Looking at boats tomarrow.

[DC20]

Well I'm trying to line up 3 boats to look at tommarow.

http://sarasota.craigslist.org/boa/2848518716.html
I like the jet idea as we have alot of shallow water and they are cheap to rebuild and they have no wood.

http://sarasota.craigslist.org/boa/2876422057.html http://www.boattrader.com/listing/1999-Robalo-1920-Center-Console-101118783
I have always wanted a center console as I like to stand. Perfect length and size motor, nice trailer, imo.
I would worry about wood in the boat as I think it has it.

http://sarasota.craigslist.org/boa/2803694084.html
Great for the family but I would worry about rotted wood as I think these were still built with wood.


Your thoughts?

 

[Slip Away]

Re: Looking at boats tomarrow.

Robalo CC would be my choice. Trailered boat, wood should not be a concern.

 

[idonthaveaname]

Re: Looking at boats tomarrow.

Robalo CC would be my choice. Trailered boat, wood should not be a concern.

I agree! Good luck!

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Looking at boats tomarrow.

Tough to go wrong with a Robalo or a Scout.

 

[DC20]

Re: Looking at boats tomarrow.

I noticed the Rabolo is about 251 pounds more with a narrow beam.
So I guess the Scout has much better power to weight ratio, but may burn more fuel with that 200.

 

[Philster]

Re: Looking at boats tomarrow.

Is the Robalo rigged with an Optimax engine? Is so, you might want to know more about it. Optis were headaches until 2002.

If the engine checks out, the Robalo is the way to go.

(From the pic, it appears to be an Opti).

Do some homework. Find out what your tolerance levels are for certain repairs and if the engine history is unknown, scarce or poorly documented... reconsider.

When engines go through a run of bad years, it doesn't mean 100% had issues, but if serious issues arise in 1-3% of engines during good years, some well-documented nightmare years could cause grief for ten times as many users. This means this thread can be littered with pre-2002 Opti owners chock full o' anecdotal evidence about how good their engines are.

Optis generally have a reputation of becoming sound, reliable engines after 2002.

If I have a choice, I'm buying an engine from a year where the headaches happened to the smallest percentage of users.

 

[sasto]

Re: Looking at boats tomarrow.

Had a jet drive boat once.....never again.

If it were my choice.....the Rabalo.... a fine boat. Fished an 18footer for years offshore. One tuff sucker, she was.

Family?.....the cuddy on the Scout is a big plus.

Good Luck!

 

[DC20]

Re: Looking at boats tomarrow.

Philster, I don't see the Opti sticker but I am waiting to hear back from the seller.
Sasto, it's a bowrider type set up on the Scout Dorado, the kids always love riding in the front. The plus would be the windshield for windy/spray days.

So what would be the best cruiser, 20' Dorado with 2100#, 8.4 beam and 200hp
Or 19' Rabolo with 2351#, 7' 10" beam and 150hp.

 

[DC20]

Re: Looking at boats tomarrow.

It's a carb motor. That's fine with me, I can work on carbs.

 

[DC20]

Re: Looking at boats tomarrow.

Well the Scout had a spongy deck, the fuel filter had flaking rust and the trailer I would not trust to leave the lot.
The Jet boat was beat up and had barnacles on the bottom with a craptastic rusty trailer.
We loved the layout of the Robalo, it was much rougher in person. it had taken some real hard hits to the sides with lots of spider cracking from the input and some good size chunks of gelcoat missing from the very bottom of the transom. Lots of sun damage, oil injection was disconnected, flush coupling at back of motor was epoxied up, last service was unknown. The trailer was real nice. I was still tempted to make an offer because overall I liked the boat.
It amazes me what people are trying to sell.
So I'm still looking but I think I will just look at center consoles.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Looking at boats tomarrow.

Bummer. None of those boats looked that rough in the ads.

 

[Rockmere1]

Re: Looking at boats tomarrow.

That stinks, tomorrow is another day! And their is still time before summer!!

 

[idonthaveaname]

Re: Looking at boats tomarrow.

Every boat I have taken the time to go see (and it's a bunch) that's listed on craigslist has been a disappointment. Although I find the boating/fishing community a great place with some great people, for some reason the CL listings are either selling junk or trying to scam you. Maybe I am looking in the wrong price range. I have seen more advertised "solid" boats turning out to be worn out hunks of garbage than you can imagine; 14' boats advertised as 17 footers, new motors that are 30 years old, small soft spots? Yeah, right. No such thing. One guy said SOLID transom and when I arrived I could literally see the rot and pieces falling out. He still said, "It's a good solid boat." What mind does this guy live in?

CL is truly buyer beware. Good luck!!