Hello all! .. I am new to the forums .. and I have a few questions ...

I have the option of buying a 1981 SleekCraft ... it has been sitting for about 2 years so I know I will have to do some work to the boat ... but they offered to sell it to me for 1500 bux ...

The owner stats the upholstery may need to be redone .. but other than that its in great shape ... The boat is in Arizona ..and I live in Utah ... so I have yet to see the boat ... however they are sending me pictures ....

A little background ... the boat belongs to my sisters (soon to be) husband ... and he was asking 3500 to the general public but offered it to me for 1500 ...

The boat is a 22 foot SleekCruser ... with the Chevrolet 350 .. and OMC out drive ...

Can someone give me some advice about this boat ... are they pretty well built ... I am not new to boating ... I have been boating all my life ... but never seen this make and model of boat ...

Thanks for any input! ...

Thebutler4

it has a OMC stringer outdrive, I have built many over the years not the best around to say the least, OMC made two versions - elect shift and mech shift not to many around any more, check and see if elect shift, if so run!!!!

ok if it is electric shift .. why am I running? ... is there anyway to convert it? ..

Any other information about this boat would be great! ...

I am wondering how sturdy they are in the water? hold up well? ... anything else I need to know about it?

Thanks!

Welcome, butler. I trust you're just talking about lake use-smooth water. My experience with the old 400 and 800 series OMCs is pretty negative; broken ball drive, motors pulling out of the stringer mounts and a whole heck of a lot of vulnerable rubber on the transom. I also wouldn't compare the ride of a Sleekcraft with any of the true deep vees- but $ 1500 is kinda hard to pass up

ya .. 1500 bux seems to be a good deal to me ... .. but than again I dont know what I am getting my self into ...

the way that I see it ... if we run it for a season and dont like it .. we will have somthing to trade in for another boat ....

I hope that we like it .. and have good luck with it though ... we only boat in lakes so it will never see the ocean ... ( we live in Utah ) ... the largest lake it will ever see is lake powell and Flaming Gorge ....

The wife gave me a 5,000 budget for a boat this year ... so the way I see it ... if I buy the boat at 1,500 that will give me some extra money to put into the boat if needed ...

Would I be able to change the outdrive? ... to somthing like a Cobra or Volvo? .. would it evan be worth the expence? ...

I pretty much agree w/andrew realtor- enjoy the boat don't waste your money changing drives, just be careful and make it look pretty for the next owner so you can trade into a 188th ave. approved offshore machine when the time comes.

Well .. call me crazy but this is the plan ....

1) Fix what ever needs to be done to get it looking and running good ...

2) Run it for a season or 2 ...

3) Use it as a trade to upgrade the boat ...

4) See step 1

that's the ticket