Posted: May 15 2007 at 10:07 | IP Logged

ROFLMAO!!!!!  Man, you shouldn't even be LOOKING at boats if you want nothing to worry!

That said, I wouldn't trade our Intrigue for any other 30' express on the market today.

Posted: May 21 2007 at 12:21 | IP Logged

Here's some things I would change:

1.The shower doesn't have a hanger, so you basically have to pick it up every time you want to rinse. I plan on adding a bracket for it, shouldn't be a big deal.

2.Some may find this surprising, but I wish the cockpit table was a bit SMALLER, since it takes so much space when we put it up. Some people we've had in our boat love that big table, and are impressed that it's as large or larger than the table on some 37' boats, but we find it a bit too big so we keep it stored most of the time.

3.More grab bars at the windshield walk through. The steps are a bit small too.

4.A real space for a trash bin of decent size.

5.Corian or better quality countertops, our countertops look nice but they scratch too easily.

There's probably a few other things that I could come up with, but I can't think of any more right now...  This is all peanuts when we think about all the great features of our boat.  Honestly, I haven't seen any other 31' boat out there that can seat as many people comfortably in the cockpit. In fact we hang out with people that own 37' Cruisers and Formulas and their seating area on the lower cockpit is smaller than ours, then there's more at the helm but being on a separate level it's more distanced for socializing.  Another huge one for me is the side decks, actually bigger on our 31' boat than most 37' cruisers out there, not to mention the very tall bow rails which make it safer (we raft out with our friends' Cruisers 3672 and even though our decks is much lower the bow rails come up to almost the same height!).  Many boats out there the bow rails seem more like a trip hazzard than a good thing.  Then there's stuff my admiral would not buy a boat with out - like full fiberglass liner on the cabin (she would not even consider boats with built-in carpet), a screen door at the cabin access to keep bugs out and ventilate, etc.  You add that with the great access to pretty much all componets that need to be serviced, great fit and finish (love the woodwork on the cabin, and the teak covered platform, stainless steps to the sidedecks, great quality upholstery, etc etc etc), lighted bow rails (gotta love them!) and the fact that you own a very unique boat that turns necks everywhere we go, and we love every single minute of it!  In fact, even though this was our first boat we love it so much that the two-foot-itis is nowhere to be seen.  We look at many 33-34' models out there and we see the same amount of seating or even less on the cockpit, no sidedecks or tiny ones, not enough screen panels on the canvas or no screen on cabin door, tough access to engines or genset or batteries or you-name-it, or simply uninspired design and layout.

Oh, and it can do 50 mph when the conditions are right. 

FWIW, our runner-up boat was the Regal 3060, but we didn't like the cockpit layout where the back 1/2 of the cockpit seemed to be left out/wasted or just for storage.  Also basically no side decks which is kind of a deal breaker for me. Also, since the access to the aft berth was too small and cave-like, my wife didn't want to consider it even though the berth itself was larger than the one on our boat. On the Regal it's a bigger problem too as there's no fixed forward berth, and we're not fans of "converting" stuff.  Still, we loved the lines and the finish on that boat.

Posted: May 21 2007 at 16:08 | IP Logged

"we bought it on the spot. I liked the blue hull color."

Somehow I knew you were baiting me, but I just couldn't resist biting!