Reggie went back to the stringer system which is
the only way to make them after brunswick screwed
them up with the liner system for prior 3 years.

Reggie did not buy Baja. Brunswick GAVE him Baja. I do not think he is building any Bajas at this point in time.
Baja is a good bang for the buck, but the quality of rigging does not compare to most other boats. I owned a 24 OL and it was a decent boat, but the quality of materials and rigging does not compare to the Pantera or AT that I have owned.

Im sure you know why brunswick made that move,
two reasons in my mind, one is to try and get
the money that reggie owed and the other is to
get out of the liabity for the liner boats.

No boat is perfect, I just replaced my entire transom because some of the screws were not sealed correctly. I put it back together better than the factory built it. The boats for the most part were built well. I have never had to tighten up any of the screws like some guys have to do on the cheap boats. The gel, interior, ride, layouts are all very good. The x dim on most of the boats were set way too deep. Baja sold a lot of boats but they tried to make them distinctive with different graphics. I have never seen one identical to mine.

I run with all kind of boats in our offshore club in
florida and I see the most high dollar boats have
the same problems you are talking about so you just
cant single out your boat with that problem.
Look at it in away you didnt spend 300 to 800,000
to have the same problems.
All boats are great until someone has a problem,
just fix it and have more fun boating.

I agree all boats especially offshores have their problems, get it fixed, and meet ya out at the party cove

Around my area Baja's are a popular and big name boat to own. Its funny the attention my baby Baja gets. It draws the same attention from girls as my neighbors 38 cig spyder. I chose mine cause a friend of the family has had three of them (one he bought new with an outboard) and swears by them. We're looking to buy another boat for poker runs and will be a 28-33 eliminater daytona cause i want a tunnel hull. I will be keeping our lil 20 outlaw for a long time cause its perfect for the small lakes around here.

I have a 270 that started out with 425 horse, stepped up to 550, 600 and now im pushing 900+ and it has not sunk yet and it turns heads daily.... There are nicer boats, faster boats, more expensive, and cheaper boats out there but its all what you want(and what your budget will allow) and not everyone else. To me it's more like do you drive a ford or a Chevy....do you like sailboats or cruiser's......I like my boat and I think it's built just fine. When I sale my boat in the near future I'm stepping up to a larger cat(for speed reason and still my choice) I will still think Baja is a good built boat...... Just my 2 cents.

I have defended Baja's on this and other sites for years, most of the time without help. I have worked on boats for over 30 years and what I have found is that if you do not properly care for any brand of boat they are going to turn to $hit fast. Not to piss anybody off in the Baja family but from what I have seen with the Baja's is that in about 1990-92 their build quality/performance took a big step forward. It may be that the Baja's that I worked on prior to that were not properly cared for but they did have a lot more transom and stringer issues than I see now.

Um not quite...

They had their issues with liners, but it was mostly the larger (read 41') boats. The liner system worked very well on the small to medium boats.

Brunswick saved Baja in the mid 90s when they purchased them, right before that Genmar had purchased Bajas debt note and really had no plans for the brand. Brunswick also improved quality, to a certain extent.

I agree that Baja offers great bang for the buck. I also have enjoyed the many conversations I have had with XT and others on this site about Baja and the boats they made in Bucyrus. Lets not go overboard with claims that Bajas are amazing though, they are a budget driven performance brand...


Back to the original question, in my opinion they get a bad rap because of the typical owners. They want to think they have the greatest go fast boat, and dont mind telling everyone. I actually witnessed a Baja owner comparing his boat to a Pantera, saying his boat was faster and better built. So to me, its not the boat that causes the negative attitude, its the owners. The same can be said for Checkmate though. I remember when Checkmate first showed their new boat made with the old Baja H2X mold. Checkmate owners were pounding their chests saying they didnt want any Baja crap, that Checks were so much better than Bajas. To me, they are both value driven performance boats, which makes the arguing between the brands that much more amusing.

Keep in mind I am not trying to make a blanket statement about ALL Baja owners, just ones I have ran into on the docks and chatted with at boat shows. As you know, with boating comes some big "personalities," regardless the brand...