Boater8987

I am the orginal owner of this boat besides the dealer I bought it from. Purchased from selling dealer in LOTO. I think it was around 2001-2002. I am still trying to forget about it. Kept for 2 seasons and sold it. Biggest boat buying mistake I ever made in 30+ years of buying mulitple boats. I am not here to bash on manufacturers or anyone else. I just don't want anyone to make the same mistake I did. It was one of your most luckiest days if you missed out on this one.

kreed

iTrader: (2)

Really. What was wrong with the boat?

phil_p999

I am also interested in knowing what's so bad about these 38's

ROTAX454

Sparky Olsen is the person to talk to. His username on OSO is: vicious one

The issues are specific to the 38. For specific details, PM Sparky. He is the owner of Vicious Marine and has worked in the marine industry for many years, including Ocean Express.

Boater8987: Your comments are still welcomed and may help to inform others.

Boater8987

This hull design does not work! With 500hp it only ran 78mph gps. It had the worst ride of any boat I have been in. It was the complete opposite ride of any cat I have rode in. Every ripple, wake or wave that you rode over was transmittited up through the stern of the boat and caused it to buck and hop in the rear like a bucking bronco. You could not even sit in the rear seat in a 1ft chop. I put blowers and 2 carbs per motor thinking it was not packing enough air to lift the boat out of the water. It did get a fraction better, speed increased to 90 but was still terrible. It bucked the 150lb back hatch completely off the boat at 90 one test day, in a 1ft chop, because of the poor build quality and ride. Also it trapped water in the cabin from leaking pop up cleats and lights, with no drain in cabin to get rid of the accumulated water. If you took on enough water in the cabin area it would of sunk the boat. It was stress cracking everywhere because of the beating the hull was taking. I am no marine architect but it seemed like the tunnel was too shallow in the rear letting ever ripple hit the top of the tunnel and transmitting it to the rest of the boat. I tried different props and set ups with no luck. The person I sold it too thought he could fix it but had no luck doing so and has the same opinion of the boat that I have. I had talked to some other people that had test rode the boat before I bought it and they said the same thing. I thought I could fix it too but had no luck doing so. And the person I sold it too said the guy who bought it from him said the same thing. Maybe I was just not on the right track with getting it straight but I gave it my best shot. Like I said I am not here to bash a manufacturer this is just my own personal experiance with this paticular boat. I have been around several awsome 30 ft cats and they ran great. Thats why I purchased it. Sorry if I have hurt anyones feelings.

ROTAX454

No apologies necessary. You nailed it.

JKK

Whatever..... Sparky's Vicious boats didn't even make a dent in any boat market and Ocean Express has had Plenty of their own issues. Let's just let the owners decide, and I can and will confirm here that not every 38 owner has had a horrible experience with these boats.

Besides, none of them are Skaters, so sit back, relax and lets all just enjoy what we have and stop putting shots on each other’s pride and joys............I love my boat :-)

Peace

feline frenzy

I'll sell ya a brand new 2004 31' that's never seen water yet!

jbbeard

He forgot to mention that more than one of the 38's lost their transoms- We are fortunate to NOT have these problems with the 31's-

ROTAX454

James, I didn't forget. I was just being easy on the 38 owners. Still took a hit. Just trying to help out a guy looking for a cat. Was not out to bash any particular model. Just being honest and hoping the same when I go looking for my next boat. And yes JKK, it will be either a Skater or MTI.