x2

I would trailer a 44' MTI if someone gave one to me....I would't care too much about colour either...unless it was pink!!

Let me say first that in the right situation I would own any performance boat just to be out on the water. I got broken in by a friend back around 1995 in a 280 Baja and that's what got me started loving performance boats and when you buy a Baja you get a lot of boat for the money. That's why many first time performance boat owners buy them and go out on the lake, run the hell out of them thinking they are the fastest thing on the water at about 65-70 being generally uneducated about boating. I actually had a guy in a 28-30' OL last summer wave me down in a no wake zone asking me to "run him". He had BBC's or whatever but I was idling with my hatches open and the hatch scoops, blowers, intercoolers, etc. in full view. I said "huh" and then he said "what you scared?"

The other thing is it just pains me to no end at why Fountains got drug into this discussion. Baja's and Fountain's are two entirely different boats. Maybe in the 80's and early 90's they may not have been that different, but stepped hulls have made them apples and oranges different not to mention their quality and subsequently cost. And for the record, short of Reggie himself, most Fountain owners are the most laid back coolest folks on the water... IMHO

Baja made a boat that appealed to the masses.
( and sold to the masses)

Being that they were the largest producer of performance
boats for several years, there's going to be alot of them out
there.

With that, there will come good experiences, and bad
experiences ( more so of a lesser exposed product)

I truly believe there are more good experiences than bad,
but like the media, bad news sells, or in this case,
gets spread around more so than the good experiences.

Like Tank said,

Most people saying negative things about them
probably never have owned one.

I've had 4 of them, and really, my only complaint
with the boats is that the rigging could be a little better.

Baja's have served me well

And with all that being said...the next boat will
most likely have the big # 1 on the side

Everyone has there preferences. I am just trying to sell a 20' Four winns Horizon so I can buy an old Pantera. Anyone know of anyone looking for a 20' Four Winns in excellent condition?

I had six bajas and still have two, would I buy onother one
in aheart beat ! They are the boat of my choice for the money
you spend for them.
Now if I had an extra 600,000 Id go for a 39 cig with 700,
but until then Im sticking with baja.

'05 Baja 275 - sold last year w/ somewhere around 900 hrs.
'08 Baja 30 - a bit over 200 hrs & it is almost 11 months old.

For the money, our experience with these two boats can't be beat. I think a lot of the "bad rap" that might be out there has to do with the Bajas of yester-year but over time I think a lot of mistakes were corrected. A lot has changed over the years, but I always loved them in the 90's even though growing up my family had different boats. I really hope to see them back in production and to see the whole boating market rebound - without boating I'd probably go insane!

Cant really say I had any problems in the 80 s with them,
I had two 26 s and a 88 280 force twinn 454 370 s hp
and trs out drives never a problem.

I think, like many have already stated, that Baja is a decent brand that got many of us into performance boating at a price point that allowed such a move.
More than a few Baja owners have made the jump into a "better" boat. Jim Lee (Freedom US1) was a Baja owner. He now owns a bad-ass 46' Skater and some other bad-ass toys. Tank is a former Baja owner. Quin was a Baja guy.

What gives the name a bad rap is the owner who thinks his boat is better than everything else out there & runs his mouth about it. The guy who's boat doubles in value when he fills it up with gas but insists that it is better than the $500k Cigarette he is comparing his boat to.

I appreciate the kind words.