New to boating

[ACM]

My husband and I are looking to purchase our first boat (horrible timing...I know!), and we have fallen in love with Cobalts. Can y'all tell me if there is a big difference between the CS23 and R3 in the way they handle, feel on the water, power, etc.? I know they're comparable on size so wasn't sure if the R3 is worth the extra $40,000. Can y'all also tell me what you think a good price is for the CS23 and R3? Prices are all over the place right now, so it's hard to determine what's reasonable.

[AsLan7]

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Hey ACM. Welcome to the CobaltChat forum. So glad you found us!

You are stepping right into the best made runabouts on the planet currently being pumped out of the world headquarters in Neodesha. I have not ridden in the models you are desiring but there are folks here who have. They will chime in shortly.

Be sure to post pics of your purchase. I have a feeling it won't take long although it is a sellers market right now.

Again, welcome aboard mate!

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[ACM]

Thank you so much! We are excited! It has been such a tough process because our local Cobalt dealer doesn't even have boats to look at. They are always sold out, and all the marinas are booked. We already got on a waiting list just so we'll have a place to put the boat when we pull the trigger on one.
I'll definitely post a pic when we finally get our hands on one.

[BigGib]

Welcome to the board!

The market is definitely crazy right now, dealers can't keep inventory and the used market is really high. Are you able to find another dealer within reasonable driving distance that may have either or both? Best bet is to get in both and see what you like best! Either way I'm sure you'll be happy with the quality

[Big Block Power]

Welcome. 2 totally diff boats. You should really ride in both of them. It's like my 220 vs 222 I really didn't like the 222 at all. Felt like a grandpa boat to me. Only you can say if it's worth the extra cash. The resale of a r3 I think will always be better though.

[Whippled263]

The r3 def. has a higher freeboard making it a more stable ride and will handle passengers and rough water much better I looked at both this year at the boat show and can say the r3 is alot more boat but it comes at a price.

[Stagdad]

Where are you going to use the boat? Big water, rough water or somewhat calmer conditions? Will you be towing or leaving it in water? Even though both are similar length the R series is a bigger boat all around. It's taller, longer and heavier and so probably a little more of a handful if towing and backing into a storage unit.However the taller freeboard, greater length and greater weight will give a smoother ride. If this is really your first boat and not taking a half dozen people with you every time, then I would personally lean towards the CS if it will handle your water conditions. If in a year you find you like boating and you take care of it, you can always sell, Cobalt is known for great resale, and move up to a bigger size.Welcome to the site!

[Big Block Power]

Ok so let's talk about your next boat then.
I think you just enjoyed the cs23 and found it to be a bit small. I would grab a R5 before they are gone. Man that r6 design well. It's bu's fault But get the 430.

[ACM]

Welcome to the board!

The market is definitely crazy right now, dealers can't keep inventory and the used market is really high. Are you able to find another dealer within reasonable driving distance that may have either or both? Best bet is to get in both and see what you like best! Either way I'm sure you'll be happy with the quality

We actually drove 4 hours this morning to the next closest Cobalt dealer. We were thrilled to be able to put our eyes on one in real life. One thing we learned was that we can't buy from a Cobalt dealer outside of our region. I was so disappointed. They were still super helpful and spent about 2 hours with us. They didn't have an R3, but they had an R5. So, at least we were able to a good visual of what the R3 would look like.

[ACM]

Welcome. 2 totally diff boats. You should really ride in both of them. It's like my 220 vs 222 I really didn't like the 222 at all. Felt like a grandpa boat to me. Only you can say if it's worth the extra cash. The resale of a r3 I think will always be better though.

I agree. I guess we're just going to have to be patient because our dealer doesn't have anything to look at much less test drive.
I had no idea we could only purchase from a dealer in our area.

[ACM]

The r3 def. has a higher freeboard making it a more stable ride and will handle passengers and rough water much better I looked at both this year at the boat show and can say the r3 is alot more boat but it comes at a price.

We drove 4 hours this morning to next closest Cobalt dealer that actually had boats. They didn't have any R3's, but they had some R5's, which gave us a good idea of the 3's. I have to admit. We fell in love immediately!!!! We probably should have never looked at them because now we don't want to look at anything else.

[ACM]

Where are you going to use the boat? Big water, rough water or somewhat calmer conditions? Will you be towing or leaving it in water? Even though both are similar length the R series is a bigger boat all around. It's taller, longer and heavier and so probably a little more of a handful if towing and backing into a storage unit.However the taller freeboard, greater length and greater weight will give a smoother ride. If this is really your first boat and not taking a half dozen people with you every time, then I would personally lean towards the CS if it will handle your water conditions. If in a year you find you like boating and you take care of it, you can always sell, Cobalt is known for great resale, and move up to a bigger size.Welcome to the site!

Yes, this is truly our first boat.
We'll be using it a very large lake near our house. It gets pretty crowded on the weekends. We are going to put it in a slip and won't trailer it. At least not until we get really comfortable. We don't even plan on getting a trailer initially because we don't want it to just sit in storage and get weather damaged. We will probably have about 6 people with us the majority of the time we're on the boat. We are really leaning towards the R3. It's AMAZING!

[ACM]

Ok so let's talk about your next boat then.
I think you just enjoyed the cs23 and found it to be a bit small. I would grab a R5 before they are gone. Man that r6 design well. It's bu's fault But get the 430.

We actually walked through the R5 today.
I think if we could have purchased from that dealer we would have bought that boat.

[BigGib]

I know they don't like to sell out of their territory, but I'm surprised with it being an inventory boat they wouldn't sell to you? I fully understand a new order boat. I'm sure the demand right now probably doesn't help that cause though.

Have you been out on the lake before on another boat, just to see how rough it actually gets? I'm on Lake of the Ozarks which short of the ocean or great lakes, it's probably one of the busiest and roughest lakes, more so now than ever before. I would've feel safe in anything under 30'. Just make sure you get enough boat for you lake to be safe.

[Big Block Power]

Welcome. 2 totally diff boats. You should really ride in both of them. It's like my 220 vs 222 I really didn't like the 222 at all. Felt like a grandpa boat to me. Only you can say if it's worth the extra cash. The resale of a r3 I think will always be better though.

I agree. I guess we're just going to have to be patient because our dealer doesn't have anything to look at much less test drive.
I had no idea we could only purchase from a dealer in our area.

Yes it's a good and a bad thing. It protects the dealer and the brand another reason why resale is so good. This year maybe not but sometimes they will do a dealer trade to the other dealer with no boats. You can ask your local dealer if they would buy / that other boat from the other dealer and sell it to you. There are a few used r5s around. I haven't seen any r3s other than sailor's

So what lake will you be on? A bunch of us are on rough lakes. I think other than loto and the great lakes or the ocean a CS or R series can handle anything within reason of course.