Got a question for y'all Formula guys. Looked at a few 353's for sale (HO boats) and most have tons of options, nice looking boats but no hydraulic steering, why? Such a nice option yet so few with it?

The 353 sport is a lower optioned boat which one of the options omitted is Latham steering. The standard 353 has it included. If you look at used boats most of them will be the standard model with Latham. The lower optioned sport model wasn't available until the last few years.

Don't know about most of the other 353, but mine's got latham, the big K-planes, the whole works and I love mine.

there's a difference between a "353 Sport" which Formula started marketing in '05 I believe,
and a "353" with black power

the latter is what I have an '02 "353" with every individual notable option (steering was standard) , gold level paint, and HO's

As stated, sport model did not have hydraulic steering....and there are a lot of them for sale. I have been quoted between $5-7,000 for full hydraulic steering. Many of these boats did not have the electric footrests either.

Correct.

If footrests were available as an option on a "Sport", I think that they were listed...
you won't find many, as optioning up a "Sport" defeated the $ purpose of the package in terms of marketing/ sales

Thanks for the feedback y'all. I can't tell the difference between the two by looks? There is a nice 353 by me for sale...has a ton of options, what looks to be upgraded paint etc but no Lathem which puzzles me why Formula wouldn't just make it std, especially if you have the K's on it already. Our next boat I know we will have for a while so just doing homework on everything from Donzi, Fountain, Formula etc. just can't get past the steering

What speeds y'all seeing with the HO's?

http://www.boattrader.com/listing/20...Fastech-348897