Hello, I am trying to see if anyone can tell me thru out Baja's manufacturing how does the quality differ from the late 80's to early 90's and just after Brunswick took over. Then to late 90's and then in the 2000's. I own a Baja and know alot of boaters, the ones that do not own Baja's say they are the Bayliners of sportboats and would never own one. I do not see it. I know they are not top of the line but I would say way above average quality. I have heard from other Baja's owners that 1998 and 1999 were their best quality work and some say 2001. How true is that?

I am looking for a bigger Baja like a 33 OL - 38 ft range and wonder how different the ride would be from a 29 OL to a 33 OL. A couple of 33 OL owners tell me buy a 1999 33 OL and won't be dissappointed in the handling, rough water ride and quality. They said the 33 OL in the late 90's was the best hull design Baja built. Why would 1999 be any different than 2001 or 2004. Thanks for the advice and I thought here would be a good place to get some straight up answers.

They are entry level sport boats. As far as a measure of quality, its hard to get unbiased opinions, especially in a Baja forum.

There seems to be a large group that hates Baja, especially if they own a Checkmate. Generally, I think the quality is above what many non-owners believe, but its still no Cig or Pantera.

There are many ex Baja employees on here, and Im sure they can chime in regarding what years were the best. As an aside, many believe Sea Ray is some sort of quality pinnicle for the boat market. From what I understand, the Bucyrus Baja plant was producing some of Sea Rays smaller run-abouts. Again, I am sure one of the ex Baja guys can confirm or disprove that.

I've been beating the sh*t out of my '98 since it was new, and have no complains at all about quality. Can't really say for any other year, but I'm happy with mine and when we do upgrade, I'll probably keep it too.

I really don't know why a 99' 33 would
be any more desireable than any other
year of production.

I have had a little seat time in a couple 99' 33's,
they really didn't seem any different than my 02' 33


Personally, I would look for an 02' or newer.

The X dimension was raised around then.

And the popular power for these boats seem to
be 496 HO's....they run well with that power.

I've never had any quality issues with any of the
4 Baja's that I've had going back to 92'.

I would have liked to see a little better job done
in the rigging department though.

The 33 is a great all around boat, it handles
the rough water ok, it seems well balanced,
and it's fairly nimble, and it's not too big to trailer.

My understanding is that they raised the X when they went with the 496s.
My boat with stock 502s (2000) was about 2-3 mph slower than a buddy's 04 with 496s.