93 chaparral 180sl

[the fat kid]

hello new here,

just had a few q;s before purchasing a boat,

well first off its 18.5' if the info im finding is accurate, with a mercruiser 3.0 in it. planning on putting a tower on it, and trying out some wakboarding/tubing, but idk if this boat is worth the time and money to do this if its underpowered or just not really going to do what i want to do. i really have no experience at all with this pasttime. ANY help is greatly appreciated and if anyone has any info on this boat please point me in the right direction...

thank you again.

 

[Action]

Re: 93 chaparral 180sl

I know someone with one, 3.0L is underpowered in that boat, it is quite heavy and has a wide beam, nice boat but needs a V6 especially if towing wake boarders, skiers, etc.

 

[roscoe]

Re: 93 chaparral 180sl

You could get by with it, but doubt you would be happy for long.

For just cruisin around with 2-3 people aboard it would be fine.

 

[jkust]

Re: 93 chaparral 180sl

The 3.0 will be on the small side for that boat especially with the addition of a heavy tower. If buying used and you plan to do watersports...why not go with at least a 4.3 since they are plentiful and likely you wouldn't pay more for the v6 at that age. The pricing will likely be pretty subjective since there will not be many of this model on the market.

 

[the fat kid]

Re: 93 chaparral 180sl

thanks for the responses,

teh reason for this boat in particular is that my bro in law is only wanting 3k for it, the hull is in great shape, floor has one soft spot, motor runs well from what ive seen, ive been at the lake with him but on a different boat, he pulls tubers mostly. the other boats that are for sell same model and same year are going for 10k or higher, so i figured if i get it, do some upholstery work, put on a tower and have fun this summer and if its severly underpowered i can drop a 4.3in next year, idk. just feeling around.

thanks again.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: 93 chaparral 180sl

2 red flags:

"one soft spot" in the floor will almost certainly turn into a bigger job than you think.

"I can drop in a 4.3 next year" Yeah you could, but you'll spend 5-10k doing it. Going from an inline engine to a "V" engine is the most difficult swap you can do. The front motor mounts will have to be fabricated from scratch (might not be that bad in your case, since you'll be fixing the stringers under your "one soft spot" in the floor), the exhaust pipe will need to be changed, and probably the outdrive too. But hey, good luck.

You could try a High Five prop and Smart Tabs, it might plane okay. But it'll struggle pulling anything you are planning to do off that tower.

 

[jkust]

Re: 93 chaparral 180sl

I know Chaparrals well enough as I have one to be skeptical that there is any 1993 eighteen footer on earth that is $10k. You could buy an early 2000's version of that boat for 10k with a 3.0. They sell a super entry level model that is still very nice. I would post a topic that says something along the lines of 'Thinking of buying a 16 year old boat with a soft spot' and gauge the replies. Don't take a soft spot too lightly and certainly a motor swap is pretty major as well. If you are really in the market for a boat...get in the market and look around at what you can get for 3k.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: 93 chaparral 180sl

jkust your advice and perspective is right on. But you did misunderstand one thing. He's not going to be paying 10k for this Chaparral. He's saying that the other boats of the same vintage are 10k (I know that's insane, but that's what he's seeing). He's going to spend 3k on this boat.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 93 chaparral 180sl

I wouldn't spend $3k on a boat with a rotten deck. Head over the restoration section and see what people are finding underneath when they pull out the plywood to fix that one soft spot.

 

[jkust]

Re: 93 chaparral 180sl

jkust your advice and perspective is right on. But you did misunderstand one thing. He's not going to be paying 10k for this Chaparral. He's saying that the other boats of the same vintage are 10k (I know that's insane, but that's what he's seeing). He's going to spend 3k on this boat.

Yes, that was my suttle way of having him compare a 10k 1993 Chap to a 10k 2000 Chap, say on the internet out of his high cost area. 10k is a lot of money to spend on anything these days.

 

[the fat kid]

Re: 93 chaparral 180sl

jkust your advice and perspective is right on. But you did misunderstand one thing. He's not going to be paying 10k for this Chaparral. He's saying that the other boats of the same vintage are 10k (I know that's insane, but that's what he's seeing). He's going to spend 3k on this boat.

yes thats what im saying exactly, so if the others are that much, and im not saying all but i googled it and found 5 ads for the same boat motor year combo and all were around 10k. one was 12kso i figured if i put wake tower, fix the floor(im gonna check it out better in a couple weeks), buy all the ski/wakeboard gear, and if i find its just way too underpowered, switch to a v6 next year id still be under 10k and have a new motor, new floor, wake tower, blah blah, and would have a boat in better shape than the ones im seeing for 10k now. idk ill check some more into it, especially the floor, ive found some other actual wakeboard boats online for 8 to 9k but theyre alot older like 88 models with no rack just that pole, and theyre not an open bow, i kinda like that.

thanks for yalls input.