I am in the market for a late 80's or early 90's (my price range) Baja 280 or 290. Basically looking for about a 30' boat. Loooking to spend right around 20k. Let me know if ya know of one. I am in Indiana but willing to travel for the right boat. Have cash in hand!

If you can come up with more my 97' 29 outlaw will be on the market here this spring.

what is more? what are you going to ask?

There is a 28 with big blocks for 12k in Chicago craigslist, [email protected]. Looks like it may need motor work though.

yeah send me some pics and info thanks
[email protected]

Be careful looking at late 80's/early 90's Baja's. Chances are they are going to be soggy. I know from experience

Why is that? It seems the late 80's early 90's boats have more problems than the mid-80's boats. I don't get it...

Somewhere around that time is when Brunswich took over from Doug Smith

I guess I shouldn't limit that comment to Baja's, there are a lot of boat manufacturers from that vintage that are soggy.

Really when you think about it, we are talking about boats that are 20+ years old. Were the manufacturers really planning on those boats being around that long? And how many times have those boats changed hands? Every time a new owner gets a hold of it, they change this or that, drill holes, patch holes, etc.

The other reason is method of construction. I had to tear mine down to the hull, literally. Every stringer, bulkhead and floorboard was wet in one area or another. I think the main source of the rot was the drainhole in the bulkhead between the gas tank and engine room. Whenever water would lay in the bilge enough to reach this hole, it wicked into that bulkhead and then throughout the entire super-structure. That is because none of the stringers or bulkheads were sealed from each other. The entire structure was built, then covered in one layer of glass to attempt to seal things up and secure it to the hull. So once water worked its way through that bulkhead, it just kept going. I took a few pictures of the rotted wood but reached a point where I just didn't care anymore and wanted it ripped out so I could move on.

My transom was rotted because of unsealed exhaust cutouts, unsealed drain plug and failed repairs from when the boat had k-planes and somebody removed them and put regular tabs on it, which I can't blame the factory for that one.

I also found some coring sections that needed to be cut-out and replaced due to dry laminate allowing water to migrate through, not too much but some.

So in my particular case it was shoddy workmanship from the start (90%) and previous owners meddling (10%). That being said the outside of the boat still looks great, if it wasn't for that fact I would have taken a chainsaw to it. It actually amazed me anytime somebody would come up to me and start asking about it and the shock on their face when I would tell them it was 20 years old. I guess if the inside would have been built as good as the outside, I wouldn't have missed out on last summer with a torn apart boat.

That makes sense, but that said, we've never had a problem with any of our older boats (1978 22' Searay, 86 26' Nova, 84 34' Sundancer, 83 377 Scarab, 88 42' Eagle, 85 32' Baja). All have surveyed and checked out perfect. The 377 had the benefit of being trailered and taken out of the water frequently throughout their lifespan, and the Eagle had the benefit of being hoist kept (the Baja was always rack stored), but absolutely no rot on any of our boats after 20+ years of boating.

It certainly seems that some years (often older years) faired better than some new years, but it does make sense if manufacturers changed hands and whatnot...