I’ve been around boats since, well, my entire life. Never really met or saw anyone that owned a bayliner that had good luck with it. My parents owned one in the mid-90s and hated it. Maybe they have improved, Idunno. I wouldn’t recommend gambling with it though. Especially considering the fact that you are boating on a river that leads to the Niagara Falls.
:shrug:
i have been… I used to work at my local Marina. been on all sorts of different boats and live on the lake.
and if you guys do a complete 180 and decide you want an inboard/ski boat supra, mastercraft, nautique, and malibu all made great boats in the late 80’s that can be found for pretty cheap. the supra would be a great boat for choppy water and has a deeper hull. They did not change the hull and at and is the same one they use on the some of their 2000 and up launch’s… aka all out wakeboard boat.
here is my '88 ski nautique 2001, great for wakeboarding and throws a great wake… but as you can see wouldnt be the greatest for choppy water:
Bayliner, Maxum, Chaparral and every other modern IO powered runabout all use one of two powerplants; Mercruiser or Volvo-Penta. So right off that bat the major mechanicals are the same regardless of brand. That’s your engine, exhaust, carb/FI, outdrive, trim and throttle controls.
Then you’ve got people in here singing the praises of Maxum but bashing Bayliner. Both are divisions of the Brunswick Corporation, as is Sea Ray. So the Bayliner may be a Chevy but the Maxum isn’t any better than a Saturn.
If I were spending $8900 and had a choice of an 18 foot Maxum with a 3.0 and a 20 foot Bayliner with a 350 mag that Bayliner would get a serious look, especially for the choppy WNY waters. Be less concerned with years old and more concerned with hours on the engine. Boats are hard to judge by age because different people use them different amounts. If a boat is stored well and not used much it can easily be in better shape than a boat far newer but used and abused, and unlike cars it’s much more comment to find boats that have very few “miles” on them.
i think this would fit into your budget:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2006-Correct-Craft-Super-Air-Nautique-210-Team-Edition_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZ72Q3a317Q7c66Q3a2Q7c65Q3a12Q7c39Q3a1Q7c240Q3a1318Q7c301Q3a1Q7c293Q3a1Q7c294Q3a50QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem330323836219QQitemZ330323836219QQptZPowerQ5fMotorboats
I HAVE! I have been on TONS of makes and models of boats. My absolute favorite boat was: http://www.sunseeker.com/performance-motor-yachts/predator62.php
followed by: http://www.carveryachts.com/2008_carver_52_voyager.aspx
I want to get some experience on some of the bigger ones. There is a very large searay in the area, but I never got to go on the water with it, just in dry dock.
tpgsr, a little off topic, but what’s the best boat polish I can get locally? Already have a favorite for the interior (303 aerospace) but I’ve never found anything I really love for the gelcoat.
If there’s something way better I can only get by ordering online I’m open to that as well.
Meguiars makes a lot of stuff for boats and thats what i used where i previously worked.
I love 303… I use it on everything.
When we were doing boats, we actually had great success going after them with 3M Super Cut Compound, and then following it up with 3M Polish/Wax. A lot of people swear by woody wax, but I never used it so I can not really comment. I didd often take my P21S car wax to finish off the colored sections of the real high end boats… It always gave them a bit of extra shine and that real slick clean feeling that the owners loved.
Also, I did find that doing any work on the boat by had is futile, use a polisher or don’t bother.
For a cleaner wax, I have had AMAZING luck with Gary’s satin wax. Follow that with a nice finishing wax always gave a good luck. Holds up well too.
:tup:
And yeah, 303 is amazing stuff. I just did the entire interior (leather and all) of my wife’s truck with it.
So I was working in a building by the windmills down in Lackawanna today. Turns out the boat place that tpgsr mentioned was practically across the street so I stopped in to look at that Chaparral. I found it and quickly concluded that… I don’t know what to look for in a boat. :roflpicard:
The hull didn’t look like it had a scratch on it. The interior needed a good cleaning and the carpet looked like someone dumped a 2L of coke on it and left it. I didn’t see any cuts or tears in the seats. No rips in the covers. The engine had just been “factory remanufactured” and had zero hours on it and a one year factory warranty. I popped the hood and sure enough it looked shiny and new. :gotme: Same for the prop drive thing. No dings or scratches.
Thoughts? What else should I be looking for? Orzech I saw your post about what to look for. Thanks for that!
The stained carpet would make me want to REALLY look at the floor. Walk all over it looking for any springy/sponginess. It should have an in floor ski locker, so notice if there is any give around the lip when you step on the ski locker. Also pay attention to the rear corners where water might pool if it was stored improperly over the winter.
With a fresh motor there isn’t much to worry about there. On my Volvo Penta outdrive there is a dipstick for checking the lower unit fluid levels (nut with a screwdriver slot on the top of the outdrive) and I’m pretty sure the Mercruiser Alpha drive has the same thing. Pop that out and make sure the fluid looks ok and there’s no sign of water (milky fluid). It will smell awful, like a combination of decaying animal and vomit, but that’s normal.
Look for play in the steering. I’m not sure if they had the hydraulic steering in 98 that my 2000 has but hydraulic or cable there shouldn’t be a lot of play.
fuck, now i just got the smell of boat motor fluids in my head from doing the lower unit on our boat. I thought I was past the point in my life where i’d ever smell that again 
Wow that Maxum was a beat piece of shit. I went and looked at it tonight. Looked like it had never been waxed or covered. :tdown:
I’m going to call Bills Boats tomorrow to get more info on the Chapparral with the reman’d motor. Who did the work, how many hours on the hull, etc. If it sounds good I’ll go take a closer look at the floor, maybe talk price and see if he’s willing to replace the carpet if it doesn’t look like there’s damage under it.
Bill is a good guy and knows his boats…was a good friends of my parents years ago…he’s a stand up man an will be honest with yea…grew up on boats, my father is captin on the miss buffalo also a bartender as well