Used sportfish decisions

I used to own a 1986 37 Bertram. That was an excellent boat. Water would never get to the bridge in choppy water, a step ahead from my current 54' Bertram. It was really comfortable as well. I can tell you that a 37' will not disappoint. I had a friend who owned a 38' blackfin, and it was also a very nice boat, also very reliable. You can't go wrong with either one. But I can tell you right now that a 37 Bertram is an excellent boat. Period.

That's about 250 hrs. a year. A well used boat and one that probably got proper maintenance. Those motors should have a lot of life ahead of them, but, of course, have them looked over.

3208's are pretty good engines and have a lot of life left with those hours. Usage is 250hrs a year like NYCAP said and that is better for the engines then 50hrs a year. 3208's are remanufactured by Caterpillar and come with warranties and the reman's are pretty reasonable actually should you ever need them. The 35' Cabo is a good boat and built very well. Going 3 or 4 years newer will get you newer engine technology c7's I believe or c9's and the electronic controls albeit at a higher price. Other then that, not much is different between the 2000 and 2008. But there's nothing wrong with what you're looking at. I ran a 35' Cabo Flybridge from Ft. Laud to Placencia Belize one time. It's about the only sub 45' SF I would make that trip with.

The Cabo is an excellent boat. Can't go wrong with that one either.

Its also a lot more current boat then the other two you're considering with a lot more modern items like livewell, newer heads, two large fishboxes, all of the systems are newer like digital a/c controls.....appliances etc.......

HEHEHHEHE.....If I could get the owners of a lot of things to see pricing my way, I would've bought a lot of things but they didn't.......

Check around, there are a lot of boats on the market.....if you're looking for an express, The 35' Carolina Classic is a great great riding and handling boat

35 Cabo vs 37 Bertram and others

One question people have failed to ask you is how will you use the boat? A 35' Cabo (especially 2000) is extremely wet (one of the wettest) and fairly hard riding. If you make long runs in your fishing or like to fish moderate to rough weather - you will not like the Cabo. If you fish short distances or calm water mostly, the Cabo uses space better and has excellent finish work. Plus 3208's (surprised they were used in 2000) are among the best motors built by Cat and are still supported.

The 37' Bertram and the Blackfin are much softer riding and drier (MUCH). You also might consider the 35' or 38' Henriques. Both were excellent sea boats, economical and reasonably priced to begin with.

I've run over 150 models of boats over 30' as a freelance captain for 30 years and try to be unbiased if that's possible.

The 35' Flybridge isn't wet and rides pretty nice, the express can be a little wet. I delivered a 35' Flybridge from Fort Lauderdale to Belize and it didn't have any strataglass and we never got a drop of water on us.

Mike we ran a 38 blackfin out of Louisiana and loved the boat....The 37 Bert is a great hull. The 38 cabo is newer obviously, and is a great fishing platform.

You've got 3 great boats to chose from, and its a buyer's market out there. We just closed on a 1997 54 Bertram and moved our 38 Blackfin to Los Cabos, Mexico....Now we have the best of both worlds!!!


Catchem up!!

Congradulations!

Congratulations on your new boat!