2000 Prostar 205 info needed!

I have been in the market for a good ski/family boat for the past few months. I have pretty much looked at Malibu and Mastercraft as all owners of these boats highly recommend them. I have located a 2000 Prostar 205 with 425 hours on a 310 horsepower Predator motor. With the trailer as well. It appears to be in good shape besides some small cracking on the drivers seat and rear seat area. The gel is in great shape and it all around appears to have been taken good care of and runs well. The questions I have is about the hours on the boat and the engine. I don't know much about the Predator engine and I'm wondering if anyone has any feedback on this particular boat and engine which would help guide me if I'm making a good decision in proceeding. Is this a good boat and motor combo?

It is offered at a dealer which was used as a trade in on a newer boat. They started out asking 19K at the end of summer and have now dropped it down to 16,900, however the boat salesman says they need to move the boat and are willing to make a deal. If I could get this boat for below 16K and replace the interior (in the near future) for what he says he has quoted at around $1100, would this be a good deal? Any feedback on the reliability of this boat and motor is greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your help in advance,
Tyler

Re: 2000 Prostar 205 info needed!

Sounds attractive if she was cared for properly. Upholstery can be repaired and replaced easily. At the risk of being flamed, you may want to pose the same questions to the ball of spray website forum, those guys live and breathe these watersport towboats and will geek out on your particulars. Good luck.

Re: 2000 Prostar 205 info needed!

there's a mastercraft owner's forum somewhere too. i don't know the particulars of the prostar but the 205 hull was basically mastercraft's flagship hull for awhile. it was the basis for the original x-star series which became their wakeboarding line. take your pick....world class skiing wake or weight it down for fantastic wakeboarding. there were many of these boats sold w/few complaints.

those hours are nothing to worry about provided it was well cared for maintenance wise. 425 hours divided by 12 seasons works out to 35 hrs/yr which isn't very much at all. a well maintained engine could see 2k hours of use.

is it a direct drive or vdrive?

Re: 2000 Prostar 205 info needed!

It is a direct drive. Also I have tried to register for the Mastercraft website and forum, but no administrator has activated my account yet. It seemed to be real biased on who they allowed on that forum and that the administrator could deny your activation request on their discretion. Anyways, I appreciate the feedback. The boat seems to be well taken care of, other than the vinyl, but I have been told the 1999 to 2001 vinyl used by Mastercraft those years were notorious for cracking and holding up like other years.

Re: 2000 Prostar 205 info needed!

My buddy has a late 90's Prostar 19.5'. Bulletproof, quick and powerful, light, easy to trailer. As Salty noted, it can lay down a small wake for slalom, or at slower speeds with a tower and fatsacks can put up a bigger ramp for boarding. The tower also adds capacity to hang water toys leaving passenger room on deck.

Note however that these ski rigs are less suited to choppy conditions and take on water over the bow due to the lower freeboard. While I much prefer skiing behind my buddy's Prostar, our I/O is a better family/fishing boat which otherwise throws up a much bigger wake causing more frequent and unintended OTF launches on a slalom stick. Pick your poison.

Re: 2000 Prostar 205 info needed!

duplicate post

Re: 2000 Prostar 205 info needed!

thanks Moosehead....