10meter
 

i am looking at a 1985 fountain 10meter.the boat has 454,s w/trs drives.not sure what tranny is being used.my question is how do these boats handle rough water comparred to my 27fever?also,i am not crazy about trs drives.i have been told it takes twice the h/p to run a trs versa bravo.my other concern is the fuel tanks.what is the life on fuel tanks?i had a talk w/reggie about three years ago and he said that the early boats fuel tanks were made by a diffrent company and had some problems.around 1991 he started making them in house.what do you guys think?thanks for any input.

Is it the Motley Crew fountain?
-Mike

no,it is a boat around here local.i am looking for a project boat......yea,i know,i got too much time on my side.i figure if i can get it for around 10-15k i could make it work.but like i said,not really crazy about a 25yr old boat

the 10 will drive over anything compared to a 27

Agreed,
I have an '88 10 Meter, same setup w/454s and TRS. I went through the exact same concerns a few years ago when I bought it and haven't regretted it one bit. It might not be the fastest boat out there but it loves rough water. Despite what you may think/hear there are still parts out there for the TRS and they are very strong, especially with 454's behind them. I know a guy who had them on his bullet for 20 years and over 1400 hours (with 540 Bulldogs in front of them half the time) and he never blew a drive.

My buddy has an '02 32 fever that is faster than me in a straight line or smooth water, but i can go by him any time in the rough stuff, and stay drier. I have a few buddies with Cig Cafe Racers and other old heavy cigarettes and the 10 meter rides/handles big stuff very similarly.

Also she did 63MPH GPS the other day, but will cruise at 50-55 through just about anything without working too hard. Hope this helps.

yes it did help.my biggest concern are the fuel tanks.the salesman says the boat has bravo drives,but i am not going to hold my breath.what about fuel consumpton,are the older hulls that hard on fuel?

From what i've heard the earliest Bravos were troublesome, newer ones were ok. I asked the dealer who I bought it from about the fuel tanks and they said they'd never heard of problems, but I wouldn't trust anything they said one way or the other. Either way I've had it for 4 years, it's got aluminum tanks and doesn't leak fuel...no problems that I can see.

As far as fuel consumption, it's about as good as it can get for a boat that size & weight, stock 454s are pretty mild motors. If I can control myself on the throttles (i.e. cruise @ 3500RPMs or so) I've gotten as good as 1.875MPG. Typically 1.5, considerably worse if you drive it hard, but that's expected. Compared to the other boats that I hang out with w/modified or supercharged motors, it's pretty good.

One thing I recommend if you are seriously considering the boat...check the exhaust manifolds and all cooling housings for rusted passages. Mine were pretty rotted on the inside and I had to replace the whole exhaust and most of the thermostat housings, etc. withing the first 2 years, which equals a couple grand at least. Not to mention if the manifolds leak through it can let water into the motor. I bought mine as-is so pretty much got screwed by the dealer, but shoulda checked.

The fuel tanks will be fine as long as you don't plan on running it in some really rough waters. Mine is an 89, bought it in 01 with stock tanks, after 3 years of pounding 4-5 ft. waves on lake Michigan, they both started leaking. All the new tanks are made stronger, better welds, and with baffles to prevent sloshing. It is a royal PITA to remove the interior, cut out the whole floor, and replace them tho. LOL

tell me about replacing tanks on a 10meter.how much and did it change the way the boat handles and rides now.how does it look after the tanks were changed.

I'd NEVER want to do it again. LMAO Did it back in 05/06, had the new tanks made at some place down in so. Fla. Charged me about a grand each plus shipping. Completely redid the entire boat since I had the whole interior removed. I mean by changing the colors on the hull, completely redoing all the colors in the interior, custom race style padded hatches for the superchargers, moved the throttles to the right side, totally redid the whole cabin to match the new colors in the cockpit. The fuel tanks were the cheap part of the project. And, no, it did'nt ride any different than before new tanks were installed, just did'nt leak fuel into the bilge. LOL

if you had to put a number for r/r the fuel tanks what would you say?about 5k im thinking for the whole job.??is it very noticeable?fuel tanks and trs drives have steeared me away on a few boats i have looked at.

I would guess if you had a shop to do the R&R, it'd be in the area of about $2500 or so. Very time consuming, and alot of work. There are other guys here on the board that have done this also with these boats. Maybe they can chime in.