Outcast makes an awesome boat. Excellent quality and an excellent design.

The 9 footer is a great choice as it provides more stability then the 8 footer and if you ever wanted to run it down some heavy water you would not have a problem at all.

If you are just putting it through light use the 900 isnt very necassary as the 9 has a 3 yr warranty and it mean my 4+ yrs in selling these boats, I have yet to either model have a pontoon problems.

Spend the extra money you saved on sticking with the 9 instead of the 900 and upgrade and buy the Cataract oars. They make all the differance over those crappy aluminum ones.