Late 90's bowriders.....what brands to look at, and stay away from?

I?ve narrowed my search down for a used boat?I think I?m going to try to find a nice 22? bow rider. Something that will handle rough lake water well, and still pull wakeboards and innertubes without guzzling too much fuel. I?ve seen several nice late 90?s and early 2000 Cobalts, Four Winns, and Crownlines in my price range. Are any of these better than the rest as far as build quality? Are there any other brands I should consider? I?m a little hesitant on buying a 15+ year old boat?..should I be? Do any of those boats have problem with wooden stringers or floors getting soft or rotting?

Any info would be great.

Thanks!

Re: Late 90's bowriders.....what brands to look at, and stay away from?

Bias is towards best maintained of the makes you mentioned. Stored indoors, when outdoors cover on, careful maintenance records, on water test, pressure test engine, examine oil/outdrive/gas filter fluids, marine survey. Other than that, IMO, lean towards stronger powerplants, perhaps dual props, given 22' is a bit larger and heavier than most. When you find the right fit, ask for extras such as dock lines, fenders, watertoys, etc.

Re: Late 90's bowriders.....what brands to look at, and stay away from?

I recently bought our '99 Four Winns Horizon 170.
Awesome boat! Four Winns uses a "Stable-V" Design in their boats and not much has changed in hull design between the late 90's to their current models. So... they must be doing something right! Plus there is no wood in the deck to rot out.

Mine is the outboard option, I liked the looks of an inboard, but didn't want all the fuss of bellows and other outdrive issues. Besides, If feel like I have more options with repowering (though more expensive)

I don't think you can go wrong with any of the brands you mentioned though, but I am a little biased as I own a four winns.

Re: Late 90's bowriders.....what brands to look at, and stay away from?

Well cared for, I wouldn't be afraid of any of the brands you've mentioned. Well cared for, I wouldn't be afraid of too many brands out there. Once you're talking about used boats, it's all about condition, power and price.

I wouldn't be afraid of a 15 year old boat. It'd be 25 years newer than any of the ones I've owned ANY boat is gonna' require a little garage-lovin' from time to time. An older boat may require more, but probably not by that much.

Welcome aboard.

Re: Late 90's bowriders.....what brands to look at, and stay away from?

Ignore the name on the side of the boat, it means NOTHING in a 15 year old model. Condition/maintenance/upkeep are everything.

Re: Late 90's bowriders.....what brands to look at, and stay away from?

You are at that point age wise where it could be a trailer queen or far from it. A lot of time has passed for a bad owner to do what bad owners do to their boats...then blame the boat for it. That said the late 1990's and early 2000's was a bit of a turning point for some brands to pull ahead while other's stayed a style generation behind. While now days the small and low 20 foot Sea Rays are severely lacking, back in the late 1990's they actually got out of bed to design them and they were decent. I might possibly consider a Regal and one or two others including Chaparral. In my world I already consider that I'm only looking at the trailer queens and so condition being excellent, I do indeed consider the brand. A cheap 15 year old boat in perfect shape is still a cheap boat compared with it's then expensive counterpart.

Re: Late 90's bowriders.....what brands to look at, and stay away from?

smokingcrater said:

Ignore the name on the side of the boat, it means NOTHING in a 15 year old model. Condition/maintenance/upkeep are everything.

Click to expand...

Maybe not "nothing", but condition is at least 90% of the equation.

Re: Late 90's bowriders.....what brands to look at, and stay away from?

That's also when some boats stopped using wood as a structural element. For example, around '97 Larson stopped using wood for stringers and bulkheads (but not transom cores). I saw a listing somewhere on the web of the year various manufactures phased out wood from their boat builds... I don't know if I can find the link. Obviously, buying a used boat with less wood (or no wood) removes a big source of problems.