Would you buy a pro’s 206?

I'm looking at buying a 2005 206 Air Nautique used for 1 season by a pro. He put 400 hrs on it. It's been with a family putting ~50hrs/year since. The boat is in great shape and running fine. I'm a little leary that those 400 hrs would have been spent running the course 97% of the time. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. Would you buy one for a fair price? Except for this question, I'm very pleased with it.

In my experience I've seen nothing but fairly abusive driving from most promo drivers. Even at a private slalom lakes I'll see rough driving that I'd never consider doing with my boat- anything from hot dock approaches with 3,000 RPM blasts of reverse to dock the boats (which drives me nuts and I'll never understand) to putting it in and out of gear literally 20 times as the line to the skier plays out before they pull him out of the water. There was a clip showing one of the drivers on the MC pro tour putting one of the MCs in and out of gear for a half second at a time like 10 times in a row just to tighten up the rope for a skier. Sure, he's one of the best drivers in the world but the care for the boat is just not a part of their thinking. To them, the boat is an expendable tool that is magically replaced every year. Their careful (to the boat) driving begins and ends at the course gates. I know a few senior drivers that I wouldn't let near my boat.

Pros and promo drivers expect top performance out of their boats and beat them up, from what I've seen across the board. From a ski show team to a ski school to a quiet slalom lake. They get new boats every year and don't baby them the same way I do. I know what it took for me to get my boat and what it takes to keep it going for years and years. I'm easy on the boat around the dock and never jam it in and out of gear unnecessarily. That sort of thought and consideration is lost on most pros and promo teams who see the boat merely as a tool to use for the summer and nothing more.

would you buy a car from Hertz rent a car?

backfoot100 wrote: Why would you be worried about a boat that has 400 hrs. running the course? That's what it was designed for. As long as the engine was maintained as it should be, it'll be fine. I think you'd also be surprised about how much time is really spent at course speeds. Not near as much as you think. When I was on the ski team, we got new motors every year (outboards). At the end of each year the dealer ran diagnostics on it that tell you exactly how many hours are put on them and throttle position percentage wise they have been run at. Every engine we had was run over 85% of the time at idle! They only averaged 3-4% at WOT. That only leaves a little over 10% of the time somewhere between idle and WOT. Now that's by a nationally ranked division 1 show ski teams standards. A pro three event skier is only running a few seconds at 36 MPH for slalom and jump (well below WOT)and would be running a LOT longer at 22-25 MPH for tricking. In between each pass, the boat is just going to be idling. I'll bet that boat was hardly ever run at WOT. I wouldn't hesitate to pick up that boat as long as it was maintained properly.

BF, it's the idle speeds I'd be worried about. For example, the ski team we watch in the northwoods beats the hell out of the transmission when they go from boat to boat to collect money for the show- jamming the boat in forward and reverse all over the place. I have no problem with the boat running in the course- it's everywhere else besides the course or tricks that you see the abuse. This same ski show also starts each show out by doing spinouts in each boat- so, 3 shows a week for say, 10 weeks in the summer- easily 30 near WOT spinouts per summer, not counting around-the-boat tricks.

I used to think that I would never buy one of these boats (or outboards) that was used as a demo or promo until I saw the actual percentage of use involved. I also know a few guys that have purchased promo boats from Keith St. Onge, Ron Scarpa and Lane Bowers and have had nothing but good luck from them. I've skied in promo boats from two of the three of these guys and wouldn't hesitate to buy one of them.

I guess that I wouldn't consider some of these things to be abusive running that you talk about either. 30 spinouts IMO shouldn't damage the running gear of any boat if it's well made and properly maintained. You're just going from forward gear to neutral. How is that so different than the end of a course pass or a barefoot run other than the sharp turn at the end? How many times have our own members posted pics of them doing that exact thing with their boat. I quarantee you that if MM was trying to sell his boat, I would not hesitate to buy it knowing that he has done dozens of spinouts with it.
Around the boat tricks are also never taken out of gear if done properly. It's just a very sharp turn at a fairly slow speed. IMO, what the boat was designed to do.

How many times have you heard of boats that were used for some prestigious tournament in the 60's, 70's or 80's or a CC that was the official towboat for Cypress Gardens in 1975 that is now highly sought after and demands a higher dollar value. If what your saying is true, those boats should be actually be scrap fodder then.

I'm not saying that every promo, demo or team boat is a gem as I'm sure some are abused much more than they should be as Joel has stated. I certainly wouldn't rule out buying such a boat though. This is just my own opinion and I certainly don't mean to say that Joel or Eric are wrong in their observations or beliefs. These are just the observations that I've witnessed and experienced myself and how my thinking has been changed because of it. Just my point-counterpoint.