Starting to look

[rjacobs]

Just found this website in my search to buy my first Nautique. I have driven and ridden behind them before and absolutely love the boats and their build quality. I am looking to buy something this fall/winter when the market is slightly depressed and have just started looking. I am not looking for anything new, my budget is in the 15-20k range. I think I am only going to be looking at 98 and newer boats, probably up to about 00 or so to keep it in my price range. 98 and newer mostly for the integrated ballast system as well as the tower. Is there any reason I should look at a 98 vs. 99 vs. 00 or newer? I think I want direct drive and not a V drive, but to be honest I have never driven or ridden behind a V-drive, I have only ever driven and ridden behind direct drives. I road behind a direct drive Nautique with tanks and a tower in 98 or maybe 99(Shawn Murray's boat) and it had a phenomenal wake and that was without any ballast in the tanks. What all are some areas on these boats that I should check when doing an inspection? I have a CC dealer close to me(sail and ski in Austin) that I would probably have do a pre purchase inspection for me, what should I expect to pay for a thorough inspection? I am sure i will have many more questions as my search goes on as well as when I finally do purchase.

[Chexi]

When you are ready to buy, look me up. I am not willing to sell now, but I may be later this year. I am in Dallas.

I have a blue, black and white 99 Air Nautique GT40 direct drive with 2nd gen FCT (you want 2nd gen not first gen which cam standard in 99), perfect pass (rpm mode only, but once you go RPM mode there is no need to ever go back to MPH), factory ballast plus additional manual fill sacks for on top of the rear tanks and in the locker, dual 12" kicker subs, 2 alpine amps, 4 new kicker interior speakers (these year boats only had 3 interior speakers, but I added a fourth and it looks perfect), new Clarion head unit, new WS-420 equalizer with microphone, new kicker KMT6s horn speakers on the tower that you can hear when riding 75' plus back, 2 new Optima duo battery setup with new Blue Seas switch and intelligent relay, heater, shower, new flushpro system, dual axle trailer and brand new Nautiqueskins vinyl throughout the boat. I also just changed the impeller.

Boat runs perfectly with the smoothest pull I have ever felt. Hmm... looking at the list above, I may have just convinced myself not to sell. But look me up when you are looking to buy and maybe I will want to sell then. Dallas is not that far. I drove to Austin to look at an old SN2001 before I bought the Air.