fastlife

so im in the market for a new boat i found this 1997 imp viper in nj the guy doesnt seem to know exactly whats done to it but its apparently 454 base supposedly built bottom end with a set of whipples on it he is claiming 96mph out of it but maybe someone knows this boat or something about the hulls in general.From what i know the older hulls delaminate and they dont hold any resale value do they whats this thing worth?Im all tossed up about it any input would greatly be appreciated,
http://www.powerboatlistings.com/view/16445

dereknkathy

i had a 30 86 IMP eleganza. TRS's. at least i think was model name. same hull as 31 viper. glassed platform on the back and made it 1 foot longer. pretty fast hull. tired (1000 hours) stock 330's and i saw 72 on gps the day i sold it. i never ran it that hard. had a hard time not screaming at prospective buyer to get off my throttles. boat had a tendency to have the stern fishtail out in a tight turn at speed. like a rear wheel drive car on a wet road. i had mine surveyed. the only bad spot on hull was where the guy i got it from jumped a log in the delaware river. can't blame the hull for that. there is no way whipples on 330's will make them 500 plus hp. and if they are, they won't live long. if it is anywhere near the price of a real boat, (donzi, formula, beak, velocity, etc) i would get one of those. if significantly under market, consider it. if it was dirt cheap, you woulda already bought it and then started asking questions...get a survey...

scarabman

iTrader: (1)

Last I saw that boat about 2 yrs ago it was in pretty good condition and it is a runner. At the time the Whipples went on (quite a few years ago) it also had quite a bit of other work/updating done to it. At the time the boat belonged to someone who now owns a prominent boat company. As of recently, it has been the subject of a dispute. Not sure who the seller is but a word to the wise would be make sure you have a legitimate title before you hand over money.

machloosy

I would have the boat surveyed for moisture... The motors look really nice, but the boat and trailer don't look as well taken care of and that says something about the package in general. Normally the whole package will be in good shape and show that the owner cares, or only parts will be clean and the rest is rough which often (not always) means that the owner doesn't care and just tried to clean it up for resale.