Would you purcahse this boat? 97 glastron 205 GS

LSPboat

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This boat is for sale in the same marina that I use. I have seen the boat and it appears to be as discribed in the Ad.

I am not familar with the Glastron boats. Any advise on what to look out for, what to check out or pay close attention to would be greatly appreciated. Any recalls?
Is the Volvo Penta a good engine? I have always had a Merc.

1997 Glastron GS205 Runabout. Volvo Penta Stern drive 5.7 liter, 34 gallon fuel capacity. Very good condition. Low hours on the engine. Original owner and lightly used, mostly for touring and fishing. Always on fresh water. Consistently maintained including winterization.
 
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BAREFOOT1955

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Re: Would you purcahse this boat? 97 glastron 205 GS

The Penta STERN DRIVE 5.7 is a great setup..top qualioty. Glastrons are inland lake, cottage type boats..If you are on big water..stay away from
 

JoLin

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Re: Would you purcahse this boat? 97 glastron 205 GS

Welcome to iboats!

Nothing wrong with Glastron per se... mid-range quality sort of boat. How much is the seller asking? Given the year, it's probably a fair bit of cash, which in turn justifies your hiring an expert (surveyor or marine mechanic) to check it over. You need to insure that the last 14 years haven't taken a toll due to neglect.

As for the engine, it's the same small-block GM V-8 that Merc uses. It's fitted with Volvo-Penta's outdrive and ancillaries, instead of Mercruiser's. If 1997, it will be an SX series (either single or duo-prop) outdrive. They have an excellent rep, but are generally more expensive to repair/replace than a Merc Alpha.

Good luck!
 

jkust

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Re: Would you purcahse this boat? 97 glastron 205 GS

This boat is for sale in the same marina that I use. I have seen the boat and it appears to be as discribed in the Ad.

I am not familar with the Glastron boats. Any advise on what to look out for, what to check out or pay close attention to would be greatly appreciated. Any recalls?
Is the Volvo Penta a good engine? I have always had a Merc.

1997 Glastron GS205 Runabout. Volvo Penta Stern drive 5.7 liter, 34 gallon fuel capacity. Very good condition. Low hours on the engine. Original owner and lightly used, mostly for touring and fishing. Always on fresh water. Consistently maintained including winterization.

Yep lowish to midrange and that year is pre VEC as well. They are everywhere because they are/were relatively inexpensive. A boat that age can be a crap shoot, the owner(s) could have been fantatical or awful or somewhere inbetween. Floor rot as hard as it is to believe in a boat that age can be a major issue if a bad owner had it. It is suprisingly common. Volvo outdrives, as I have seen here has a great reputation and seems to be more robust than a standard alpha 1, Gen 2. You can see it just by comparing them side by side. The issue you could run into is there are far, far fewer Volvo mechanics than Mercruiser mechanics. So keep that in mind if you don't do your own work. I wouldn't have an issue owning that model for small to midsized lake use if it was in pristine shape expecially with the 5.7 liter being that the model weighs substantially less than any contemporary/robustly built 20 footer. Weight being one metric of a well built boat.
 

LSPboat

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Re: Would you purcahse this boat? 97 glastron 205 GS

Thanks for all the feed back. The owner is asking $7900. w/ trailer The boat has ben out of the water for the last 4 years. Shrink wrap and stored outside. I am going to take a good look at the boat next weekend. Besided the obvious visual inspection, Hull, interior, floors, what should I pay close attention to considering that the boat has ben out of the water for a while? What service is reccomneded before putting the boat into the water?
 
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