It all boils down to personal preference and your list of priorities in a boat. I think the biggest purchasing a boat that is rigged with less than max HP is the resale value. The $2-3K you save on the front end will be negatively amplified on the back end. If you plan to keep the boat for a long time, I wouldnt be as afraid of it. If you were to buy a Cougar with a 225, you may want to go with the AE rather than the FTD, which will save you money on the front end and probably make it a little easier to sell on the tail end. In all reality, the Cougar AE is probably a little faster than the Caracal with the same motor, and the deck space is close to the same square footage, just different geometry. I really like the Caracal, but until you stand in one, you really cant appreciate how massive the bow area is. It would be nice for how I fish a few months out of the year, but maybe a little too big for the remainder of the year. Definitely something to take into consideration, depending on what boats you have owned in the past.
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