When did Bayliner Become "Good"?

[hillbilly321]

I am still looking for boats and have my choices narrowed down to 4 new models, with Bayliner 195 being one of them. However, my area has ALLOT of used Bayliners on the market that are only a few years old and in great shape at a significant discount from the new price of a new one, so I feel like if I go with a Bayliner it may not be a bad idea to pick up a used one.

Bayliner gets allot of mixed press around here, but there does seem to be a consensus that they are much improved in recent years. Why this is I have no idea (please educate me if there is a reason), however is there some magic date when Bayliners started becoming "good"? Forgive the ignorance, I have no idea of their history and would like to know why and when they went from bad to good.

Thanks for the feedback, this board is great!

 

[foodfisher]

Re: When did Bayliner Become "Good"?

They all started out good. What the owners did with them after the start is the concern. Well kept = good boat. Neglected ones fail easily.

 

[HollaGeo]

Re: When did Bayliner Become "Good"?

I think in the 80's they were garbage.

 

[jdlough]

Re: When did Bayliner Become "Good"?

I don't know the exact date, but at some point around 2000? Bayliner started using XL Plywood, which reportedly is much more rot resistant.

From some internet search...

"Below the decks, Bayliner uses mostly XL plywood for stringers and walking surfaces. This is a copper-arsenate-treated plywood that is kiln dried to a moisture content of less than 13 percent. According to the manufacturer, this process helps assure a perfect bond between the wood and the resins used to lay up stringers and decking. The stringers are box beam construction forming a matrix, and all the wood is fully encapsulated in fiberglass, then the core of the beam is filled with foam for added stiffness."


Other stuff to watch for is chrome plated fittings, instead of full stainless steel fittings. In the 90's all the fittings were chrome plated zinc or something, which corroded/pitted. I don't know what they use now, but if they still use the cheap stuff, it's easy enough to replace fittings with stainless.

 

[riptorn]

Re: When did Bayliner Become "Good"?

My 1988 fittings still look good, but I was told she was store indoors.
I think it depends where they were built. I spent hours on end here checking out all the Bayliner rebuilds and found out there were some shody workmanship with the flooring(foam fill) and windshield leakage. Bottom line is to keep the water out of the interior of the boat at all times specialty with carpet regardless of band of boat you buy. Bayliner's tries to build the lightest boats they can within the guide lines. I can't knock them for that as long as the quality and specs are there.
They are nice looking boats.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: When did Bayliner Become "Good"?

I think in the 80's they were garbage.

Friend had an '85 that was in absolutely perfect shape. Bayliner never made bad boats. They made inexpensive ones, first time/lazy owners did the rest.

 

[dvtran]

Re: When did Bayliner Become "Good"?

I bought a brand new 185 br with a 4.3L. I knew exactly what I wanted and found out Bayliner was by far the best bang for your buck.

 

[HCMQA]

Re: When did Bayliner Become "Good"?

Bayliners are now made in the same plant as Sea Rays.

Not sure of how long they have been doing this but I imagine once you find out the date they started this could give you a good gauge as to what year used Bayliner to look at.