need advice from former buyers..

[drc007]

i ve been looking for a boat for some time now and i was originally set on a supra sunsport 88 or newer. well ive now made up my mind im gonna wait till next year at this time to get a boat. waiting a year would allow me to save up more money (being a college student it is hard!). i imagine i should be able to afford a boat around 15000- 20000 at this time. i want a boat that i can wakeboard behind and throws a great wake. i know the DD seems to be more of a ski boat but when properly weighted can throw awesome wakes. i recently wakeboarded behind a 2002 Sanger and it threw a massive wake...! also ive looked at moombas and they seem great. my question is what made yall decide to get a supra? and is there any V drive wakeboards boat that may be in that range?

[blackout00]

To be honest my decision came for a couple reasons:

1. Supra's have been around a while, and have a long standing great reputation.
2. Seems as of late many people are taking time to revive these classics, which is really neat and does not cost an arm and a leg, as long as you do your research.
3. One of the biggest factors was this forum! Everyone here is great! They share and help with EVERYTHING! Also, you can really get up to speed quick...

Hope this helps...Good Luck in your search and with college!

[rludtke]

I don't know about your market area, but the used boat prices (for old school tournamant skiers) in the pacific northwest seem to have really taken a dive this last year. That's great if you are a buyer, but it bugs me when I compare my work in prgress whith what the money could've bought me had I waited. But then again, I would have missed three or four years of skiing. I guess you shouldnt think about some things to hard.

My point is, I think there are a lot of great boat-for-the-money oppertunities out there in the used market right now. Tying up large amounts of money in a toy is a little scary to me in this economy, especially when considering that you probably won't get much back in resale if you ever needed or wanted to.

A moderate boat now may be more fun than a primo boat later.

I agree with everything Blackout stated.

My two cents...

[KG's Supra24]

I chose Supra more or less from the name and quality over the Moomba. Skiers Choice seemed to have a great reputation and great price point. Plus, there is a local Skiers Choice dealer that I had talked to numerous times. A good local dealer probably needs to be high on the list in factors determining which boat you chose.

As far as price, i knew if i looked hard enough i could find a Supra for the price of a Moomba. I found a repo that the someone had turned over to the bank bc they just couldnt afford it anymore. Took great care of it and i feel like i got a great deal. Going back to the dealer, I let them know i was looking for a boat and not just a used one they would sell me but a steal, i didnt want to pay anything close to what they would try to take me out there on the lot and sell me. No offense to them, i just knew what price i needed and i wanted to try my hardest to find the best boat for it. Well apprently Supra has a list of used boats (demos etc) the dealers have access to. My dealer called me the week after i bought mine and said i could get Richard Petty's boat (he gets a new one every year or two), a year newer than mine, for a 2,000 less than i paid!!! Sucks but i am still happy with mine.

Long story short, with your kind of time i say go talk to your local dealers and let them know you have tons of time and are looking for a great buy. Best time to buy is end of summer and over winter. Also just constantly look and you will know how things are selling. I watched many boats i wanted sell.

Patience!! Also, i drove 8 hours one way to pick mine up.

[belmont_13]

I have been on the boat hunt almost 2 years and I will be taking delivery of my Supra launch ss next weekend. I narrowly avoided getting burned on a stolen boat because I was shopping the "deals". Don't just ask the history, actually check it out! The boat I was looking at had the HIN changed and had been registered with transport canada for 3 years. All the paperwork looked good and the HIN didn't show up on the "hot list" or show any liens. Before I bought I called all the dealers around the province and found where it was originally sold only to find out that it was stolen 3 years ago! The owners were shocked to find out and are having a heck of a time tracking down the guy they bought it from!

A good dealer will remember the boats he sells. Follow the paper trail back to the beginning, it's the best advice I can give!

[87SunSportMikeyD]

You said 88 Supra and you can get into that for $5-8000 blank boat (+2-3k to fully load it) or $10.5-14k fully loaded possibly with new stringers. If you have $15-20k you have many more options. These are wooden floor and stringer boats.

If you search hard, you can also find a DD Supra SunSport 92-98 for $12-16k blank. The Supra Launch didn't start with a V option untill 2001 I THINK. This would be about $18-22k I think.

If you can find an older Sanger V they were making them very early. Other early V's are the 95-99 Correct Craft Super Sport Nautique or the similar years MasterCraft 205V. These should be around $15-20k range, middle of that range being most common. These are all fiberglass boats.

[blackout00]

Just one more thing...as I believe it was stated earlier...Be willing to travel. I drove 10 hours from PA to TN to get my boat and it was well worth it. Got to meet Jim and the crew @ Viper. This is a close community, so usually you may have the chance to establish some relationships along the way, which is nice because when you do have to open the wallet the relationships can save a buck or two...