2000 Sport Nautique- looking to purchase and need some advice

[bcmdallas]

A few questions... I am looking at purchasing a 2000 Sport Nautique with the PCM 5.0 275 hp, direct drive. The boat has 720 hours and has been well maintained. Interior is in excellent condition with only one very small tear. Stargazer (zero off). Initial discussions were $14,500 for boat only or $16,000 with tandem axle trailer.

Do you all think that is a good price for that boat?

Can i get a single axle trailer cheaper somewhere?

Am i going to be dissapointed with the smaller engine? The boat will be used for all around family boat.

How long do the PCM engines typically last if well maintained?

[Chexi]

1500 fir a tandem axle trailer is cheap. If the trailer is in good shape, that is a deal. You might be able to get a used single axle trailer for that or maybe a little less depending on condition, but if I needed a trailer, I'd gladly pay $1500 for a tandem in good shape.

A well maintained PCM engine can past over 2000 hours without needing to be rebuilt. The key is maintenance. There are several people on this forum and on correct craft fan who have high hours PCM engines and they still run great. I just had my 99 air compression tested with everything coming well within the 10% tolerance. It didn't surprise me, since the motor has run great since I bought it 3 years ago. For reference, mine is in the high 800's. Mine is a gt40 though. Is yours a 351 ford, just no gt40 heads, or is it a Chevy? Around here, from that vintage, people prefer the fords.

If you plan on wakeboarding or surfing with a lot of ballast, I would want to test that motor out with the weight in. My gt40 does fine with plenty of ballast, but I have no idea is a lower up engine can handle a lot of weight. Also, barefooting might be out with the lesser horse engine. Skiing and tubing would be fine of course. Someone else with experience will chime in about wakeboarding and surfing with that engine who knows more than me.

If the boat is in very good shape, the price seems fair. It also somewhat depends on what is included (audio, tower, racks, built in ballast, bimini, etc.). The gt40s demand higher dollars.

ImportNt note. If that's a 2000, the only way you would know whether the hours are true is if the speedo and tach are still the original teleflex digital gauges and they are still working, which is ver rare, because they were junk. If the boat has analog speedo and tach, the hours are higher than what the meter says. How much higher is anyone's guess. Get a compression check and inspection if you can.

[east tx skier]

Stargazer and Zero Off are not the same thing. That boat will not run Zero Off without an engine swap among other things. The good news is that Stargazer is an excellent speed control system in my experience.