2003 Valiant SBR Special

[grpatter]

Just looking for some feedback on this, he's asking 12000 and appears to be original owner (haven't seen it in person yet) with all paperwork.

Boat seems pretty well cared for (preliminarily) and has:
5.0 Merc
Aftermarket CD, speakers, wakeboard tower.
Custom bow/**** pit snap covers + travel cover

Nada with options puts it at 11900, so it seems pretty close on the asking price. I'd try to work it down a bit, obviously. Should I consider a survey on it if things look good to me (newbie)?

Thanks in advance!

 

[ksukats57]

Re: 2003 Valiant SBR Special

Thats a good boat (i'm a little biased, I have a 95)....BUT, its a solid boat and find all you can to talk him down, most sellers aren't gonna care what book value is. Remember though that the boat market is a buyers market and you should be able to talk him down some. If its a really clean, low hours boat it might be worth that much. Mine was badly oxidized and needed a tune up, but after a couple days with a polisher and some inexpensive tune up parts, its a great boat that shows like its only 2 years old. You will want to get some smart tabs for it, (nauticusinc.com), they will help the performance of the boat a lot. Make sure its a mercruiser not an OMC too, but it should be since its an '03.

 

[grpatter]

Re: 2003 Valiant SBR Special

Thanks for the reply.

I'm going to look at it on Sunday, so I should know more then. I spoke with the seller yesterday evening and confirmed he's the original owner and the kind of maintenance that's been done; all sounds great. There is no hour meter, and wasn't too sure but ventured a guess somewhere right around 100. Usage patterns were fairly consistent use the first 3 years after he bought it (2004), and only out a couple of times the following 3 seasons. Wintere'd/Summer'd professionally and he gave me the contact info of a local marina in case I wanted to talk to them. It definitely has the merc in it, alpha 1 out.

Can you think of any "trouble spots" you've run into on yours, besides the normal red flags?

Nice tip on the smart tabs by the way, I didn't know about those. I'll definitely be doing tabs of some kind, and those seem pretty well liked; I'll have to do some more research.

Thanks again!

 

[ksukats57]

Re: 2003 Valiant SBR Special

Thanks for the reply.

I'm going to look at it on Sunday, so I should know more then. I spoke with the seller yesterday evening and confirmed he's the original owner and the kind of maintenance that's been done; all sounds great. There is no hour meter, and wasn't too sure but ventured a guess somewhere right around 100. Usage patterns were fairly consistent use the first 3 years after he bought it (2004), and only out a couple of times the following 3 seasons. Wintere'd/Summer'd professionally and he gave me the contact info of a local marina in case I wanted to talk to them. It definitely has the merc in it, alpha 1 out.

Can you think of any "trouble spots" you've run into on yours, besides the normal red flags?

Nice tip on the smart tabs by the way, I didn't know about those. I'll definitely be doing tabs of some kind, and those seem pretty well liked; I'll have to do some more research.

Thanks again!

Make sure the trim gauge works and the power trim works while the boat is underway. Trim limit switches on the drive can fill with water and stop working (although usually when the boat is older than yours). Also have the bellows in the outdrive checked, if those leak enough they'll sink the boat. When I bought mine, I had a local boat mechanic look at it it, he checked the compression, pulled the out drive apart and checked everything, greased the gimbal bearing, and looked at everything else on the boat all for $98.00. Pretty good deal for the peace of mind it gave me. But other than that... Should be a good boat. Make sure you crawl underneath and look for big gouges...

 

[ttenrab]

Re: 2003 Valiant SBR Special

I'm late to this thread, but I do want to keep an SBRC thread going. I wasn't really in the market for a boat, but last week, on a tip from my neighbor, I looked at a beautiful 2007 SBRC Vantage with 305 Mercruiser TKS. I was very suspicious, because the owner was asking only $11K for a boat that books for around $17k. The boat & trailer show very little wear, and my son & I crawled all over and checked all of the fluids. We lake tested it for well over an hour and it ran out perfectly. All of the paperwork was in order, so I bought it on the spot. He had the manual for the engine, but nothing on the boat. I'd like to keep an owner's thread going as I know very little about this particular model.

 

[ksukats57]

Re: 2003 Valiant SBR Special

I don't have anything from VIP on mine besides the dealer brochure, but I have all the mercury stuff. Its pretty much impossible to get any documentation or parts from VIP. They're off the radar.

 

[ttenrab]

Re: 2003 Valiant SBR Special

I'm having zero luck with VIP manuals and info. From what I've been able to find out, Vivian Industries folded tent in 2008. The VIP line was supposed to be reincarnated by Caddo Manufacturing and they have a site up, www.caddoboats.com, but the information there is limited. I've called both the phone and fax numbers that are listed on their site, but both are disconnected. It's looking like the only way to find reliable information is going to be through a message board like this one. I have a few things that I'm trying to get my head around with no resources.

Greg Barnett
VIP Vantage 202 SBRC, 305 Mercruiser TKS w/Alpha 1