Story time:
10 years ago we were younger, didn't have kids, and could ski whenever. We purchased a P.O.S. American Skier that we nursed back to life and the thing has been ticking ever sense. It owes us nothing and has been a GREAT ski boat.
Wife is a serious/dedicated skier. Grew up with it, skied on a pro level. I ski rather recreationally but really only slalom. I guess I'm fine at it and typically give er' as often as possible. Wife does it all. We have two kids picking up on skiing; one just learning, and the other working on dropping a ski.
We go through the "should we get a boat" discussion every year. So hard to justify with a perfectly capable boat that has probably the best 30 to 36mph wake I have EVER seen. But alas, it doesn't come without it's rather significant challenges. This year we had a little "oh shit" moment with our boat and thought it's probably time to start getting a little more serious.
We live on a lake. We spend significant time on the water. Wife is off in the summer and they mess around and sends me pictures of them out on the boat during the day while I'm fighting the man for tps reports and pc load letter errors.
As such, we would like to get a boat that we'll keep for the next 10,15, or heck...even 20 years.
We live in Upper MI (think above Wisconsin and closer to MN). We are completely open to options and have limited criteria:
-Prefer less than $25k
-Prefer open bow
-Prefer less than 600 hours
-Please, no projects. I don't have time to take a crap and read BoS as it is.
Other than that, we are open to a V drive, direct drive, big, small, pink, blue----whatever.
Sorry for the long post. Please send along anything you've seen or even better, something you personally know is available.