To buy or not to buy?
 

Well I will give everyone all the info I have. It is a 95 27 fever with a blown 540 with dual carbs totally rebuilt by Nickerson with 46 hrs. The drive is a bravo case with all upgraded imco parts larger vertical shaft upgraded gears larger bearings stronger propeller shaft. Wants 20,000. If it were you guys would you buy or pass or what's your input?

If the boat's clean, it sounds like a deal to me. Those blower motors have a very limited lifespan, though.

Buy it and sell the blower setup and use the cash for gas!

I chimed in on your other thread, but

There is absolutley nothing wrong with a blower motor. Most guys associate blowers with high maintainance, broken parts, etc. As long as things are done properly, a well thought out supercharged engine package can go for years and years without any issues or excessive maintainance.

As a matter of fact, i would like to know what all the extra maintance is??? Other than changing my blower oil, there has been no additional maintainance over having a engine without a blower.

I been running blowers for years, and just finished a 468CI with a 420 Megablower with twin 850 carbs. 800HP@6psi of boost, idles at 900RPM in nuetral like a stock HP500. Try to do that without a blower. You'd need a fancy CNC headed, monster cammed, high compression 572+ ci engine to make that power, and it wont be as dock friendly.

+1
I'm with MILD THUNDER

Blowers rock! And if that thing is clean buy it! thats a great deal if it has a trailer and has good colors...

Would never go back to carbeuration. Buy something fuel injected with or without a blower and you will be happier!

dont be scared of blowers if setup correct you wont have any problems, i ran 871s on talldeck gm blocks and never had to turn a wrench on the motor in 4-5 years. wish i stilled had those.

Agreed

Never had any issues with carbed stuff, blown or n/a. Thing I like is if something goes bad in my carbs, I have a small tackle box on board with everything I need to rebuild at least two carbs at the dock.

I just wanted to say thanks everyone and that if I had my way yes I would have a fuel injected 500 hp in a newer model 29 fountain but I cant get one of those for 20 grand, that is why im looking at this boat. If you all want you can see this boat on ebay (the 27 fountain fever in ky) and then tell me what else you think. once again thanks alot everyone.

Only way I would do a boat deal is outside eBay. I'd make arrangements to go see the boat, do a sea trial, and make a decision from there.

I hear ya about only having 20k to spend. But maybe a 27 fountain ain't the way to go . Why get a tired 27 fountain that might be a 6 out of 10 for 20k, when maybe you can get a older 25 checkmate or 28 scarab for 20k that's a 10 out of 10. Freshwater, pampered, garage kept, etc.

I love fountains, obviously bc I own one. Buying a cherry boat that someone babied is worth it.

Let me ask you this, if you can only afford to spend 20k right now, can you afford to spend 10k rebuilding a engine this summer? Or rebuilding a blown drive? Or will your wife be happy if u spend 20k and and end up in the driveway working on the boat instead of working on her tan?

Usually there's a reason something is priced really cheap compared to other similar boats on the market. The boat in question might be a great boat, I don't know. But from the pics I seen on eBay, it didn't look like a gem to me. A fast boat that has to sit on the trailer broken is never as cool as a slower boat that is on the water. Good luck and be careful!

I hear ya on all of that. If I buy its not going to be on ebay, just how I found it. Im definitely going to go look at it and take it out on the water. I think I may be going sunday. I have alot of reservations about this boat and i think im letting my desire to get a boat and especially a fountain cloud that. My biggest fear is that I buy this boat and halfway through the summer something goes wrong with the motor or the blower or something. I probably should just wait for another boat but dont wanna have to wait another year or longer... Im sure whatever decision I make I will regret later though.

I waited 2 seasons looking and saving for the perfect single 29. Trust me I looked at many that I wanted to buy but for some odd reason I just didnt pull the trigger. The day you find it you will know! Found mine in LHC on craigslist. It was listed for 3 hours and I had plane tix for that weekend. I'm very glad I waited. I think back at many that I looked at, they dont compare. Hope this helps.

The best thing you can do is inspect it and get a survey. If it all checks out than there is nothing more to do. You could buy a row boat and half way threw the summer have the engine blow. Thas always a worry with boats.

If you have been on this forum before you may have read that Fountains are a bit "short" for their advertised length. The peak is rather long (but nice to have an anchor locker) and I find that the room in my 29' Fever is about the same as my older Stinger 260 (26'10"). My point I will get to is the 27' is really a smaller boat. The newer ones came with a 496 cu.in 425 h.p. and I am unsure if there were other higher horsepower options. I would want to talk to someone who owns a really high horsepower 27' Fever to see how it handles the power. Will you get to take a test ride before purchase?

dont be afraid to buy a fountain at your limit, doesnt have to be this one. Just get all the pre buy stuff done that way you minimize the possibility of having to fix stuff. A good inspector is key but you also have to be able to take what they say with some common sense. Sold a crownline 3-4 years back. Boat was a 93 with 45 hours on it, thing was a time capsule. But with any boat of age you had some emblems that were faded and cracked and some other plastic peices that ultimately were warped but overall boat was tip top shape. Guys inspector comes and we do a joint inspection, they do their thing, and they come back with an offer, I imediately object. All things go into the value of a boat including cracked emblems and such. But this inspector was to the point of rediculousness. Needless to say with the inspector there I knew they werent going to come off anything and no common sense was going to come to light, so I said Ill call you tonight. Called guy back and threw reality into the picture and we came to a number without argueing and both were happy.
Point of the story get the boat checked and things like hulls, drives and engines are big ticket items, so are other things, a destroye interior can cost as much as an engine. But with a 17 year old boat a screw here a cup holder there may have to be replaced, and as as mint as an older boat can be they simply can not be perfect most of the time.

Go look at it, drive it, check it all over, have someone you totally trust look it over too, then you'll know. I agree when you know it's the right boat, you'll know, and won't have any resevations.
Good Luck, I hope it's the boat you want.

I'm trying to go look at it on Friday but at this point im about to pass on it. Really afraid I won't find another though and might go at least another year without a boat????

you could put a single carb plate on it and 1 1150 dominator . It will be easy on fuel and probly stil run low to mid 80's. I had one like that and it was the sweet ticket, plenty of power and you could run all weekend on a tank of fuel easily.

Pictures on ebay are a little sketchy. No real good interior pictures. No pictures of the drive. Also think I see a fresh water flush system so that may mean it has had some of its life in saltwater. Also says 0 hours on Imco lower and nothing about the upper.
The price is good if the inspection turns out. Triple axle trailer for a 27 is not right as you can see it will fit a boat much longer but the extra wheels won’t hurt any. You could almost part it out for that price. Can see some corrosion in the blower so it may have seen a lot of use.
Might want to look for a Checkmate, say a 259 convinsor with a stock 502 or hp500. Would run in the 70’s all day.
Blowers, they sure run good, but are hard on drives. Had a friend that had the same engine setup and would go through a set of gears once or twice per season. Not cheap, plus not fun sitting at the dock. Put a low boost pulley on it and kick the power way back and it may hold up. If you have the extra money to throw into an Imco SCX or Bmax drive and sell the drive that is on it then you may have a reliable setup.

I might ad I had a Bravo 1 xz drive and every year I changed the oil it looked real nice. The drive held up great. Just went easy on it. I had the boat 4 years and the guy before me had it for a few years too. I paid 28 grand for mine and sold it for 17 4 years later. Boats are cheap enough these day's I got my new one cheap ;)

Well? Did you go look at it? Keep us posted good luck

No I was going to go today but it is 4 hrs away from me and basically I was just too afraid of the boat. Especially if it's been in saltwater, and a blown 540 with duel carbs just worried me too much. Now there is another one on eBay with a na 540 and I think I'm gonna go look at it this week. Plus it's only 35 miles from me. You guys can check it out and tell me what you think. The guy has it listed as a 28 foot but it's a 27. Thanks everyone.