Old Boat Advice? 269 Cobalt

[johnfharding]

For some time now my wife and I have thought about getting an older big boat for use on Lake of the Ozarks on busy weekends etc. We recently looked at a Condurre 269. Decent shape not perfect needs vinyl update on the interior and unfortunately still has the Alpha 1 drives? Price asking 17,899. We think that is over the top but the owner is negotiable. The boat has 500 hours on each side twin 350's according to the hour meters and the boat is a 1986. I have heard bad things about the Alpha drive especially old ones like this. They aren't in bad shape externally but internally may be another story. I also know these are heavy laid up boats and probably weigh more than similar sized boats of today.

If we got the boat and the drives gave up down the road, what would it cost to go to a Bravo One or Volvo Duoprop? Its a pretty solid boat and it might be worth saving and updating. I think with a little fiberglass work , buffing it could really look nice?

[BOBCATMATHEWS]

you need to ask this question over in general discussion,you will get a lot more attention, for that money you should get a survey done by a professional.

[Biggus]

The 269 Condurre was a pretty nice boat in it's day. A friend of mine bought one new. Nice lines, built well, worked great.

As mentioned above, a good survey needs to be done to establish the value. As with any older boat, I'd be concerned about rot in the transom/stringers etc. Even though they were well made, you just don't know what's been done along the way.

As for the asking price, In my opinion even if the hull checks out sound, it's priced about 5k too high for todays market.

As for the Alpha one's behind 350's, they will be just fine. I've had many older boats with that combo, they live quite a while with reasonable care. If you did have a problem, throw another Alpha on and be boating the same day. Not worth the expense of re-rigging to a Bravo (or Volvo) behind the mild small blocks.

Post some pics!

Kurt

[johnfharding]

I guess the drives were my biggest question. I did check the boat out as thouroughly as I could but like you guys said a survey would probably be best so they could test the stringers and transom for rot. this is the second condurre we have looked at. We looked at a 300 with worn out engines last year however it was running TRS drives, trannies, and basically the entire drive train was suspect. After I heard about the TRS's not being available , parts hard to find etc. I figured it just wasn't worth the hassle. This sounds like a better deal with the cheaper Alpha drives and the availibility