PCM GT40 1700hrs

It's a very nice boat.

I bought my 95 snob with about 500 hours on it. It was in mint condition, and the owner was seemed very OCD about the boat. Since then I have put about 350 hours on it. It has always been well maintained with oil changes every 50 hours (VR1 oil). I have never run it hot, It does get a lot of slalom use. It developed a water leak on one of the heads several years ago.I got by with JB weld for a while. No oil consumption and always ran very consistent and strong.

I pulled the motor this winter to replace the heads. When the engine builder checked the bottom end, he found a lot of wear to the cams and bottom end. . My point is, it may be running fine but at 1700 hours it is getting over the hill. It may serve you fine for years, or it may drop a valve this summer. You dont know. I would adjust my offer to include a couple of grand for engine issues.

I noticed it looks like a cover for the radio is missing....I think I see a hinge next to the radio. If the over all condition is good and it is the boat you want then try and make a deal. But remember you are buying an old used boat.

Jim, we purchased a 94 Sport with 600 hrs this year. The boat was in good shape interior, trailer wise but I also knew I was purchasing a 22 year old boat and I was going to have to take care of a few things. We have spent about $2k since the purchase and I now know I have a solid ski boat that will last our family years to come. My personal suggestion is to buy a boat with at least a few thousand to spare on fixing the unknown in your budget. An acquaintance of mine purchased a 2000 air nautique with 400 hrs and dropped a valve this summer. Hours are a loose guideline on engine condition. With boats you roll the dice so be prepared. 1600 hrs would be outside my personal comfort zone.

I dunno--GT40 plus velvet drive and Walters screw drive could add up. 1700'hoirs on the trans is another kettle of fish all by itself. DIY could be reasonable if you could find an old Ford pickup and reuse manifolds and Fuel Cell...Good reason to stick with a lower hour boat if you've got a choice.

For $8k that boat would be interesting to someone--but I'd still take a pass for something a little less used up.

Eh, engines are about the easiest and cheapest to replace .

1700 hours?
How well was the boat stored? How was the boat used? Was it utilized as a general weekend watersports boat. was it utilized with lots of added weight for wake boarding?
Is there a paper trail of service records? Unless there is significant information at 1700 hours it is a crap shoot. The Gt engine was last manufactured in 1997. Correct Craft utilized warehoused units until 2002. as of 2017 that makes the GT ford engine 20 years old and obsolete. replacement ECM's are NLA. the list just keeps on going as to why it becomes buyer beware unless the price is so good one cant pass it up!

Jim, if I may be so bold, seems like quite a stiff price to me- particularly for a boat with those hours. I'd sell you my 2000 air/Sport with 400 hrs and full maintenance records for less than that.....

If I remember correctly (it's been 38 years since my AP Powerplant classwork), oil analysis only really works if you can perform trend rather than a single point sample--and oil samples need to be taken at end of oil change interval that also has to be consistently performed. We did this for a major oil company when trying to extend oil change intervals in a pilot training environment using early generation synthetic oils which won over the FAA when hard data was presented. So long ago I didnt even have to shave every day.

Interesting link about how engines fail


Sure enough, not water-cooled boat engines, but the duty cycle can share a lot in common with our boat engines in terms of load. (Opinion)

Just all the snaps drilled into the boat to mount the cover,just a lazy way to install rather than a draw string below the rubrail

Asking $14,800 USD, that is a lot of money for a boat you hope does not need a rebuild??

Looks like the gauges have been changed out so whatever hours displayed is what has been put on since that gauge was installed unless the owner took the time to hook that gauge up to a power source and run the hours up to what they were on the old gauge (doubtful). Get a copy of the perfect pass manual from their site, you will need the instructions to find the hours on the PP display. The number of hours PP displays is only going to reflect from when it was installed, so if not factory/new original, won't tell the whole story.

The Gelcoat looks very faded, boat is going to need some loving to get back it's shine.
The people who do those snap covers like that should have their knee caps drilled.

Then my question would be, Before doing a drive test, what are the parts I should inspect ? Lakes are frozen where I am.

M3Fan wrote: As a seller I'd be pretty annoyed by a compression check unless the motor exhibited obvious problems in a water test. If someone drove my 2000 and then wanted a compression test afterward I'd think they would need their head examined.

Kind of feel what you are saying, had a guy do that to my bronco before purchasing however how many times have I read posts where there was no noticeable issue yet a compression test showed otherwise?? Your boat(s) are an extreme example as they are well cared for, in this case you have a high hour boat with questionable gauges, this thing could have 2 or 3 times what the hour meter reads.

Btw, boat appears to be an open bow ski nautique

Link

Is this boat from a private seller or dealer? Any pics or a link to an ad?