racer79

Good morning everybody im new to Offshoreonly.com and i have some questions about a prowler that im considering purchasing. its a 2001 260 prowler with 496 ho motor (500 hours +/-) . the current owner purchased it from the original owner down in the chesapeake bay area. its my understanding that in that area its a mixture of salt and fresh water? i believe brackish is the term. should i be concerned about its exposure to salt water? is there anything specific i should look at as far as salt damage?
Did the 2001 models have any known issues i should be aware of? Ive owned several boats over the years but this will be my first power boat so any advice is greatly appreciated thanks

racer79

ttt

GO4BROKE

iTrader: (1)

No specific issues with a 2001. As for the salt exposure, it all depends how well it was maintained. Look for corrosion, paint blister, corroded wires, rust. Get the a survey or at least have the hull checked for moisture content, as with any used boat purchase.

racer79

i did some research and found a fella that has a good reputation for doing survey and sea trial. I made arrangement's with him for a complete inspection. I figure it's money well spent.

rak rua

Adding to what's posted above, the 496 is fresh water cooled but the raw water side still needs to be flushed properly after use. Make sure your surveyor scans the engine hours, there's a current thread on OSO where the surveyor went from the hour meters and there's a big discrepancy and a few dramas too. The computer scan cannot be fudged, it will show total engine run time. The breakdown (hours @ revs) can be reset but not the total hours.

Compression test, maybe leakdown test is very good. If the engine has been treated nicely and serviced properly, there are reports of stock 496's going for 1,000 hours plus without been touched.

Nice boat/engine combo, good luck.

RR

bdaly84

We just purchased a 2002 26 Prowler back in August. Great boat so far. I was new to the sonic platform and so far very impressed. Its end of season, so next season will really put it to the test. The 496HO powers the boat fine, mine of course is coupled with a Bravo 1, 4 blade 24p prop. I did have a few issues to be worked out when I bought it, but all has been fixed without any further issues. Handles decent chop great! Has the transom flush valve so easy breezy to flush.

Def get the hull survey, I got mine done from a gentleman in Stevensville, MD, was a pleasure to deal with, very honest and produced a hell of a report, very detailed. Mine came back fine.

As others have posted, make sure to look at everything, especially under the dash, access in the head. Lots of corrosion can form under there, making switches, gauges not work properly. Mine was in great shape, but still going to replace a lot. Good Luck with it, great boat in its size range.

B

Vince1540

im also looking at a 260 prowler in that area was wondering who you had?