Looking for some input on a new boat purchase
 

Hi All,
New to the forum, and joined because I am selling my four winns h210 in search of a bigger faster bowrider with room to roam. I spend most of my time on sebago lake in maine which in my opinion is far to rough for my fourwinns. After searching endlessly for a bowrider from the normal crew (fourwinns, cobalt, searay etc..) that will hit 60mph and have some room to roam for the family. With a budget of 85k I am hoping you guys might have some input. I really liked a listing of a 28' magic i found but then found out they were no longer in business. Anyways just open to some ideas. I will list some input to my prefrences below.
2010 or newer,
24-28'
simple colors (dont care for all the bright colors)
swim platform
60+ mph
capt call
bowrider

thanks

Definitely Cobalt at the top of the list

love cobalt boats! don't have much that will do 60 in my price range!!

I would add formula to that list but it might be hard to find any 2010 and newer 60mph cruisers for 85k. If you expanded criteria to mid 2000s I bet you’d find something that was well taken care of.

I looked into formula 27O reviews and they were surprising slow. I know of a 2005 cobalt and a 2009 chap with 525 mercs in them with around 300 hours on them. I have heard good and bad about them.

Life gets better on the water over 80mph. This is a cool boat, factory demo. I bet they’d take 85K for it.

2008 Magic Powerboat 28 Sceptor Power Sports Addition powerboat for sale in Michigan

Many of the west coast boats offer open bow seating - Nordic, Howard, Elimnator etc.

If I was in the market for a open bow that ran 60+ it would be the Sunsation 288 or Nordic Heat 28

Take a look here:
https://www.offshoreonly.com/classif...er-o69782.html

This would be a fun ride that fits the wants,,,

2013 Nordic Rage powerboat for sale in North Carolina

Can't go wrong with the Sunsation, Nordic or Eliminator. Good luck

WOW!! Those boats are incredible!! How reliable are the merc 525's I have heard they have issues with the stock headers? Also magic went out of business that makes me a little nervous how well built were their boats?

Thanks for everyone's input I got a bunch of drooling to do now!

My pick so far would be the magic Love how they were doing the walk thru design back then!! That really save the cushions especially when you have a 4 and 6 year old boys tromping around!

Derek

Probaby 90% or more of performance boat builders went under the last, say, 10yrs or so. Economy and the market changed.

a 27' or 28' Advantage Victory would easily fit your criteria as well. I have had both. Very nice boats for the money.

the at defiant has my vote, very nice lines, a slick offshore boat from the side with multi purpose layout.
8 1/2 foot beam, entry and uncomplicated lines look old school cool, bet it rides well, plus it has a porta-potti and sink

not in my budget but would rather starboard lounge didn't wrap around and stern was set up for water sports,
like swim, board, fish and dive, it would still have 4 lounges

from the website, it just gets better
solid glass hull bottom, bi and tri - ax material, divinycel core, vacuum bagged construction, stringers and transom are
full urethane composite, hull bottom is patented.

Like most, I think the AT is a great looking boat but we're losing track of the op's budget..... If they could be bought near 85k, I'm sure there would be a long queue of buyers.

Since there's been a few suggestions that don't fit the criteria, I'll throw in a Sunsation 32 MCOB. Bit older, bit more money, less cockpit space but a pretty nice boat all the same. Couple of examples......
Used 2007 Sunsation Dominator Mcob 32, Freeport, Ny - 11520 - BoatTrader.com
Used 2007 Sunsation 32 Mcob, Fort Walton Beach, Fl - 32547 - BoatTrader.com

Happy shopping!

RR

Thanks guys. Excuse my ignorance but what is AT short for?
Also are your tboughts on the merc 525?

Sorry, we're lazy typists.... 'Active Thunder' (powerboats). Well built boats from a smaller manufacturer with a great reputation.

RR

No expert here but.....

525's come from Mercury Racing division, traditionally painted blue and often referred to as 'blue'. It's the next step up from standard Mercury engines which are black. The top 'black' engine is the 496ho and has plenty of power for 60 plus mph.
Stick with black engines and with regular fluids and filter changing, you should get great longevity. Blue engines require significantly more maintenance and are quite a bit dearer to buy. They're definitely a step up but they need more loving which is hard to justify for some of us.

RR

Thanks for the info. I was hoping to get into the newer gen 502's or 8.2mag! From my research the 8.2mag is 380hp and the 8.2Mag HO is 430 yet the only difference is tuning! Whipple offers a upgraded ECM to make an additional 75hp and 55 lb ft! The upgrade is like $895.

Thanks

Naturally, buying the newest you can makes sense.
I wouldn't spend time and money trying to make the engine better than Mercury manufactured it, they know more than I do! More power means more stress on everything, particularly the sterndrive. Look at engine hour scan sheets from anyone and you'll find minimal time at full throttle so the extra couple of mph really ain't worth the money.

Photo shows the hour breakdown for my 496ho when I bought it. 2.2 hours above 4,500 rpm which I'd say is pretty typical.

Up to you of course but please keep us updated, I'm interested to see what you end up with. :)

RR

Thanks. I certainly will update when I narrow my choices down. The active thunder "AT" defiant 29 looks really nice but not sure about the OB's just don't look as good to me but not a deal breaker the price probably would be though!! lol. I need to sell my 4 winns first.

Thanks again to the info from everyone one I have some research to do now for sure!!


Derek

I need 3 more posts in order to upload so please ignore!
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Of course in order to upgrade I need to sell my current boat so if anyone knows of someone looking for a nice Four winns H210 I posted the ad below.

Used 2015 Four Winns H 210, Windham, Me - 04062 - BoatTrader.com


Thanks

Derek

No one recommends a Baja Islander series????? Not sure when they stopped and started making them again but a 252 or 272 would easily break into the 60’s with black power (unfortunately mine doesn’t with only the 7.4 mpi, about 55+) They are relatively cheap so no where near the $85k I would guess for a good one. Later models were 242’s and 262’s I believe.
My experience is they are a great upgrade for the price over the Standard production boats, a Baja Islander is a good entry level offshore boat. We use our 252 for skiing, tubing and just cruising and it handles the big water on the weekends just fine.

friend of mine has a 2007 277 Baja Islander with a 496, very nice boat

I have my eyes open for the islanders as well! It hard finding one with out all the colors!! Sorry just like clean simple classic looks. Anyone have any experience with the Chris Craft Launch Series?

someone quote this so the link will show, maybe you've seen this ??

Attachment 573180

Chaparral makes a beautiful bowrider with a 22.5 degree deadrise that rides nice in lake slop. The 26' 256SSi or SSX can clear 60 w/the 496 HO. The standard 496 will run mid 50s. If you step up to the 276, it will run low to mid 50s with the 496 HO. Great layouts with tons of features.

:band:

quoted, and it opens up a "what do you want to do with this window" not as a link

Chris Craft launch series are beautiful boats but not very fast. I considered one for the classic style alone but the water is usually choppy here and they are not a rough water boat. Deadrise is a bit shallow compared to offshore boats and the bow sections are very wide which negates the fine entry. I had a Sea Ray 270 with similar bow shape and it 'smacked' head-on waves very hard rather than slice through them.

That's a bit of a common thing with bowriders I think, because they are designed for maximum space inside. Depends what water you boat on but if you're in the slop, a narrow bow with fine entry and deeper deadrise (23-24 degrees) is certainly better.

Boats like Active Thunder, Nordic, Sunsation and Baja Islander are variations from their offshore boats and are fine but won't offer as much space up front as a true bowriders.

RR

good to know. I consider sebago lake to be choppy a lot of 30' crusiers on the waters, I am also interested to get into some bigger lakes as well.!

Anyone have some input on Essex boats?

2013 Essex Raven powerboat for sale in California

Thanks

We bought our Baja 252 Islander new in 02, it's a been a great boat. Kids are grown, so we don't use it as much as we used too.

http://i68.tinypic.com/20hmrsy.jpg

Over 25 ft in length all brand new 2018 with full warranties . And the best part a tad under 80 K. Again all brand new, NOT used for almost the same price of used boats on the market, plus a huge step up in quality of the build process.

All custom built FULL gel cote with no graphics nor any paint. Also includes custom 2018 boat trailer. Best deal for a brand new boat I have seen in many many years.

Also can get this 24 / 25 and other Lavey Crafts with Outboards, but all interested should check the exact pricing beforehand. A very high end quality build with all the Lavey craft models.

https://www.laveycraft.com/models-24-nuera

Chris Craft Launch are nice boats but in rough waters they pound you to death. Smooth water lake boat. The same with Essex boats plus if I recall Essex is long gone. I had one dealing with them for info about 10 years ago on a 2 year boat of theirs in for alot of indepth repairs. The phone call to Essex's, they where NOT helpful period - actually not willing to even take a minute to put forth an effort to pass on any info about there boats nor the build nor any of that process plus was totally clueless about a manufacturer build sheet that I wanted. They would not give me any info as per what engine and drive was even installed for the hull HIN number I provided over the phone. IMO almost like they were hiding something.

Nice Clean boat thanks for the feedback!