I just bought my Fountain a couple of months ago, so I'm new to performance boating and not familiar with all the different brands of boats yet. After riding in my boat, by brother in law wants a boat now as well, but he only has about $40k to spend on a used boat. He's been looking in the local boat traders, Boattraderonline, boats.com, ebay, etc and found a couple of Baja boats that he likes and that are within his price range. However, they seem less expensive than most comparable boats, and also slower. They seem like nice boats, but I'm just not personally familiar with them, never actually seen or ridden on one in person and want to give him the bottom line. They seem to be very popular.

My previous boating experience was all Cruisers, so I'm wondering if Baja is the equivalent of Bayliner in go-fasts. I am not trying to offend any Baja owners, my brother in law would just like to know how they compare to other high-performance boats in terms of quality, reputation, performance, etc. Thank you.

I'm not sure that's a fair representation of what a peasure boat would do.
Baja's are mass produced, there for they can be made less expensive. Which also lowers resale. A well cared for Baja can last many, many years. Look it over closely and get a marine survey done. Your insurance company and/or your lender may require it, anyway. It's now a Fountain or Cigarette, but it's way more than a Bayliner.

Welcome to the sport and to the board.

Mark

Speaking of only my own boat, for the money Baja is a good boat. I currently have 550 hp in my 24 Outlaw that runs 75 gps and I air it out everytime I go out. I make sure I run it hard---that is why I love this sport/hobby. I love to go fast and blow past similar boats that cannot handle the rough stuff.

Good Luck

Dave

I also agree that's not a fair representation of Baja's. This is a race boat and they are run hard. The picture doesn't say that this boat won several races this year. If you look long enough, I'm sure you can find a picture of just about all brands of boats that have delaminated.

According to the guys at Hydromotive Engineering, "Bajas are so nose heavy they should come with a helicopter and tow rope to keep the nose up". My only suggestion would be to spin a prop that increases nose lift as much as possible. Other than that I haven't heard of many complaints. Baja owners seem to like them ok. Like Payton said, as usual, you get what you pay for. But isn't that called life???

I really like my 24 Outlaw. There are some little things that Baja does that aggrivate me, but just small nuisance stuff. I would assume alot of boat makes have some sort of aggrivations as well. They build nice boats, but they are not a Cig, as mentioned above. Some of the attention to detail is lacking in small areas. I'm with Too Old...I really like the Outlaw series...I hope to get a 33 as my next boat.

As with any potential purchase, you/he is the guy signing the check, so it really only matters what he thinks, so to speak. Great boat for the $

As for the above pic of the delamination....I can play that way to and fight fire with fire......

Allan
P5-48

Heck.....

I can barely keep the nose DOWN on mine!! Loves to lift the bow all the time........!!

They must not be refering to a 24 Outlaw, that's for sure....

Welcome !!!!!To the board Monty!
Darin

Had a 96 272 with a 502mpi...It was a great boat for the $.

Too Old,

Julie's props are so fast it tore the bottom right off that boat