. It sounds to me like you are aware of the cost differences. Seems to me you want to know what is in store for you with a bigger boat that you perhaps hadn't thought of. If you are towing there are some disadvantages to think of. You have to plan your trip with as few right turns as possible ( when I measure from tongue to end of my drives I am 47 feet long. NOT including the tow vehicle). And what right turns can not be avoided there better be a lot of room to make the swing. Which gas station you chose is dictated by room to swing in and out. Docking was mentioned above, but I never ran into that too much. There always seems to be a way around that. The "I hadn't thought about that" moment hit me the first time I showed up at the ramp I had always gone to with my 30'. The parking lot was not big enough to park my rig in. Believe me that's a killer. Even if you want to go through the extra hassle of unhooking the trailer some places won't allow that. Now is my ah ha moment enough to deter me. ABSOLUTELY NOT.

soldier4402

very good points. I think guys are usually pretty good at understanding the initial cost is more and that there will be more cost in gas and maint. But ive seen it a lot, people figure out they have an inadequate tow vehicle, cant store their boat in the garage or drive way, docking becomes an issue etc. All things that only compound the cost.

mittens

or the trailer will drag in the middle as the ramp and parking lot angles are to sudden.

trailer for is 42 feet toung to props;

cyrus77

Well I poised the question to find out why go bigger than 30 ft and got plenty of answer. probably the most accurate is "because I can".
Well I took my project boat (formula 302 LS) out for the first time a two days ago, I re-did the stringers and bulkhead (first time for me). First words from the pay station were "why did you buy that big of a boat?". Out on the water it seemed great. I like the 302 it allows me big blocks but i am still getting used to the size.

wannabe

Cyrus- 30 ft will fit on most larger bodies of water. Some of the smaller inland lakes it may be too big for. But you will get easy to drive it soon.

Wannabe

Powerquest_Baby!!

I know in Seattle anything longer than 30 feet is a total pain in the a**!! Most of our launch areas dont allow large boats which means you pretty much have to moor anything over 30 feet. Then you have the issue of finding dock space if you want to park at a restaurant or marina--most of the slips and dock space are limited (high demand) and they just didnt design most slips to accomodate anything over 25 feet. Once you add in the increased maintance and fuel bill it would NEVER be worth the hassle (at least here in the great NW) of owning something larger.