New boat ... this year?

The search is on. I've had my 1989 Bravura since 2006 and I have been dutifully saving money so I can jump on the right boat when it comes my way.

My perfect boat is a late 90's v-drive with an EFI engine and no digital gauges or keypad dash, with a tower, bimini, and a heater (also a trailer). Of course a bimini and a heater are easy enough to add later, but a tower is considerably harder. The budget is $14k - $20k; for $20k it would have to have everything. For $14k I could afford to add all the things I wanted. High hours don't scare me - see below - but maintenance is obviously important. When I see a boat with mildewed seat backs, cracked vinyl, mismatched gauges, exposed wiring, piles of FatSacs everywhere, faded gel coat... I'm very picky. And as much as I like Supras, I've spent a lot of time in my friends' Nautiques and they are excellent boats - in fact, a 1998 SuperSport (vdrive) or possibly Sport (DD) would fit the bill perfectly. But I'm open to options.

Once I find the right boat, mine will come up for sale. If I'm at the top of my range, I may look to sell mine before buying another; in fact, that's not even an inconvenience because I have other boats I can borrow. Besides Craigslist, this seems like the obvious place to go, and I'll be sure to list it here when it's time.

Here are the details:

1989 Bravura 21' closed bow
1992 Dual axle trailer, good overall condition. Spare tire new in 2010, never used it.
1998 GT-40 engine swap in 2008, rebuilt in 2010 (have documentation)
~500 hours since the rebuild, meticulous oil changes @ 50 hour interval
Transmission shows no signs of slippage, oil is clean and always changed @ 100 hour intervals
Hour meter shows 1600+ because I know people will ask, but it's not the whole story obviously
Monster MT2 tower with Monster tower bimini
Custom canvas cover new in 2015
4-port heater, hot tube
Pioneer head unit, wireless remote, aux in, 4 x 6-1/2" speakers, 2 x 12" subs & 1000 watt amp
Deep cycle & starting batteries, with switch
Solar battery charger in bow hatch
Acme CNC prop new in 2013 (?) & spare OJ 4-blade prop
All upholstery is in good condition - I replaced pieces as needed
Jump Seat for awkward empty space in front of bow access
Two bilge pumps (one in normal spot, one near transmission as backup, hardwired)
LED tower light, LED nav lights
Dash light kill switch (turns off dash lights for better night visibility)

Working at a marina while owning this boat, I was meticulous because the last thing I wanted on my precious day off was a broken boat. Yeah, it has a lot of hours, but this wasn't a surfing machine. Many of those hours are at or near idle, or moderate speeds cruising around the lake. We occasionally set up ballast and went wakeboarding, but friends have better wake boats. I have only skied behind this boat a handful of times because several friends have better ski boats.

The stringers are original (duhn-duhn-duhhhnn). I drilled with a small bit around the motor mounts to check for mush, and the shavings that came out were solid and clean. But some of the motor mount bolts won't quite tighten all the way, so I know this boat will eventually need stringers. However, the floor is absolutely SOLID. I don't feel that this boat needs major work in the short term; I'll continue to use it and take my family around the lake in it until I find a replacement, and I wouldn't hesitate to use it as-is for several more years.

I never once have left this boat with the cover off for any period of time, day or night. We did not use this boat hard and put it away wet. But we did use it a lot.

I'll post in the classified section when it's actually time to sell. I guess I'm just curious what you all think for value, and I'm putting out feelers for a new boat. Also it's March and the sun is getting warmer... I'm getting excited for summer. And my kids are old enough to really start to enjoy the boat for more than a few minutes at a time, so I feel like now is the time to "invest" in a newer boat that we'll have probably long after the kids are old enough to want to take it by themselves - at which point I'll pick up a Nautique Paragon and keep it for the rest of my life (if you haven't seen one of those, take a look).

So am I crazy to ask $8k for my boat? I am acutely aware that one can only go DOWN once a price is stated. But is that too high of a starting point? Too low?!

Cheers, and happy-almost-spring!


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IMO 8k is a lot considering it will need stringers (your words). With the boat at 8 and new stringers somewhere around 4-5, your quickly approaching the low end of your new boat budget.

Unless someone is really looking for a bravura, or unsuspecting they would more likely dig out another couple grand and with a newer vdrive like you are.

At that price you will have to find someone that will only buy a Bravura and is willing to put the 4k or so on stringers, its a 4k or so boat IMO........