98 Air Nautique

[Jaxkiter]

New to the forums and looking for a first time boat.

Just got back from taking a look at this boat. Vinyl definitely has some issues and a bit of corrosion on the motor mounts. First owner left the boat out and didn't take much care cosmetically. Boat has been used the past two years in brackish water but always flushed. New owner has taken great mechanical care of the boat and trailer. Trailer is solid.

quick rundown. I'm a longtime kiter and sporadic wakeboarder. Looking for a solid all around wake boarding boat. I'm going to be using it on the intra coastal in Florida and am not too worried about cosmetics. Just want a functional turn key boat that I can possibly resell in a few years if I get stationed somewhere that it won't be practical to take and not loose a lot of money. With all that being said What are your thoughts on this particular boat at the 11k price point? I know it's not the prettiest boat in the world, but I just want to know if its a safe investment. Thanks for the help all!

http://norfolk.craigslist.org/boa/4129933628.html

[s_kelley2000]

Looks like a pretty good deal to me at 11K. Since you will be using it in salt it's good that it comes with a galvanized trailer and hopefully it is already set up with an engine flush kit. It certainly needs some TLC but if it was a fresh water boat in better shape you'd probably be looking at closer to 15-16K for it. That generation tower was not the best design but it looks like some supports have been added to the top so maybe that has resolved the issue with it wobbling. I had the same tower on my boat and finally got fed up with it and replaced it with a NDT this past season. I don't think that boat will drop much below the 11K mark over the next few years but your market of buyers will be limited because more often than not people are looking for these as fresh water boats. But in your area on the inter coastal you might not have to look far for a salt water buyer.