Hello all,

This is my first post here, I guess you can say I'm a newb. Anyway, I live in Oklahoma right on the Texas border so the main big lake in this area that we boat on is Texoma. I've been on the water my whole life, my mom strapped me in a car seat in my dads 21ft Ranger when I was just a year old and I been cruisin ever since. I've owned several boats both I/O and OB. My last boat was a 1999 Checkmate 259 Convincer. It had a built 502, MooneyHam blower, Dual Holleys, MSD, XR....etc. I got bored with the boat and sold it last fall. I'm starting to think that was a bad idea.

Anyway, I've been looking for a new boat. I'm kinda picky, plus I don't like having what everyone else on the lake has. I wanna be different. I've found a boat locally (within a few hours) of me and went and looked at it at the guys house. It's pretty clean, very little dock rash, not scratched up, no gouges. Interior is not the best to my standards, but it's not bad. I've currently been talking with the guy and he's offered me the boat for $45K. The way it books out by NADA it shows Low Retail is around $56K. I have not been on the water in it yet. He just dewinterized it. Can I please get some honest opinions on this boat and the motor please. I really wasn't waiting to drive across the country again to find another boat, I've already done that on one boat and one classic truck.

http://oklahomacity.craigslist.org/boa/2298874704.html

Any and all comments are appreciated.

Welcome to OSO!

As for the boat....It looks cool but I don't know anything about that brand.

I remember this thread from earlier.

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/f...wer-boats.html

Good looking boats.

Thanks for the link sir. I read through it.

Any opinions on the motor/HP for this size Of boat?

Any and all comments are appreciated.

Here is the Force owners section http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/force-offshore-261/

Change the search date at the bottom from "two months" to "beginning" and there are four threads there.

I guess my only concern would be INSURANCE especially since it is alot of ponies for a smaller cat. I am sure someone will jump in with some numbers, but from guys I know, it is difficult to get non stock power insurance on cats, especially bigger HP. Just know what you are getting into, just my 2 cents. good luck!

Welcome to OSO, and like Cigrocket says, check out your insurance rates before you buy it.... Looks like a fun rig.
Good luck.

Welcome to OSO Trevor.

Not a bad boat, if you like that sorta of thing. The open bow seating on these boats is not designed for seating above 20-30mph. Catch a little air at speed and your passengers could get hurt. Its an west coast boat so not really designed for rough water use.........and you need something that will handle the rough water on Texoma. The torque steer will be a lot to handle for any big motor single engine boat, but I'm sure you've already experienced that with your 25 checkmate. I think you'll find the insurance will be too costly, and rightfully so - those big single engine cats are dangerous, especially on Texoma with the cruiser wakes rolling from one end to the other. Oh sure, someone will disagree, but they don't cost more to insure for nothing. You also may find that on a busy day it may be hard to get the cat to settle down so it can get up to speed. My buddy had a 25 warlock cat and had lots of trouble, especially on holidays, trying to get the boat to settle down and stop blowing out the prop. I knew of another guy with a 24 open bow cat and if the wind was blowing more than 10mph he could only point the nose up and plow thru the lake at 15mph. If your looking in the 28-30ft range you might be able to talk me out of my 28 Apache. I keep it at Texoma in Cartwright by the damn. You won't find another one on the lake and it will make you chit your pants the first time you have it out in 3-4ft waves with sustained 20-30mph winds. I was beaten up on the lake for 15 years on Texoma until I bought the Apache.

Well all the comments on the insurance got me wondering so I gave my local agent a call to check. I even lied about the HP and just told him 500 and he called me back and said he didn't have anyone that would insure it. He said be even ran it through progressive and they replied with "unexcepatable for insure". He said he'd never seen Progressive turn anything down like that. I'm 31yrs old with a clean driving record too, so I'm not high risk, or higher than normal risk. I guess maybe I need to stick with a Vee boat rather than a cat.

Are you financing this or paying it off? If you aren't financing it why insure it?