Goooood morning!
I'm looking at purchasing a boat here in the next couple/few weeks, and I've currently narrowed it down to a couple of boats. My wants are: 22-24' deep v-hull bowrider, big block engine, rear bench seating, onboard head compartment (mainly for extra storage), in great shape. (for its age).
1st Boat:
1997 Four Winns 240 Horizon
Equipped with: Volvo Penta 7.4GL w/ Volvo SX Cobra Outdrive.
2nd Boat:
1997 Monterey Montura 236
Equipped with: Mercruiser 7.4L w/ Bravo III Outdrive.
All other things are on these boats are pretty much equal (ie. condition of gelcoat, condition of upholstery, carpet, engine hours, trailers/tires/wheel bearings in great shape.) even price. Asking price on both boats - $12k.
My concerns:
The first boat looks great, but when I checked out the motor, it says Volvo Penta on the carb cover, however it has OMC Cobra labels affixed to the valve cover for the drive, engine, and transom. The engine model #: 744FPLKD.
I know this is during the time of their joint venture/purchase of OMC.
The marine shops between here (SoCal) and Arizona all mention volvo parts being *slightly* harder to come by, and *slightly* more expensive. I have no preference between Merc or Volvo, but these shops (in different states!) are saying there are "rumors" of volvo getting out of the sterndrive business (in the next 10 years), and therefore new parts for the drive might be hard to comeby eventually. (I dont plan on having the boat that long, but would be worried about how the resale value would be effected if this were true.) Any weight to this? Should be I concerned with getting parts for either the engine, or drive?
Otherwise, how do these boats stack up against one another? Is either one built better than the other?
Thanks in advance.
Richard
I'm looking at purchasing a boat here in the next couple/few weeks, and I've currently narrowed it down to a couple of boats. My wants are: 22-24' deep v-hull bowrider, big block engine, rear bench seating, onboard head compartment (mainly for extra storage), in great shape. (for its age).
1st Boat:
1997 Four Winns 240 Horizon
Equipped with: Volvo Penta 7.4GL w/ Volvo SX Cobra Outdrive.
2nd Boat:
1997 Monterey Montura 236
Equipped with: Mercruiser 7.4L w/ Bravo III Outdrive.
All other things are on these boats are pretty much equal (ie. condition of gelcoat, condition of upholstery, carpet, engine hours, trailers/tires/wheel bearings in great shape.) even price. Asking price on both boats - $12k.
My concerns:
The first boat looks great, but when I checked out the motor, it says Volvo Penta on the carb cover, however it has OMC Cobra labels affixed to the valve cover for the drive, engine, and transom. The engine model #: 744FPLKD.
I know this is during the time of their joint venture/purchase of OMC.
The marine shops between here (SoCal) and Arizona all mention volvo parts being *slightly* harder to come by, and *slightly* more expensive. I have no preference between Merc or Volvo, but these shops (in different states!) are saying there are "rumors" of volvo getting out of the sterndrive business (in the next 10 years), and therefore new parts for the drive might be hard to comeby eventually. (I dont plan on having the boat that long, but would be worried about how the resale value would be effected if this were true.) Any weight to this? Should be I concerned with getting parts for either the engine, or drive?
Otherwise, how do these boats stack up against one another? Is either one built better than the other?
Thanks in advance.
Richard
