Looking at buying 2000 air nautique

[shouse]

Hey. Looking at a 2000 air nautique tomorrow and could use some advice. It has a single axle trailer, no rust. Fct 2ND gen flight tower. Perfect pass, gt40. Slightly over 400 hrs. New speaker systrm including tower speakers. He wants 15,500 and I gave him a verbal agreement dependent on a test drive. He claims everything is great, minus the upholstery. He just took it to a marina and claimed he let them fix whatever they wanted. Spark plugs, alternator, fluids, etc. I will be asking for service records.

The upholstery has really seen better days. Looks like the tx sun has really took it's toll on it as there is quite a bit of cracking and exposed foam. So I'm walking into this knowing 4k for upholstery. At least I'll know it's new when I'm done and that it won't start cracking next year on me. Still concerned it may not be in as perfect condition as he claims. I'll be bringing my checklist and checking everything. Concerned that all of the gauges won't be working. In particular the hours gauge. Don't know how to handle that situation. Thoughts? Sound like a decent deal? Any advice is welcomed. I'm hesitant on this one. Guy seems decent but he needs of pay bills and he's asking for as much as he thinks he can get. Sorry, no pics as I had him take the ad down.

[5bison]

Too much $$$ if the interior is trashed and the gauges do not work... the boat is not worth $20,000. Jmho.

[shouse]

IDK if the gauges don't work, it's just my paranoia fear right now. I guess you could probably argue the price a little bit. He just did the alternator, spark plugs, all the fluids, replaced the complete stereo system, few more things i can't think of. I'm not paying gas and my time to drive across the country for another boat. There's a lot of stuff that could nickel and dime you to death when you first buy a used boat that's he's claiming has been done. Basically, replace the interior (which isn't THAT bad), and it should be fully maintained. Buuuuuuut we'll just see about that tomorrow. Definitely see you point that this boat is not work 20k though. at 20k, or pretty close I could probably pick up a SAN right about now.

[Quinner]

Get the instructions on how to display the hours on the perfect pass from their site, that will give you a cross check against what the other hour meter is reading. Chances are very high the gauge with the hour meter has been replaced so whatever that is reading may only be from when it was installed, not the actual motor hours.

[shouse]

Thanks! I will do that.

[MuskokaCanada]

I paid 15K CAD for my 1999 sport with factory tower and ballast tanks. No PP on mine and some minor cracking in the vinyl on the gun wales. 365 hours. Having said that, decent used Nautiques aren't as readily available here. There doesn't seem to ever be more than 10 used ones available in the entire province from all models and years.

That's roughly 12K USD.

[shouse]

Thanks. That's the fct gen 1 I assume and I believe the ballasts are even an older design as well. It was '00 where they changed the design and bow.seating correct?

[Quinner]

99'-02' Sports/Airs are all mostly the same

99' FCT1 all others FCT2
00'-02' crappy gauges
all years ballast tanks were the same, 2 tanks at 200lbs each
biggest bow seating change was 99' + is a walk thru, 98' is a playpen

[shouse]

Good information, thanks. Called the marina, funny they actually contacted me first (good guys), and looks like it had a big tuneup in 2014 and new speakers to tallying 3,400. Gauges were replaced in 2009 with analog, hours reported at the time were 285. 100 some hours on the new gauges, so sounds like is 400 some estimate is correct. Sounds like the only bad thing is cracking interior. Pretty sure it needs side trim in bow, bow seating, rear deck. Don't think the console seats need skins yet or the engine cover. The carpet is also looking iffy. It has fallen down on the sides on the transition to the bow area. I'm hoping those are removable pieces.