I believe they stopped using wood in mid to late 90's.

There was a thread on here when Shogen was redoing a 32 that had a rotten transom. The boat looked killer when done but can't remember the year. Is Pat still on the site? That would be the easiest ask him.

I gotcha...I was looking at the 37 that's in the classifieds for sale as well but the 496's are a no go for me...just can't do it...I know the speed bug will get me eventually and those are not good motors for modding I don't think...yes there are Raylar kits but if I'm gonna drop that much coin it will have well over 525 HP haha

Look for stringer separation, loose bulkheads and tabs. Motor is half the value so you want to get those checked out - oil samples, compression and leak down test. Look at gimbal bearings/transom assembly. If it was abused in rough water it will have problems, doesn't matter what brand, some stay together better than others. A well driven go-fast boat with 500+hp at 15 years probably needs a complete mechanical rebuild - motors, transom assemblies, drives, etc.

That was a 1996 or 1997. AT went to composite transom and stringer cores in 1999ish.
A 2002 will not have wood in the transom or stringers. There is still some wood used on interior and finishing stuff.
The 32 AT rides as good or better than most 35's in rough water.

Good info....that's what I was looking for thanks!! Are any of these problems you mentioned more prevelant in an AT of that age that you know of?? Just to be clear to...I don't mind paying for a survey if its warranted but I just think for what they charge I can find the same issues or non issues for free...I have been a boat mechanic for a long time and my dad has been one for 30 years so the mechanical side is covered. We also have a moisture meter and bore scope and all the goodies for looking into tight areas where problems like to hide.

Thanks again!!

That's what I've been seeing griff...There's a guy that boats where I do that we have a lot of mutual friends and all of them swear by his 32 AT...they all say pound for pound dollar for dollar they are very hard to beat when things get sloppy.

No, just common to all go-fast boats in general. You may be a mechanic, but a good certified Merc mechanic can tell you if the gimbal bearings are within spec or if they are falling down and need to be replaced, which is common on boats that have been ridden hard. Can be a costly repair if you have to pull both motors. I agree in general about survey's. I use a good mechanic to survey. No written reports, but they can usually give me a ballpark to fix.

Survey Survey Survey, i was going to buy a newer Cigarette boat that i knew the history of and during the survey he found out that it had a delamination issue. no one had heard of a Cigarette doing that. but it saved me 10's of thousands of dollars with having a survey done