Rank these for me?

[hibbert6]

I've been looking for a 18'-19' bowrider for family watersports, 1998 or newer, preferably newer. I'm wanting an outboard, but they are very rare out here. I'll probably have to settle for a v6 i/o.

I've been checking 4 Craigslist areas most every day for 4 months. In central-northern California, I'm finding mostly Reinells & Bayliners, and an occassional 4 Winns, Larson & Sea Ray.

The other day I came across a 2005 Starcraft in excellent shape, at a fair price. Very rare out here. My only concern is that it's very light weight - 1725lbs, according to NADA, about 400-800 lbs less than most others in this category. When I knocked on the sides of the hull, it, uh, made some noise. Just felt like thin fiberglass. I got this sound in 3 different places on the hull. (Now, my old boat was a 1974 trihull, which hurt the knuckles if you knocked on it!

Sooo....are hulls thinner nowadays? Is this a problem? Obviously, a lighter boat creates a better power to weight ratio, but... Any input out there on the Starcraft vs. the other brands I mentioned would be greatly appreciated.

Dave

 

[Boatist]

Re: Rank these for me?

What kind of Starcraft?
Most of the Starcrafts I see in the Sacramento area are Aluminum with rivets.
I am also shocked you only see I/O as all I see anymore are outboards.
At the boat shows usually only one or two I/O in the entire show.
StarCraft aluminum boat have a good reputation but do use rivets.

Take a look at the link and find the model you are looking at and report model and you may get more replys.
At least everyone will know what model you are looking at.

http://www.starcraftmarine.com/

 

[RotaryRacer]

Re: Rank these for me?

All the brands you mentioned could make a great boat or a terrible boat.

You are looking at used boats. The way the boat was treated has a very significant impact on how "good" the boat is.

If I were to rank the brands (when new) mentioned it would be something like this.

Reinell
Four Winns
Sea Ray
Larson
Starcraft
Bayliner

I would highly suggest being patient and waiting to find an outboard powered boat.

Four Winns made great 17 and 18 ft OB boats. The last generation was from 1997-2005. These have full fiberglass cockpit liners and many other things that are nice.

Reinell is more of a niche market boat. We don't see many of those in the middle of the country. It is a "small" company in comparison to the others.

Starcrafts in general are good solid boats. They are typically more budget minded and have fewer frills.

Bayliner and Sea Ray are both BIG names. They are common pretty much everywhere. They are both Brunswick companies. Bayliners are entry level, Sea Rays are upper level.

Larsons are good boats also....strong history and good reputation.

 

[hibbert6]

Re: Rank these for me?

What kind of Starcraft?
Most of the Starcrafts I see in the Sacramento area are Aluminum with rivets.
I am also shocked you only see I/O as all I see anymore are outboards.
http://www.starcraftmarine.com/

Admiral,

If what you say is true, then owners of Outboard boats must love 'em as they sure aren't selling them on Craigslist!

The Starcraft I'm looking at is a C Star 180 or 1800(neither of which which NADA lists!). I'm pretty sure it was fiberglass, as there were no rivets, but aluminum would explain the light weight and "resonance" of the hull.

It was a plain 'ol bowrider, i/o dual console, though the consoles were set quite a ways back in the boat, creating a very large front seating area, larger than most, with a smaller sundeck on the back than most I've seen recently.

Nice, but I'd still rather have an outboard!

Dave