wantsa311

My Dodge 1500 4x4 with a 360 CID engine will pull my 311 all day long - BUT - as has been pointed out many times in this forum, it's over the rated towing capacity for the truck and insurance could be sticky if I have an accident.

That said, don't be afraid to travel for your serach. I live in Michigan and bought my boat from a guy in New Jersey. When we closed the deal we each drove half way, met in Pennsylvania, and I was back home with the boat the same day.

Formula Outlaw

Bad azz.......

DustinM

I love mine. '90 Bravos and the 502's are getting pulled out and streatched. Will be a bit over 600hp. Cant wait to report results.

offshoredrillin

Hey Russ! Why is there a reflection of a homeless guy in your boat? you have a mural done on it??

BERUBE

I like my TRS drives more than my boat (Scarab). Hydraulic transmissions, sounds like the real thing to me.

Formula Outlaw

Nah, I think it was some guy named "Too Old" wantin' a buck for a beer.....

We've all seen that photo around the Forum, didn't realize he's made it down here though.....

jaybird

I would look at what else has been replaced on these boats as well. As brought up, exhaust is a big expense. It may have been done on the TRS boat when rebuilt, thus saving you thousands $$. If the Bravo boat is original exhaust, I would only use it for the sea trial / testing, then that exhaust would go straight to the dumpster - 15 years and 600 hrs = ready to fail any second thus blowing engine(s). Any other things - cables (those morse red ones are on their deathbed at 15 yrs) and to have someone do all of them is somewhere in the $750 area, or $350 in parts and $400 in swears from yourself!

If the boat was well taken care of, that could save you thousands in repairs, and LOTS of your spare time (hundreds of hours in some cases, just look at some of these threads). To be honest, if the TRS owner just went through everything, and the Bravo owner just "used" the boat and didn't keep up / update much, I'd probably lean towards the TRS boat. Yeah, everyone can come flying out of the woods here and say "well, you could probably get another 5 grand or so for the Bravo boat someday when you resell..." That's all well and good, but if you spent an extra 10 grand (could be less, could be WAY more aka bad engines / drives) after buying that boat, getting up to snuff and fixing it, plus the potential lost time off the water (to me is the biggest expense)...is that worth it? As you can see, it isn't the overall price of the boat that is the killer, it will be how much extra $$ along the way it will cost you while you own the boat. Some people have to spend very little, some people spend tens of thousands.

This is all hypothetical of course. I'm not saying there is anything indeed wrong with the Bravo boat other than you said it was all originally which means at this age everything is suspect and needs to be thoughly checked out. At least the TRS boat has had some major maintenance done. I just don't agree with the blanket statement "don't get the TRS, buy the Bravo" - both boats need to be closely looked at. If you don't like either - well plenty of other fish in the sea...

There is a lot to look at, defiinitely hire a surveyor who knows these types of boats, not a cabin cruiser guy.

Good luck!

Croozin2

Now there's a mouthful. Absolutely have a surveyor that knows performance boats look at these boats. I've been boating my entire life and thought I knew what to look for. Many of the things I noticed but there were more that went unnoticed. Between myself and the surveyor we discovered most everything. It just makes good sense to be prepared and well informed when you are contemplating making an offer on a used vessel. As was stated earlier, it may cost you $400+ for the survey but it may save you many dollars and much heartache down the road.

Formula Outlaw

I just did the exhaust change over on my boat. I made the decision NOT to go back with the stock Merc exhaust. The cylinders just dump into this giant chamber and ultimately the gases find their way out.

Thanks to the "Bergermeister" I went with a set of EMI Thunder aluminum manifolds and risers. Although a "log" style manifold it does feature individual tuned "runners" and not a giant cavern. And even though I had to have a custom set of 3 inch aluminum billet spacers made up, I still did not spend 4K or anywhere's NEAR that. I saved 85 lbs. PER motor and probably picked up 25 maybe 30 HP per motor.

Far as I'm concerned the stock Merc units that came on my motors are nothing but cast iron anchors.

RedDog382

Hayabusa,

If this is the '90 311 with Plam Beach graphics in Toledo, I know this boat. The Gills used to be on my '89 311 that I traded up to a 382 2 years ago. It is a clean, very solid and well-maintained, no surprises boat and at reasonable price with a little negotiation. I can give you details or answer any questions you wold have if it is the one you are considering.

RedDog