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ski boat guru

S

sibeta

Registered User
Location
St. George
anybody knowledgable about boats? I am buying a boat and just wondered what to pay attention to when looking at boats...I.E things to be aware of or to check when looking at used boats? Been on lots of boats just never owned my own.
 
wildkid

wildkid

...Jeepless...
Location
By Cabela's
Ski boat as you say, or ski/wakeboard, or strictly wakeboard?

Lots of things come into play when selecting a boat. What are your wants, needs...etc?

Are you familiar with the I/O drives, Inboards or V-drives?

Do you want ballast? If so how much, 500, 750, 1000lbs?

Do you want a tower & pylon, tower only, pylon only?

Quality begins with the hull. Fully fiberglassed monoque designs are the best, but more costly as well. Foam stringers reduce the overall weight of the boat (most newer boats are foam anyway, older are wood). All cleats & hardware should be through-bolted with an aluminum (or other metal) backing plate. All hardware should be stainless steel.

Interior should layout to your needs. Sun deck or passanger space - ergonomics. Interior should have atleast 30+/- oz. vinyl. Removable carpet is a plus for hosing out after a trip.

Dual batteries. Good stereo. Lights. Good trailer....the list goes on :D
 
Shawn

Shawn

Just Hanging Out
Location
Holly Day
Don't over look the trailer, I just bought a boat and found out the trailer brakes were.... shot/missing...:-\ Lights, tires, rails, etc. It all adds up.
 
lenny

lenny

formerly known as PokeyYJ
Location
Bountiful, UT
Agreed with above mentioned tips, I only have experience with a direct drive Malibu Sunsetter so my tips will come from this background.

If you are looking at a semi-V or flat bottom hull boat be sure to check the condition of the skags and the prop shaft support. These at the lowest points of the boat and can hit bottom. On the trailer check the prop gaurd for damage, as these can drag through driveway openings and such. Check the condition of the throttle linkage, play, ease of movement etc..., Check steering linkage as well on our Malibu it would tend to bind an get very stiff if not lubed every couple of months.

If possible hook the boat up to a Fake-a-lake and run it to listen to the motor and other things.

Good luck, Happy Boating!
 
Caleb

Caleb

Well-Known Member
Location
Riverton
Shawn said:
Don't over look the trailer, I just bought a boat and found out the trailer brakes were.... shot/missing...:-\ Lights, tires, rails, etc. It all adds up.
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thats a very common problem on boats, unless you are buying a fairly new boat you can almost count on doing a brake job and/or bearings. People tend to forget they are putting their trailer in the stinkin water :rolleyes:

Some things I'd personally look at are check out inside the hull, check to see any signs of water damage. Check out (as mentioned) the linkage to shift, they can be a real pain to fix if they have removed the outdrive and not re-installed it properly. Check out around the outdrive, the bellows (I believe thats what it's called, it's been a while sicne I had to do any of this stuff) can and will crack which will allow water into places (like your boat :p) where it's not supposed to be. Also check out the prop for any obvious signs of damage. Along with the prop check out the hull (especially underneath). Seeing how 95% of the people out at the lakes drive it's a real surprise there aren't more boats that sink. Check out the electronics, it's common to have problems with them. Of course they are real simple, usually, to completely rewire but thats another sign of water damage.
 
crimsonride

crimsonride

huh?
Location
Murray
I just recently bought a boat. Last Saturday in fact. I pretty much stole it for the price I got. Anyway, I've pretty much lived on ksl and boat trader for the last three months so you can send me info on what you're looking at and I can tell you how it compares to the market.
What kind of boat are you looking for? Why don't you throw up some specs so we know what kind of boat you're looking for? There are lots of differences in boats.
One big peice of advice I can give you is stay away from OMC outdrives.
 
Caleb

Caleb

Well-Known Member
Location
Riverton
I Lean said:
Why is that?
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OMC tend to break. Not very nice at all IMO. We had more problems witht eh outdrive of our one speed boat that had an OMC outdrive then just about all of our other boats that had Merc outdrives put together.
 
crimsonride

crimsonride

huh?
Location
Murray
They're built like junk. In the two years my buddy had his boat we got two successfull runs out of his OMC 800. It was weird things like 1/4" steel brackets tearing apart on the power steering and gears shearing teeth and one time the steering was reversed, when he turned right the boat turned left. Anyway, if you look on the classifieds there's an unusual amount of boats that need new or rebuilt OMC outdrives, you also can't find parts for them anymore.
 
Caleb

Caleb

Well-Known Member
Location
Riverton
crimsonride said:
They're built like junk. In the two years my buddy had his boat we got two successfull runs out of his OMC 800. It was weird things like 1/4" steel brackets tearing apart on the power steering and gears shearing teeth and one time the steering was reversed, when he turned right the boat turned left. Anyway, if you look on the classifieds there's an unusual amount of boats that need new or rebuilt OMC outdrives, you also can't find parts for them anymore.
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we never had issues finding parts, but they were always much more expensive and always required us to order them in, even simple things like the impellers :rolleyes:
 
S

sibeta

Registered User
Location
St. George
Yeah i have been living on KSL as well, looking at tons of boats. I am just looking for an 18 to 22 foot boat just for sking and wakeboarding. I know this sounds wierd but i want a 4 or 6 cylinder boat and i want a single axle trailer. My brother has a 19 foot bayliner with a 4cyl motor and it was alot of fun still and towing it was like nothing, it didnt take $50 in diesel fuel to pull it all over the place. And the boat didnt drink gas like my neighbors big block. So i know i will sacrifice a bit by having a smaller engine in my boat but it will do the job. I will post a few pics of what i have been looking at.
 
S

sibeta

Registered User
Location
St. George
man it suprises me and then again it doesnt suprise me at all to see how many people have problems with their trailers. People just neglect them so much.
 
crimsonride

crimsonride

huh?
Location
Murray
Yeah, well, most people don't think to maintain them at all when in fact you're submerging them a couple times every time you use your boat.
 
crimsonride

crimsonride

huh?
Location
Murray
sibeta said:
Yeah i have been living on KSL as well, looking at tons of boats. I am just looking for an 18 to 22 foot boat just for sking and wakeboarding. I know this sounds wierd but i want a 4 or 6 cylinder boat and i want a single axle trailer.
Click to expand...

Sounds like just what I was in the market for, and exactly what I got. I didn't want an eight either, they're just too thirsty. I'm totally impressed by the boat I got. It's a stingray 180 with a mercruiser 3.0 (135 hp). Acutally, the interesting thing with this boat is it'll do 50mph (with only two people), which is super impressive for a four cylinder and actually faster than some V8 boats. It's something to do with the hull design.
Anyway, I think you'll be happy with a little four cylinder boat. I've used it two full days and only went through $40 in gas. My buddy's 350 powered 23ft boat would go through 70 gallons in a day and a half.:-\
Post up what you're looking at.
 
crimsonride

crimsonride

huh?
Location
Murray
I definitely recomend stingrays, I don't think there's a ton of them around though. Since I was going to buy one I did a lot of research, they use a diferent style of strake in their hull and use a 19 degree deadrise give the boat a solid feel in the water. They're also to fastest and most efficient boat of that size and engine package. There's a page that compares all the top speeds and mileages of those smaller ski boats, I'll see if i can find it.
They also have aluminum/foam stringers that won't rot and a full fiberglass transom.

I'm just impressed that I can have five people in it and still go 42 mph on a little four cylinder boat.

From what I've read Bayliners used to be a lower end boat, (wood stringers that would rot and such). I've heard they're stepping up though and are producing much higher quality boats though. I've also heard people saying to stear clear of Force outboards. They mostly came on smaller Bayliners in late 80's and early 90 ish boats. I have no experience with them but I've heard they're not so great.
 
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crimsonride

crimsonride

huh?
Location
Murray
Well, that bayliner has an omc outdrive. Although I've heard the cobra isn't as bad of an outdrive as the other omc's. Anyway, I'd probably steer clear of that one. Sea rays are excelent boats, it also looks like it has a mercruiser alpha one outdrive and they're pretty good. I don't know anything about sun runners but it looks like it's in great condition and mercruiser engines and outdrives are always good. The price seems pretty good on it too.
 
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