Advice on 19' or 21'

[Evil Sports]

You made the right choice. Standing rule is buy the biggest boat you can afford now or be trading it in, in a year. As big as it seems all boats Shrink in the water. Your gonna love that boat, mine does all the things I need it to and Im very happy for 7 seasons. While I have considered the 24s they really dont offer any more cabin seating space, just bigger nose and swim deck.

 

[Farny]

Drag, there is definitely more space on the 21, I just went from a Ar190 to the 212S. Not huge amount but my family and I can really tell. I have had 9 on my 190 4 adults and 5 kids, it was tight the boat was working to pull the tube with all that extra weight, but the 190 did it.The family we brought out that day loved our boat so much they bought it off me . All that being said it is a give and take our 190 was reliable, easy to maintain and store, an all around great boat. The 21',s are bigger, storage could be an issue, a little more maintenance and more expensive but my 212S is freaking rocket. If I was between an Ar195 and AR210, it would come down to storage for me. Both boats are awesome. I like the blue 2021 Ar195 and white 2021 Ar210

Agree with what @Sean R said. Reason we went with the 195s was purely the ability to store in our garage for convenience. Saving that monthly storage fee and the ability to leave with the boat straight from the house is a nice luxury. other than that i may have gone for the 212x.

 

[HangOutdoors]

Just get the biggest boat that you can afford and that works for your use case and you will be fine. If it is a 19' then that is what it is. If it is a 25' then do that. Then enjoy your boat.

 

[Nordicron]

I think an AR195 is going to be plenty fine on the river, there are a ton of bassboats and fishing boats running that river system all the time. A 19.5 high sided glass boat is going to be plenty. I can tell you also that the newer 195s feel plenty spacious in fact having 8 people on a 212x or a 195 they are BOTH going to feel a bit crowded! No one can argue that. Also for me having 1 engine vs 2 is a benefit! I do all my own maint and only having to change oil and winterize 1 is benefit! Also I think my cabin is quiter than that of the 2 engine boats just because of 1 vs 2 engines. I also prefer the single trailer for ease of movement and storage. Lastly this thing cost less so less money to lose over time.

 

[OrangeTJ]

I agree that the biggest you can afford, store, and use in your use case tends to be more likely what a person will stick with. HOWEVER, it wasn't all that long ago (80's, 90's) that a 19 footer was a pretty big runabout. Growing up, we had a 16' Marlin and that was totally the normal sized boat on our lake and worked great for our family of 4 + each of us kids bringing a friend each. We just accepted that we would hang out on the shore, not on the boat, when we weren't skiing, tubing, or cruising. An 18 footer was pretty luxurious and anything 20' or larger was considered a "big boat".