I'm with the Old Man on Pawn Stars. New or used a boat is just a hole in the water that you throw money into. Guilty as charged but I like having a boat to fish from.

To each his own on financing. One plan does not work for everyone.
I purchased a new Seaark 1872 CC in '15. I traded a G3 that was paid for and financed $16K for the max term to get the note down.($163) and I'll pay it off long before that. It allowed me to get the boat I wanted and have it built the way I wanted it, not one off the dealer's lot with extras I did not want or need. I ordered it with minimal equipment and rigged it out the way I needed it. The result is an affordable boat that will probably make it longer than I will.
Doing it all again, I would do it the same way except it would probably be two feet longer. Who doesn't suffer from 2' itis?
It helps that I use it for my marine business and everything is a write-off, but if it were strictly a fishing boat, I would do it the same way. I just hate to buy someone else's problems and by the time you fix everything that is worn out or close to it, you could have bought a new boat. I have owned one used boat and one used vehicle and neither were a joy to own.No more of that.

We found in our most recent study that Bass Cat retail buyers kept their boats 8 to 14 years. The number before the recession was 7 to 12 years.