Hello from California, land of fruits and nuts!

[5150dude]

I am (unfortunately) currently w/o a Parker. I plan on buying this year when the time and deal is right.
I have been doing careful consideration on walkarounds and pilot houses and decided pilot house for me!
After the LA boat show and several visits to the local dealer, I am sold on the Parker.
I am also looking at the Defiance which claim to beat Parker's price by $20K. We'll see. I'll also see about the quality and worksmanship and look hard at the price with all the same equipment.
I like the 2120 and the dealer has one with a bait tank, tower, and a 200 Yammie for $52K. I don't know if he will negotiate that or not.
Time is on my side but I think there is also an "off" season where you might get better deals.
Very impressed with your site and it has been helpful to me. I am a bloodydeck member which is another forum with mostly CA guys (and gals)
Take a peek at www.bloodydecks.com (no spam intended. It is not a profiting site).
Tight lines,
Dave

 

[DaleH]

Dave:

Welcome aboard to ClassicParker !

Glad to see you could get in and post! I too lurk (mostly) over at Bloody Decks and then on Sportfishermen.com sites.

 

[Porkchunker]

Welcome to the site. I spent about 18 months on various websites before deciding that Parker was the boat for me. Several themes ran through all those sites:
1. Owners were happy
2. A lack of "internet bashing" of the Parker brand
3. You found very few used Parker boats available...most seem to be sold one fishing buddy to the next without hitting the published market. They were not piling up in large numbers on the sale lots/forums, languishing for months at a time like a lot of other brands. If they did hit the published market, they were gone in a flash.

There is a lot of good info here on CP...often described as the Parker Owner's Manual.

 

[Par]

Sounds like you are going to make the right choice dave. I hope the BD thread helped your decision.

Brian

 

[Megabyte]

3. You found very few used Parker boats available...most seem to be sold one fishing buddy to the next without hitting the published market. They were not piling up in large numbers on the sale lots/forums, languishing for months at a time like a lot of other brands. If they did hit the published market, they were gone in a flash.

That is exactly how I found mine.

A buddy of mine knew I was looking for a pilothouse type boat and heard from one of his buddies that the guy was planning to sell his Parker. My buddy called me and I went to see the boat, which was local to me.

I made my deal with the owner that weekend, and the following Monday when the owners ad hit The Fisherman magazine, he stopped writing down names after the first 20 calls.

If I had bailed on the deal, he had 20 more interested people waiting in line.

That's how these boats sell in the Chessie region. 8)

 

[pelagic2530]

3. You found very few used Parker boats available...most seem to be sold one fishing buddy to the next without hitting the published market. They were not piling up in large numbers on the sale lots/forums, languishing for months at a time like a lot of other brands. If they did hit the published market, they were gone in a flash.

couldnt be more true.

we got ours from a neighbors brother in law. we went down to the dealer to order a new 2520 XL with a single yammie, not quite the boat we wanted but the one we could afford. so we get there, and the dealer is really busy. so we figure, well come back tomorrow. we get to the house, and we mention this to our neighbor. he tells us that he thinks his brother in law was selling his parker, and that we should take a look at it. we went over the next day and it was PERFECT!! Twin engines, big pilothouse, well equipped.... we were sold. wrote the checks a few days later.

its kinda like some wierd secret society- you have to be in to get in :lol:

 

[5150dude]

I wanted to update this tread...
BOUGHT ONE!
No regrets. More impressed every day.
dave

 

[Porkchunker]

Congrats and a hearty welcome to the ParkerNation.

Glad we could be of help.

Dave