Time to get to real in the search
We finally knew we were looking for a 26’ cruiser
Let’s go find it!
With my newfound appreciation that we were looking for a 26’ cruiser, I dug in and ruthlessly eliminated a ton of ‘these look nice’ options from my various crazy number of bookmarks, notes and searches, and started to refine and narrow down brands and specific models.
I’ll save you the sordid details, but leave it at - I still had quite a few numbers of searches going across numerous places, and had a few brokers looking for me as well, or claiming they were.
It was looking like our best general area was searching for a model year 2000 boat in the size and budget range with things we wanted, +/- a few years up to ~2005, depending on brand.
We had an anniversary coming up….
We’d normally head to the mountains for this yearly, as we got married in the mountains, and it’s nice when not staying in tourist central. Lake Norman is one of the few inland real ‘boat areas’ in NC other than the coast, and with a strong preference of not looking at older seawater-run boats, it was somewhat convenenient that Lake Norman was kind of on the way to the mountains. WIth that, we’d agreed to spend a couple of days at Lake Norman before continuing on to the mountains for the rest of the trip.
Calling and emailing and calling and...
We had a little bit of time, although not much, as this was sort of a last minute trip being put together, so I’d started targetting searches to anything fitting the criteria, and a couple a bit outside, even if just to be able to get a comparison.
I suppose in hindsight, not sooo surprisingly, that considering Lake Norman allows private lakefront property and piers, unlike our lake, while there were some cabin cruisers, they were definitely outnumbered by bowriders and wake/ski boats - if your boat is in the water 100 feet outside your back door (and on a large lake, not a river or ocean), do you ‘need’ a cabin cruiser? The choices were further reduced by our budget. I wound up calling a ton pf places and doing some stop-ins at various placed while out there, mostly unsuccessfully or no response to emails and calls, but did find a broker with a couple of possible boats so made sure to go check them out.
We had a little bit of time, although not much, as this was sort of a last minute trip being put together, so I’d started targetting searches to anything fitting the criteria, and a couple a bit outside, even if just to be able to get a comparison.
I suppose in hindsight, not sooo surprisingly, that considering Lake Norman allows private lakefront property and piers, unlike our lake, while there were some cabin cruisers, they were definitely outnumbered by bowriders and wake/ski boats - if your boat is in the water 100 feet outside your back door (and on a large lake, not a river or ocean), do you ‘need’ a cabin cruiser? The choices were further reduced by our budget. I wound up calling a ton pf places and doing some stop-ins at various placed while out there, mostly unsuccessfully or no response to emails and calls, but did find a broker with a couple of possible boats so made sure to go check them out.
Up first - a 2003 Chapparal 260 Signature
Up first as a more-than-was-wanting-to-spend but possible real contender, was a Chapparal 260 Signature, which overall is pretty close to a Sea Ray Sundancer but with a 350MAG MPI engine. The price was a bit more than I’d been hoping, but being honest it was in the right general range, it had the options we were looking for, everything looked good in the ad and numerous pics, and indeed, this could be the one.
First impressions - nice boat. This might be the one now I’ve mentally adjusted my price range upwards a bit from first thoughts in the face of reality. Clean inside, full camper canvas, nothing out of order in the cabin, looks to be well kept. The 350MAG should out-do the Sea Ray standard 5.0L, although for our lake and use, we’re not trying to turn a cruiser into a speedboat, but yeah - more power is always good, right? ;) Good headroom in the cabin, so pretty workable.
Then I managed to do something smart...
My opinion on this may change over time, but I’m just not sure I’m a fan of the mid-cabin, so just mentally assumed we’d be sleeping in the V-berth with the added support and cushions put into place. So, I assembled it into sleeping configuration, and told my wife to get comfy, then I tried to do the same. So, at 6’ - I ALMOST fit, kind of, and maybe could make it work if I curled up a bit unnaturally or let my legs hang off a fair amount on the front. Hmm. Might work, but not really well or comfortably from what I was feeling - I now understand the point of ‘beam’ width. Hmm…and crap, as at least a 26’ Chapparal wasn’t going to work in the way we’d expected.
But wait, there’s a slightly bigger boat right there!
There happened to be a 1996 Sundancer 270 on the lot, so we jumped in to check it out. The non-SE version of the older 270s has a 9’2” beam vs the 8”6” of the shorter boats, so not much difference there, but going inside was still a new experience wit hthe extra length. I’d virtually and in person plotted out in my head dozens of 26’ cruisers so the layouts there were well known, but - this 270 actually had a dinette pair of seats and table separate from the V-berth area. It ‘felt bigger.’ I assembled the v-berth into a bed and got on. It may still not be ‘perfect,’ but - this actually works! Interestingly, adding the dinette ate up any real length added to the V-berth from bow to stern, especially on the port side(left when looking at the front/bow of the boat) but the starboard(right) side gained some length, as did laying sideways across it due to the increased beam.
We need a 27’ boat!
Unfortunately, while this specific example looked pretty decent on the outside, and I was kind of digging the blue bimini top (and OMG, who the hell came up with this word, and worse, why does it not rhyme with bikini?!?), the inside of the cabin had seen some better days In addition...
What’s up with boat manufacturers thinking interiors should look like 1980s porn sets or Grandma’s house?
Can you hear the music in your head while looking at this interior?
Considering our desire to be overnighting on it, it may seem trivial, but it just wasn’t for us.
Right length, possibly right model, but - wrong boat for us
We did find another 270 Sundancer/SDA at the same broker, which seemed to have some promise but it needed some work including a lower and HVAC. We jumped on and were happy to see no porn interior, but it was somehow insanely hot, we were getting tired and shopped out (something I suppose my wife still did better than I fare in a mall…), so noted it for now and moved on.
Had mixed results in reachouts to other local sales - a bunch of ‘maybe but ultimately nopes’ - we stopped in at a handful of other brokers and dealers, kept up the email and calls when seeing something possibly promising but no callback or response, or found out - that one’s gone but do you want to look at something-in-no-way-whatsoever-what-you’re-looking-for? No, thanks…
We did have a nice night at the Lake, did some kayaking and headed out towards the mountains, occasionally getting some late callbacks with us long gone. We would have considered stopping by on the way back from the mountains, but none of them were really what we were looking for.
Disappointed, but - the search continues...