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Good catch Kap, that 95 on craigslist is not what he thinks it is lol

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In my observation, the good deals go really quickly on craigslist. If it's been sitting for awhile without being sold, there's a reason. If I was in the market and 10k was in my price range, a 96 sport would be my target.

By your username, I would say your primary use for the boat would be wakeboarding. If you need the room, you might want to look for a super sport or super air. Pretty much if a correct craft has the word "super" in front of it then it is a v-drive meaning the engine is located in the back of the boat. Great boats I am a little biased though. A v-drive has more of a seating arrangement to an I/O.

If you are looking at a budget wakeboard boat, look at the 2001 series hulls made from 82-89. They can seat 5 pretty comfortably and with a little ballast and a tower or pylon make a great budget wakeboard boat. They are closed bow, but great bang for the buck.

I usually have about 7 people on my super sport at an outing, 3 of which are kids. Loads of room on the boat.

Just for reference, a super sport is pretty much a super air minus the factory ballast and tower. The aftermarket world sells everything to add those items if you so desire.

You might want to look at the '90-'94 barefoot and excel's too. I saw a beautiful '94 excel go for $8K not long ago. Those were both V drives, and came in open bow as well as closed bow. Had I bought one to begin with, I wouldn't have sold my boat this year . For wakeboarding, 90' and later ski nautiques don't put out the best wakes.

I wouldn't worry too much if it was fixed by a factory dealer.

The only v-drives you can buy in the 8-10k range would be an excel or early 90's barefoot. There might be a rare boat out there for that kind of money. But, more than likely you will have to sell the motorcycle to get a v-drive. But, talking from a guy that high sided a Yamaha R1 and it almost killed me, i think it might be a good investment.   

Don't get me wrong. I love motorcycles, but my whole family loves the boat:)

I remember from a previous thread that Excel's and Barefoots may not have gone to composite construction in 93 like the rest of the range. I think TXFoil was going to check his Excel out and post the results when it came out of storage. So pre 93 V drives will still have wood stringers and the jury is still out on the post 93 Excel/barefoot's.

Jody or Dave may remember what happened back at the factory with these models.

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351 GT heads or HO heads whatever they are, protec ignition 285hp carbed motor. Always pretty solid motors. Some will say lose the protec ignition and go back to the older style. Others will say leave it unless you have problems. Looks clean though. I don't think I'd be afraid of it. Water test it of course.

I'd say that's a pretty good price on that boat especially if the interior looks clean and you can tell it was pretty well taken care of. You're correct on what you want to look for. Something these nautique have that i/os don't have is 3 tracking fins under the boat. Check for any stress cracks in the gel around those and also check to be sure thy are all nice and straight. Idle the boat, take it up slo, take it up fast, sit at wakeboard speed for a while to see how it holds your speed there. Feel for any vibration that may be going through the boat. Put it in and out of gear a few times to make sure it shifts smoothly.

Sorry for any grammar mistakes, I'm on my cell. Lol

Regardless of the protec or not, shouldn't it be 285hp based on the heads?

Interesting Tim, I thought those heads with the grooves in them were the deal breaker on the GT40 heads...learn something every day :)

I'm sorry, the big read things with white stripes in them