Glastron gx 185 early 2000s

[lakenormangal]

I'm thinking of upgrading from the old 1990 Sunbird. I've been looking at 2001 to 2004 Glastron gx 185's.
I've had the Sunbird for 4 years now. It's a great little boat when everything is good. But it seems like each year, something major breaks on it. 2014 the shifting cable was wonky and had to be fixed. 2015 it was the alternator, 2016 we had to pull up the floor to replace the fuel line.
last year the boat was running great, then it stopped moving. Turns out many years ago, the original owner thought the repair shop replaced the outdrive, only they repaired and patched the broken case. We had no idea, and the patch let go.
So we installed a rebuilt outdrive. Even seperated the upper and lower, just to check and make sure everything was doing what it was supposed to be doing. Shifting properly and so on.
ran it with the ears and all seemed well. Put it in the water today. Everything seemed ok today , then suddenly it refused to go into forward.
so now we are going to check the cable and hopefully we find the problem. Maybe it's out of adjustment. I printed out the shift cable info from Hastings. Gonna pick up the adjustment tools.
I'm no boat mechanic but I do the best I can with this.
I'm getting to know the motor and outdrive so well. Too well. But this shifting cable is vexing me.
thing is, I'm getting tired of working on this omc.
i can't afford to spend 10g s on a newer boat.
the Glastron is in my price range, about 4500 to 6000. But will I be in the same situation if I buy another older boat?
always replacing sonething?

 

[89retta]

Its always a crapshoot. Either keep what you have as you know whats been done or get something newer and roll the dice. If you go with something newer take it in and have it inspected. Well worth the money for a preinspection.

 

[Bondo]

I've been looking at

Ayuh,.... I suggest ya buy Anything but another OMC powered I/O boat,.....

 

[lakenormangal]

No, I will never get another OMC. I've learned alot over the past 4 years.

 

[jkust]

The probabilities are with you if you are upgrading to a boat that has 14 less seasons of use. Even better if you can get an 04 GX for 6 grand. That's a 10k boat at least in my state. I am not a fan of Glastrons as they are pretty entry level. My neighbor who lives on the lake next door to me just bought a 2017 22 footer beginning of last season and it is as low quality/cheaply built as I've ever seen and worse it was 50k but he is a brand new boater. He should have named it Cornercut but somehow that name didn't make the short list. That said, I like the looks of those early to mid 2000's models and in particular if you are moving from something so old....I'd be excited to own a Glastron like you describe.