I decided to buy a longer boat after seeing videos of people putting hooks into their partners' heads and after having a couple of close calls with my brother. The boat needed to be long enough so that a person sitting on each end could use a 7.5' rod sidearm without endangering the other. I went from a 14' jon boat with a 15hp Nissan 4-stroke to a Phoenix 619 Pro with a 200hp Mercury Pro XS. I bought the Phoenix based on what I read on this site. The 200 hp was the standard motor. Before buying the Phoenix I had never driven a power boat. Even though I've now had the boat for 4 years I still would like to go to a driving school or have someone teach me the finer points of managing the boat. I always think safety while in the boat but I have went full throttle on the 2 mile stretch with no other boat around. My buddy bought a Phoenix 619 like 2-3 years ago. Very nice boat, lots of gadgets and extras my little Nitro doesn't have. But then again, he paid like $40k for it and I paid $15k on clearance lol. Too bad he pays like $600 per month and uses it like 4x per year... Nice boat though!
