my wife & I took out a '99 35 Lightning yesterday that we're considering to purchase. Calm water, 1/2 tank fuel 3 people - max speed 74 GPS - I'm a little disappointed - shouldn't this be an 80 MPH boat??? -boat has 300 hours - with carbed HP 500's turning hydromotive 27P four blades @ 4800 RPM - (Lake St Clair) are these motors tired?? - propped wrong??

how far out did you trim it. i had a 92 35 that didnt free up till 7

Ran-Dom 32,
That sounds a little slow for that boat. I would think it would be faster than 80mph also. Make sure you pay quite a bit below market value! Those motors will need to be rebuilt sooner than later and it will cost you at least $15K to re-fresh both. My HP500's (carb motors) are at Teague for rebuild.

I bought a 33' Powerplay recently for alot less than market value ($85K) and I had one motor crap out already. I figured I might as well rebuild both at the same time. I'm glad I paid less than market value to cover the cost of the motors. I feel I got a good deal on the boat. It runs 84 on GPS with the tired motors @ 5,000rpm on 3 blade mirages.

You can argue to the seller that those motors will need refreshening soon, and it's going to cost you/ him to refresh. Good luck

Doesn't sound like the boat is proped right?

That sound slow to me. I would think that should close to 80 MPH. Props sound about right although I would think you should be able to spin those engine about 5200-5300 rpms which would put it at about 77-78 MPH with 14% slip. I'm not familiar with what a typical slip number is on that hull. I would do a compression check on the engines before I bought it and beat the guy down on the price. I wouldn't think those engine would need a complete overhaul at 300 hrs unless they have been poorly maintained. Maybe just a valve job and a good tune up.

the boat is priced right - (well below market) - not such a great deal if motors need to be freshened - what's a typical valve spring job cost? could this really slow the boat down by 5-6 mph? Apparently the Compression was tested 130-135 across the board.

Compression is low. Should be around 150 . Sounds like it needs a valve job and possibly the rings are going bad. Do a leakdown test, it is more accurate.

This 99 is for sale and it goes 85 GPS. Just freshened engines. PM me if you his number but 35/25 or do I have that backwards? is on the board occaisonally. I think it is priced about right,


F

I just sold my 99 35 classic with carbed hp 500's. The boat had 26 pitch hydromotives turning just over 5200 and ran about 81mph. That one sounds slow to me.

less then $85K I doubt it