Opinions are like a$$ holes everyone has one. Buy whatever you can afford and upgrade later.
I am new to this site, but we purchased a Lightning 23' xs last year and we are very happy. They treated us great. First time on the water we got hit at the dock by some drunk guy. Lighting fixed the boat free of charge while doing the 20 hour service, it don't get any better than that.
Hey College Fund in my earlier post I neglected the important part of saying welcome to Hot-Boat
Stick around and enjoy the place, lot of good people here
Glad to hear they took care of you on the mishap too
As a happy Lavey owner I will say one thing that I know to be true. You wont find many, if any unhappy Ultra owners here. You will get what you pay for, and they stand behind their products.
dicudmore, thanks for the welcome.
I guess you have to ask yourself the following questions before you can make a valid opionion. Have you every owned a lightning boat? Have you ever bought a lightning boat from the lightning dealer to which you can state how you were treated? I have only had my new Lighning 23'xs for 1 year and my opinion may change, but so far we love the boat. You really need to buy whatever you can afford, new or used. I don't ever remeber going to the lake and having a bad time, including the time my boat broke and I had to work on it the whole first day. If you have kids as I do they will all enjoy the lake.
ps. The boat that broke was my old one.
I am in the same boat as you, Ultra was out of my price range.I have a lightning 24' on order. Should be done next week. Boat is built as good as any ultra I have seen. Gelcaot is AWESOME also!
Dicudmore,
Let's hear your reason on why Lightning is SOO bad? Is it because you are now an Ultra Snob? Ultra makes good boats, no question. He dropped the lightning line because people were buying more lightnings than Ultra's (Because they were the same boat for cheaper)
we originally started the Lightning line off the same way, but I allowed people to upgrade them and customize them and it became just as much work as an Ultra, but cut into Ultra sales and profit.
I could be wrong but i believe the 23xs and the 247 are molds that are owned by Jerry Van Beek and Ultra failed to pay royalties which is why they no longer make them.
This debate is like the Weekend Warrior vs. Carson Fun runner debate in the desert. All the guys with the more expensive brand think that the less expensive brand is a P.O.S. Not true!
Buy it - You will be happy.
Ultra's are incredibly overpriced. 60k for a 24' with a 6.2. That's called times have been good. Ultra used to be the best kept secret but have become very cocky.
To make it clear, I don't hate Ultra's - I may own one some day. I'm just tired of certain people that have probably NEVER driven or owned a lightning always say negative things because they heard something negative at one point and are influenced by what others say. I have yet to hear nagative response from a lightning OWNER!
I could be wrong but i believe the 23xs and the 247 are molds that are owned by Jerry Van Beek and Ultra failed to pay royalties which is why they no longer make them.
Yes. you are wrong. A little history on those molds. Those molds were originally owned by DCB. John West (Ultra) purchased the hulls from DCB. In 2004 John West sold the molds to Lightning.
Yes. you are wrong. A little history on those molds. Those molds were originally owned by DCB. John West (Ultra) purchased the hulls from DCB. In 2004 John West sold the molds to Lightning.
thanks Jim, beat me to it...
I don't know if DCB had it first...but it was the DCB 24' Extreme prior to John selling them as the Ultra 247 before he finished the mold on the 24 Stealth.
Bottom line is they all float and will get you to the sandbar for some fun! :rollside:
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