226 vs newer cobalt

[Snowman8]

After owning an R5 for nearly 9 years and my uncle owning a 226 for the same time the 226 is a great boat! But it is nothing compared to the R series. I would agree with BBP and either plan on putting 20K into your 226 or buy an R series. Especially if you get into rough water! The R’s have a higher freeboard and are heavier than the CS. I boat on a busy river with very large boats and I can count on one hand how many times I’ve taken a spray over the bow. I think BBP might be feeling a little under the weather by saying to go with the Volvo.. I’ve had the VP 380 in the R5 and it is a great engine!

[Big Block Power]

After owning an R5 for nearly 9 years and my uncle owning a 226 for the same time the 226 is a great boat! But it is nothing compared to the R series. I would agree with BBP and either plan on putting 20K into your 226 or buy an R series. Especially if you get into rough water! The R’s have a higher freeboard and are heavier than the CS. I boat on a busy river with very large boats and I can count on one hand how many times I’ve taken a spray over the bow. I think BBP might be feeling a little under the weather by saying to go with the Volvo.. I’ve had the VP 380 in the R5 and it is a great engine!

Oh crap feeling much better today! Go merc bb
Oh they don't offer that in CS go with a R series for that too

[jhnmdahl]

I have a 2015, which is the same boat as they sold in 2009 except for some of the options like electronics and seagrass carpets. I'm changing out the stereo stuff anyway, so that's not a big deal, and the rest of the boat still looks pretty new. I do like the styling of the 210 more than the 212 which influenced my original purchase, but if I were in the market for a boat today I'd probably buy a used 210 or R3 rather than one of the newer models.

How do you like the seagrass vs carpet or sea deck? Mine doesn't have anything but does have the snaps and I want to do something but can't decide what. I'm liking the sea grass idea right now.

I was looking at SeaDek, but my dealer said that on the swim step in particular it tends to need to be re-glued after a few years (I bought my boat 7-8 years ago). The options for the interior were carpet or seagrass, and I love the way the seagrass feels and looks relative to wet carpet. As for seagrass vs. SeaDek, maybe a little more like a tiki hut and less like a ski boat? Anyway, I'm happy with it.

[dustinm]

Just chiming in to say that we really like our CS23 but I can't say its fundamentally any "better" than your 226. It will have more technology, which can be good and bad. In response to @dustinm's comment above, the tower on the 2022 and newer folds lower than the earlier models. We can fit ours under a 8 door with the tower folded on a boatmate trailer.

WHAT!!!

seriously tho .. can I see some pics?

I don’t have a good pic with it folded, but here you can see it on the trailer without the Bimini to see how the tower differs. The top of the tower folds flush with the windshield now and the highest point is at the base where it folds.

Thanks for the pic. I would really like to see a photo of it folded. Our Dealer took a pic of their stock '19 or '20 folded on the showroom floor at we ordered our boat and it stuck up above the windshield. Would like to see the comparison

[jfriedmann]

Owner of a 2003 226 with a 6.2... done some work to "make it my own" since buying.

I haven't ridden in a CS23 or r3, just based on some online reading... I think you have to ask yourself -- what are your goals, what type of water are you boating on, and how long do you intend on keeping the boat?

The CS23 is essentially the same weight and deadrise as the 226... it's probably going to handle chop & wakes quite similarly; and produce a similar wake for watersports. You might lose a bit of top end speed with the CS23.

Upgrading to an R3 will take the chop better, will cross big wakes better, will be a drier ride -- it's a much heavier boat, with a deeper deadrise, and higher freeboard. It's probably going to feel a little less "sporty". I'd imagine that skiing behind an R3 will be inferior to a CS23/226, but wakeboarding would be better with a slightly bigger wake.

The 226 could be retrofitted with a tower -- I'm guessing somewhere in the neighborhood of $3-5k. Perfect pass can be retrofitted as well, although I'm sure the CS23 version of perfect pass will work better. Knowing very little about your boat, I'm going to guess it's worth $30k. A CS23 with the 350 motor and some options is going to likely cost you in the neighborhood of $130k. For that $100k, you're going to get technology. You're going to get a brand new boat. It's going to feel bigger inside, it'll have the tower, the swim platform is going to be much closer to the water (and have the swim step).

Spending another $100k to get those things isn't going to make sense for everyone / possibly most.

Ultimately, I think it comes back to what are your goals and how long are you keeping it?

Do you want to have a pristine boat that shows no signs of wear with a pristine interior? with the latest/greatest tech and a factory-integrated tower? Then honestly, get the new boat, you could easily spend $30k modernizing the 226, and at the end of the day, and it's ceiling is probably $35k in spectacular condition.

Are you thinking that you might want a head in a year or two? or to be able to surf in a year or two? then hang onto what you've got; as neither boat is really suitable for surfing.

[dustinm]

jfriedmann, I was going to say a CS23 isnt a 100k boat until I went to the boat builder!!! But it does appear that an R4 will be 25k higher than a CS...is it worth that upcharge - hard NO. From a VP standpoint if you want the HP I would not even consider a 350 I would go straight to the 380.