I am purchasing my 1st boat this week. I have narrowed it down to 2 boats. I am looking at either a 1996 checkmate 253 convinsor with the 500hp 502 motor. The other boat is a 2000 Baja h2x 24ft with a 7.4l 454. What are the pluses and minuses of these boats? what boat do you recommend? what are the cruising and top speeds of these boats? They are both the same price so just trying to pick one. I like them both but confused alittle. What are your thoughts?

I used to have a 96 253 that I bought new. I had it till I traded it in in 99 on a 28 Pantera. I did around 70. We used it on Lake Erie and I think it did pretty good. It never had any stress cracks on it as long as I had it.

It did around 70 with a 415hp 502.

the bigger checkmate would be ther way to go, but be aware the hp500 is going to need valve springs every 200 hours. ask what kind of motor work has been done to the hp500. We are not talking about oil changes but valve springs and head gaskets. do a search of hp500, lots of info on here.

Wow thats pretty fast. This has the 500hp 502 in it so I guess it should exceed 70mph?

Listen to rmfriday. There's a price to pay for that speed and you will never stop paying. Not that paying ain't worth it...

The baja h2x has the standard 310hp 7.4mpi. is there anything that can be done to that for more performance?

my 2 cents. the checkmate is the way to go. you're already asking how to get more speed from the 7.4. There's always a way but to bump that thing to anywhere near the 500 hp is going to cost some decent $$$. get the power understand it's coing to cost somthing to maintain it and be ok with it. with the bigger faster boat you might be able to avoid twofootitus a little longer.

Go for the Checkmate. Or better yet price a 29 Fountain with 500 EFI or 525.

The Checkmate is better boat for sure and quite a bit bigger. It will ride much better in rough water. It will also be harder to resell in the future due to its age.
Is it a Merc HP500???? How many hours??? It needs a top end refresh in the 250hr range and full rebuilds are usually around 500-600hrs.