Brand new Supra owner ('85 Sunsport)

[Indy443]

Hi guys,

I wanted to introduce myself as the newest member of the Supra family. After a good, intense search over the last month I finally found a boat I was looking to replace our first boat with. It was with some anxiety that I went out on a limb and picked up this '85 Sunsport. I honestly don't know too much about the lineage of Supra boats, but I wanted something that was comfortable, powerful and solid.

I found this boat in clean condition, with a lot of good maintenance records and for a good price. Yesterday was my first day on the boat and it was definitely a big learning curve to jump from a lightweight aluminum boat to this big, inboard fiberglass beast. I love the comfort and the power is certainly there. I spent about half the day tooling around the lake. Some of the time was spent cruising up on a plane about 3/4 throttle, and a lot of time just lower speed cruising. In that time I burned about half a tank of fuel! THAT is going to be a big adjustment.

So, what should I expect to burn in this thing. A full day on the lake, playing and cruising is a full tank of gas?

That is going to get expensive, but I guess it is a big V8 with a Holly 4barrel on it.

I'll post a pic in just a bit.

Thanks!

[jasun]

Welcome to the family! You will love your sunsport. Watch for soft spots in the floor. Search for stringer repair because it is inevitable.

As gas as fuel consumption I have a 454 in mine and I get about 7 or so GPH While wakeboarding.

The biggest thing you will need to adjust to is low speed docking. As I'm sure you found out, steering doesn't work I reverse. My guess is you turn clockwise when in reverse. Good luck with it all and post up some pictures!!


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[cadunkle]

Cool boat, let's see some pics.

My Saltare (23' with 454) burns 6-7 GPH averaged over a day of riding at mostly 22 MPH. Guessing with a slightly smaller boat and a 351w you'll be in the 5-6 GPH range. If you're burning much more than that there's tuning to be done.

[Cusefan78]

I love seeing these posts. It brings me back when I got my supra. I still love it as much as when I bought it. Mine is pretty fuel efficient but I have fuel injection. Things to look for is the floor as mentioned above also check under the rub rail. Water can come in under there if the caulk goes bad.
Enjoy the new boat this forum is great, most of the people will go out of their way to help.

[Indy443]

Thanks for the reply, and I definitely love this boat. Yeah the reverse situation is very new. One thing I have to get used to is getting it onto the trailer. My first time doing it today there was a big crosswind and that was very challenging. What is the best technique for this? In gear even at lowest throttle you are still moving forward fairly fast for a 'slow speed' approach. Or at least faster than what I am coming from in other boats. Reverse is great for slowing up but coming into the trailer under that speed is very new to me, especially under a crosswind!

Yeah the gas consumption is going to be a big adjustment. What do you average a season on fuel cost? Since it is nearing the end of the season I won't really know what I am looking at for that expense.

Also, for stringer condition, how can I best check them as to their condition. The motor mount bolts are very solid as they are now. The history with this boat is that it was bought in Missouri, used for 10 years, and then dry docked for 11 straight years due to a range of reasons. Eventually the original owners son in law took over the boat. He had about $2,000 worth of work done to the boat to get it back to perfect running condition. I received that work order from the person I bought it from (as well as the original bill of sale and paperwork for the boat). The son in law was no longer using the boat and sold it to the guy I just bought it from. That guy worked at a marina and took the overhaul even further with a bunch of new parts.

There is one soft spot in the floor on the starboard side near the rear cushion, about the size of a football under the carpet. Because the carpet is still tightly attached over the soft spot, how can I investigate/repair this? The boat has definitely been wet before, I can tell that. I just don't know what fully lies beneath what I can physically see when I inspected the boat. I have read about some nightmares with these boats where the stringers are just completely gone, and I am praying that is not the case.

Anyway, here are a few photos from yesterday afternoon, about two hours after getting the boat legal and about 4 hours after the purchase. Wife and kids were having a great time on it: