New vs Old Gen GS24

[SkiToday]

We're a young family of 5 (10,8,6). I casual slalom and learning surf. My wife surfs. Kids can ski and will expand. Our sport nautique 200 is just too small to host. We pontoon when people come over. Would like to host for towing as well. Trying to decide bt pulling the trigger on a 2019-2022 GS24 or hold out for a 2024 GS24 for 4-5yrs when the prices come down. Just worried of buyers remorse if we go w the older Gen. Would like to keep for 10-12 yrs and not continuously swap out. Also don't want to wait 4 yrs to host. Any real world advice bt the 2 or general scenario would be appreciated. Thanks much.

[bturner]

I'll bite.....

Unless you are one of the 1% that have the kind of money to throw at a boat and look at it like most people do when buying a cheap car, take the savings on the used boat and enjoy it now while the kids are young. You'll never get the time back later and kids don't stay young. The depreciation on these new boats is just about as crazy as the MRSP.

Now here's the wild card after that statement above. There was a time when you bought something like this and you kept it for 10 - 15 years. Sure there was the maintenance, the fading of the gel coat and the wear of the interior that slowly progressed but that was part of long term ownership. You paid for the minor things that broke, did the occasional upgrade to the stereo or Perfect Pass but by and large one thing you could count on was that the base boat would be solid. IDK if that's true anymore. I do think the construction and maybe even the engine package is solid but there's a lot more to go wrong in these new surf ships. Multiple displays, heated seats, computer controlled stereo systems and the list goes on. The major problem with everything I've listed is that none of them are cheap to fix. To the contrary they're insanely expensive and unless you're really good at electrical troubleshooting most all of them are going to be out of reach for the DIY'er to repair. To this point it may be that buying a surf ship used may well end up costing you more in the long run than buying used due to the long warranties the new boats come with.

From someone older whose kind of been there..... time is short, live life now and take advantage of the time you have in your children's life while they're young as they'll grow up in what will seem a blink of the eye. Does that mean you need a G to do so? No, absolutely not. That Sport 200 is giving you that time and your kids are going to remember that time with you regardless of what boat you have/had.

[Ironhorse]

I'll bite.....

Unless you are one of the 1% that have the kind of money to throw at a boat and look at it like most people do when buying a cheap car, take the savings on the used boat and enjoy it now while the kids are young. You'll never get the time back later and kids don't stay young. The depreciation on these new boats is just about as crazy as the MRSP.

Now here's the wild card after that statement above. There was a time when you bought something like this and you kept it for 10 - 15 years. Sure there was the maintenance, the fading of the gel coat and the wear of the interior that slowly progressed but that was part of long term ownership. You paid for the minor things that broke, did the occasional upgrade to the stereo or Perfect Pass but by and large one thing you could count on was that the base boat would be solid. IDK if that's true anymore. I do think the construction and maybe even the engine package is solid but there's a lot more to go wrong in these new surf ships. Multiple displays, heated seats, computer controlled stereo systems and the list goes on. The major problem with everything I've listed is that none of them are cheap to fix. To the contrary they're insanely expensive and unless you're really good at electrical troubleshooting most all of them are going to be out of reach for the DIY'er to repair. To this point it may be that buying a surf ship used may well end up costing you more in the long run than buying used due to the long warranties the new boats come with.

From someone older whose kind of been there..... time is short, live life now and take advantage of the time you have in your children's life while they're young as they'll grow up in what will seem a blink of the eye. Does that mean you need a G to do so? No, absolutely not. That Sport 200 is giving you that time and your kids are going to remember that time with you regardless of what boat you have/had.

I couldnt agree more. The kids are only young once and you do not want to miss out while waiting for something shinier.