My dilemma...opinions appreciated.

[AutzenSection37]

Hey guys,

My name is Aaron. I'm brand new here and would really appreciate as many points of view as I can get.

I've never had a boat. I have fished from a pontoon for years and loved it but two years had a leg injury that won't allow me to get the pontoon to the water very easily. Atleast not the water I want to be fishing.

I gave up fishing for a couple of years but am getting around a lot better and decided it's time to get a boat.

I've heard a lot of bad things about buying a used boat. I hear they are often unreliable and turn into huge money pits. I have a limited budget and naturaly I'd like to get the best boat for my money.

So basically here's my question...Would you buy a lesser brand boat with probably less options but brand new? Or, would you go for a used boat but a top of the line brand? (If you want to tell me what brand I should get that's ok and I will definately read it, but I noticed a lot of older threads on the subject already and will be diving into those much more thoroughly soon).

My wife gave me an allowence of $25,000 and that's probably going to have to include what ever else I might need..ie. fish finder, life jackets, inital repairs, registration ect.

I plan to do as much research as I can and chose/buy a boat this winter.

Thank you for any advice you can share.

Aaron