by Ray » Tue Nov 22, 2011 8:18 pm
Most bay boats draft between 10 and 12 inches. They have more V in the bottom and higher sides. So, they ride better and safer in rough water.
That is draft at idle, you will have the foot of the motor below that.
I have never heard anyone complain about any Nautic Star boat, same for the newer Blue Waves. I have heard some gripe about the older Blue Waves.
If you get a newer motor, you can pay a reputable shop to hook up to it on their computer and see how it was ran.
The ECM can tell if it has ran hot, it sees the last few minutes of running and it can tell you how many minutes it ran at each RPM. That will tell you how the past owners ran her.
There is a boat repo place in ****, Tx., just below Houston, that has repo boats. Some in great shape. The boats are being sold for the bank. The repo place gets a % of the selling price. Don't pay what they are asking, make them an low ball offer. The mroe they sell for, the more the bank and the repo place ger. If the asking price is $20k and the bank is only owed $10K on it, they split the profit you pay. You don't know what the pay off is, so you need to low ball and see if they will bite.
I have a heavy 19 ft. boat. If I did it again, I wouldn't go shorter than 21 ft. I will keep mine a long time, just longer boats ride a lil better in rough water.