Motors seem to be the most important thing when you get involved in
boats.It really sucks when they quit on the water,a big body of water
or a large tangle of rivers and backwaters seem amazingly similar to a
large empty desert when it happens.Life is too short to fork around
with old motors,it's better to just kick the dog and beat the wife to
get that part over with and then buy a new or slightly used one that
won't give you any trouble.Motor,I mean,not wife or dog.
Next in importance, to my mind, is a trailor.If you are using
salt water,Aluminum is best,galvanized works and a painted one
will last about 2 days if you're careful.
Hulls seem to be the easiest thing to acquire.Forget wood unless
you like puttering around a lot or have a covered place to store one
and it's in good shape to begin with and you like puttering around a
lot anyway.I don't know much about metal boats.Fiberglass itself will
last till the cows come home but the encapsulated wood (like in the
floor(deck) or especially the transom) has a very good chance of
having gone to Hell a long time ago with no intensions of returning.
All in all it's very easy to blow a wad of money on a boat that
might very easily leave you broke, stranded, ****ed off,in dire
straights, divorced or at the very least with a big pile of useless
crap in the driveway.