New sailor; small boat options?

[tampasteve1]

Good day, I am fairly new to sailing. I have taken a few basics classes on Ideal 18 and Catalina 25, and now I am looking at getting a small trailerable boat of my own. My budget is sub $1K with trailer. I live in Tampa and plan on sailing on lakes and Tampa Bay, maybe eventually to some of the small islands in the area. My main options this minute seem to be an AMF Zuma 14, 1981 Howmar 12, 2003 Snark Sunchaser One, and several Sunfish boats. All of them are in approximately the same condition, with the Snark being the nicest.

I am not super keen on the Sunfish as I would like something that I can take my 5yr old son and perhaps one other person on occasion. I am not currently into racing, just having a nice leisurely sail.

I have read several threads here about the Zuma and similar Snark boats, but I am still not sure.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

[tag]

I have sailed on Sunfish and a Snark. I've not sailed a Zuma, but a coworker has one and enjoys it.

My personal opinion is the Snark is kind of junky - they are awkward to sit in/on, are a bit tippy, and my guess is you'd be underwhelmed by the power due to the relatively small sail area on the Snark.

If the Zuma is in good shape, that might be your best bet for taking along guests. Spare parts will be harder to get for the Zuma.

But that being said, I've taken along a guest rider on my Sunfish numerous times, and it is fine. The cockpit gets a little crowded with another adult (but not that big of a deal), but with a 5-year old child it is not normally a problem at all.

My 7-yr old son rides with me and finds creative spots to hang out:

 

[tampasteve1]

Looks like the one Zuma I was looking at was sold, so I will keep looking. The Sunfish could still be an option, there are a couple good looking ones on market right now. I suppose if it did not work out it would be easier to sell too.