My favorite boat is:

I like the 58 YF. I have a 53MY which is the same boat without the cockpit. Some days I regret not having gotten the 58YF but aesthetically I like the look of the MY. Don’t know why, maybe just because I m used to it


Favorite boat... probably Vicem 77 Classic. Fantastic lines.

Wow! For me it's really hard to pick just one.

Runabout ; would be my '74 Chris-Craft 22' cutlass, Tournament fisherman ,Dory ( has many names over the years). Love the V-8 inboard torque and power. Love the lines, pretty good in seas and is a great all around boat. Both wood and glass models are nice.

Sailboat; Cape Dory 40. Like the full , deep keel. Classic sailboat lines. Built like a tank.

Yacht; Well I still love wood- If I had the time and $$$ , My favorite is Trumpy from 1955 on up. Also Matthews is up there. Then always loved the Canoe stern Feadship....Classic Burger's are nice too.
Current produced Yacht would be a Fleming , any size! Also like some of the Ocean Alexanders out there.

Sportfish; Rybovich, again a classic sharp look. Well made boat.

As you can tell, I'm not a fan of a lot the newer boats out there.

I guess if I had Bezos type money I would probably build something like an 80-90 foot Jarrett Bay or Spencer. Then I would have a 300' something to carry it to wherever I wanted it

Following Cleanslate's format of listing by type:

Caveat-we observe as owner and future buyer, always considering how we would like and use so not detached fan. I don't admire the beauty of classics or boats from afar like many of you do. I'm always thinking in terms of using them. So, I only think of boats in terms of potential use, not as dreams. That's a reason I have no appreciation for boats over 200'. I don't get it.

Lake runabouts-Cobalt. Love their quality and performance. Our last one was a 30' bowrider.
Lake pontoons-never owned one but a Bennington tri-toon would get our vote.
Bass boats-Sorry, anything but Ranger as simply too many of them.

Sailboat-Ok, not my realm of expertise but we prefer catamarans. Maybe a 67' Fountaine-Pajot.

Center Console-Seavee 39'. They combine quality, luxury and performance. Unfortunately add delivery time to it which is why our first CC was not a Seavee. I like the 39' size too for our use, which is for staff and crew to use.

Sportfish-No interest but feel like heresy in saying that despite growing up in NC, wouldn't be a Hatteras. Would be a custom of one of the many excellent builders. Oh, and I was shocked by the recent sale of ACY to Willis. C'est La Vie was a favorite.

Powerboats 40-80'-Performance-For performance and ride I'm a huge Riva fan. However, they're downplaying speed and might be forced to consider a Pershing, even though not a surface drive fan. Love our Riva's but now discontinued models. Still favorite is our Baby Riva, the 44' Rivarama. Still if considering today, might go with a true performance boat like a Magnum . So today, no favorite. Perhaps a Pershing 6X. If we were to replace our 63' today, would lean toward an AB 80.

Powerboats 40-80'-Cruisers. Also no favorite today. Just overall a deserted market. If forced to choose likely would be a Sunseeker Manhattan 68. None truly excite us and most either have too much draft for the Loop or US East Coast and lack the speed we'd like.

Over 80'-Cruising. We admit to prejudice based on quality and longevity and it leads to Westport. Love the 130 but 172 is interesting. And loved the Pacific Mariner 85. While we see the appeal of the larger Riva's and Sunseeker's to the European cruiser, the limited range and the draft often wouldn't work for us. Heesen is willing to build faster as they've done in the past, but then I have concerns over quality.

Over 80' Performance. I'll take AB every day. Love our AB 116. Love their 145. We love jets.

Tenders, 10-20'. Williams Jet Tenders. They just perform, both gas and diesel models.

Thing is, we know our tastes are different and not mainstream. We like modern. We like speed. We were even compared by someone here to Staluppi. Perhaps in boat taste but not money. However, I do like his concept of cruising faster.

Now, the builders have somewhat deserted the 40-80' range in terms of new and exciting. So why not Fountain or Cigarette on our lists? Just don't appeal to us for any type of use we've ever had. As much as we like running 50-55 knots and cruising at 40 and wouldn't mind a little more speed, maybe 60-65 knots, no interest in 80 or 90 knots. Just not interested in speed at the expense of safety or enjoyment.

My favourite boat with be an Itama 55 or 60 (the original Amati one) not the Ferretti Group Fifty Five (altough I do not mind this the original ones have something special about them).

With this I would compete for a Magnum 60 or 63, and or a Baia 63 Azzurra but while I like a surface drives I am not a super fan for them.
Another boat I like would be the Rizzardi 63 (shafts only). If interior space would be a priority I would take this over the Itama 60 as it is more spacious.
There is a hard top version for this.
I have also a soft spot for the Uniesse 57 HT.

As you can see I like traditional looking open sport yacht, with the exception of light designed three part hard-tops in some occasions see Uniesse, and availability of this for the Rizzardi, Itama 60, and Baia 63.

So if money was no object I would take one of these. I do not like crew onboard and I think 50-60ft is a limit where you do not need one.

Actually I can say there are a lot of Morelli and Melvin designs on my list. I only have one of the following.

Beach cat. Hobie Wave, why, my wife has one and I love it. She is in her element when sailing it. Morelli and Melvin design, by the way.

Formula CBR 330 or 350. Why? I love formula, had a 27 bowrider ( lost in an indoor marina storage fire) I think the bowrider with a cabin down below would be great on Lake Tahoe.

Salt water fishing, Invincible 40 Cat. Why? I really like Morelli and Melvin catamaran design and I think this would be a great boat for chasing the fishies.

Cruising sail, I would go HH 66. Why, again, Morelli and Melvin, you see the trend here.

Cruising motor, I would have a hard time here as I am not sure I want to cruise by motor alone. Is that odd?

I don't have a big desire to cruise or own anything I can't owner operate so I have no idea what big boat I may favor.

The 62 Offshore pilothouse would be my favorite pick. It has a great pilothouse, big flybridge with room for a 13/14' tender and a large aft deck with cockpit controls for fishing. Big enough for long stays aboard and a comfortable ride. Fast enough if you need to make some daytime mileage.
Checks all the boxes for us.

Lol ! OB , you even considered Bass boats! I agree, no Ranger. Champion was a nice riding/built Bass boat. But I'm out of touch now on the bass fishing scene.

You'll laugh but any boat I am on is my favorite in that moment.

The one I have an Amarti era Itama 42 , which later was rebadged as a 48 after the sale of the Co .
It large enough to cruise the Med in the season and small enough so’s not to be such a financial drain .Ie fits under 15 M for berths and has inline 6 MANS etc.
Excess guest tends to use hotels anyhow .Toyed with going larger but rationalised it the end of the day you are basically dragging bedrooms about that are rarely used .

I guess it boils down to a basic question.
Does the boat fit the intended use age pattern ?
That use age pattern will be different for every prospective owner , so the boats will be different.