I am going to assume you are talking about motor boats. Sounds like you would want a cuddy cabin or a full cruiser based on you saying it would need to sleep 4. That's going to be tight in a cuddy. We have a 28 foot cruiser and that would be doable with 4 adults.
The difference between the 2 is a cuddy cabin you won't be able to stand fully up in while the cruiser you will. The cruiser will also have a lot more amenities....like full toilet, shower, Air conditioning, cooking facilities, and more. Both will have cockpits that are very friendly for entertaining.
What are you going to do with it? Water sports, or just motoring around and hanging out? If you want water sports, you have to make sure you have a strong engine. The most we have done is tubing, and my boat is heavy and she GUZZLES gas when doing the tubing. It's ok for the limited amount of times tubing, but if I were going to do that a lot, I would get a smaller boat designed for that.
Also, are you going to trailer it or keep it at a marina? Lots of costs involved with either choice. If you are going to trailer it, do you have a vehicle that can safely pull it? If you are going to keep it at the marina, there are slip charges that around here are $150 per foot for slip space.
Lots of maintenance costs as well....winterizing, spring commissioning, supplies, etc. My engine just overheated 2 weeks ago and it cost me $800 to fix it. (Barnacles in the outdrive).
The most popular brands out there are Sea Ray, Chaparral, Four Winns, Monterey, amongst many others. Sea Ray is the most popular, but I stayed away from them as I didn't think their quality was up to the level of the Chaparral which is the brand I bought.
Now with all that said, we have a lot of fun. We joined a yacht club in RI and we have made a lot of new friends. With a boat, it's easy to make friends and entertain. We go to Block Island often, go up on the sand bars and go quahogging almost every weekend, and just sit back and enjoy.
If you don't know a lot about boating, please take a boating safety course. The Coast Guard auxiliary offers them around here.
Let me know if you have any other questions....I do know a lot about sailboats also....as I have a 24 Hunter for sale. I could give you a deal on that if you're interested!!!
Check out www.boattrader.com and www.yachtworld.com for boats for sale. I found mine on boat trader and bought it from a guy in VA and had it shipped up to RI...A lot of great deals out there right now with people wanting to get out from underneath their boats.
I was going to post, but I was pretty much going to put the same advice here. I'm a former motorboat owner, now who owns a catamaran sailboat.
PM me if you have any questions.
