HI ALL!

I am in the process of buying a 3207. I may live in it year round. Maybe.

Anyhow, before making an offer on my 3207 there was a long list of other powerboats checked out. The 1978 Trojan tri-cabin 36' felt tiny inside, like a 30' boat. When I realized my feet would be, in effect, "outside" the cabin when sleeping in the aft cabin portion this boat was dropped off my list in a flash. Not to forget the fact the wood around the main salon windows was all rotten and leaked like mad. The newer ones, 1980 an up, have a better design but still feel too small inside.

The two Chris Catalina 350's scoped out were nice but again had killer flaws. The 1979 lacked a front head. The v-berth was understandably HUGE because of this. Like the Trojan the galley was in a part of the salon. Unlike the Trojan the salon was huge. Much larger. The whole living area of the Chris just blew the Trojan away. An '84 Catalina was really nice, a proper queen bed aft, it had a bath tub, a forward head, but still had the galley in the salon. This Chris was amazing but while the interior size was great the boat felt large, too large for me to handle alone under all conditions.

The Chris Coho 38 had an aft cabin like a hotel room! Seriously huge. A rock band could have played on the flybridge! The salon was beautiful but the galley stole so much interior space. This Chris, a '74 had teak over ply for decks. They leaked like strainers. And a wooden keel? What? A glass hull and wood keel?

Finally, an '84 Chris Commander was checked out, but not the usual type. This 33' Chris was laid out like a 3207, galley down, flybridge, dual stations. It had a beautiful aft cabin with a queen, nice head with shower and both the flybridge and rear deck seemed really large for a 33' boat, much larger feeling than a 3207. However, lift the hatches to expose a pair of 454 Mercruisers. No thanks. Too bad, the boat was really nice and gave the 3207 a serious run for the money.

Enter Sea Ray. Their 355 aft cabin is a weird boat. Underpowered with small v6 motors, the master cabin is the v-berth as it has the head with the nice shower stall. The aft cabin, nice single beds, felt small and cramped but the vanity sink outside the shower equipped head was a nice touch.

The Carver 3607 was just too big all around for me. Beautiful boats though. Affordable too.

Enter the 3207. There was one advertised for a good price close by, (most in my area are priced too close to 3607's, almost matching them) so I went for a look and immediately fell for it. It felt roomy and spacious but not large. The back deck seemed ideal to chill on at the dock. The galley is out of the way and the little Carver table is fine to eat at and watch the world. You can't go wrong with Crusaders engines in the 230hp range. 5l engine I think.

So there's an offer in on the 3207 as we speak and the survey will what the boat will cost me. Even if the survey shows the entire bottom of the hull to be delaminated I'll just argue with the marina for a price adjustment, buy the boat and have the defects repaired.