Just Committed to buy an 88 sunsetter

[Gotfuel]

908 hours.  They got it on trade end of last season in 2019.  The winterized it and according to the salesman they haven’t even put it on the water as they’ve been so busy with COVID sales.   It’s suppose to go through final inspection today and should be on the water for a test by tomorrow.   Seems kinda odd that this bought hasn’t been picked up by someone already.  They seem like a huge dealer and right near some prime boating.   I asked for motor pics and and service details they’ve performed.  Stay tuned

[Michigan boarder]

11 hours ago, Bozboat said:

Holy Smokes, a SS with a 454?

 

This isn't right though, a 454 should be 395hp.  So it's either the 454 with 395hp or it's a Monsoon (did they have that in '94?) with 340hp.  A pic of the engine is important.  And either way, that thing looks VERY clean, and is 100% composite.  The only wood you'll find anywhere in/on that boat is the teak deck.  The engine should look like this if it's the 454:

[Gotfuel]

If that has 395 horse, it would absolutely scream across the water.   Perhaps they have something messed up in the ad, it’s just a 5.7, and I’ll be back to classifieds again.  

Edited July 13, 2020 by Gotfuel
Typo

[Michigan boarder]

11 minutes ago, Gotfuel said:

If that has 395 horse, it would absolutely scream across the water.   Perhaps they have something messed up in the ad, it’s just a 5.7, and I’ll be back to classifieds again.  

I wouldn't let that make a difference, that boat looks very well cared for.  For reference, a stock 265hp carb'd 5.7 will do 46mph and a 395hp EFI will do about 52mph.  The difference is that the 454 will pull anything that you put behind it, including multiple barefooters, a dozen skiers, etc.  If I were in the market I would be all over that one.

[Bozboat]

1 hour ago, Michigan boarder said:

This isn't right though, a 454 should be 395hp.  So it's either the 454 with 395hp or it's a Monsoon (did they have that in '94?) with 340hp.  A pic of the engine is important.  And either way, that thing looks VERY clean, and is 100% composite.  The only wood you'll find anywhere in/on that boat is the teak deck.  The engine should look like this if it's the 454:

you have the absolute best Engine Xorn

[Bozboat]

1 hour ago, Gotfuel said:

If that has 395 horse, it would absolutely scream across the water.   Perhaps they have something messed up in the ad, it’s just a 5.7, and I’ll be back to classifieds again.  

Let us know what you find out.

[Gotfuel]

Same motor.  Interior looks a bit worn on the stripes and the main passenger cushion facing the rear of the boat.   I did a quick search on recovering seats, didn’t find an approximate cost (the pics came through so I stopped my search).   Have a look, let me know your thoughts?   https://photos.app.goo.gl/ggeCwqLD6sBXpNbZA

Using the new guy card, if my kids primary goal was to learn how to wake board, am I after the wrong boat?

Edited July 13, 2020 by Gotfuel
Added question

[Bozboat]

That’s a good deal on that boat given the 454.  Don’t know how old/big your kids are, but a tower would help at some point for wakeboarding.   You should be able to sell that boat pretty much for what you pick it up for it in the next couple years. Give it some love. You would have ended up spending more on the 88 you were looking into buying.

Edited July 13, 2020 by Bozboat

[Gotfuel]

Thank you.  My son is 18, about 155 and 5-10.  Daughter is 15, 110 5’.  Both extremely athletic.  I need to learn more about wakeboarding so I understand how this all works.  

If I wanted to replace the cushion covers, any idea on ballpark $$?

[Eagleboy99]

2 hours ago, Gotfuel said:

Interior looks a bit worn on the stripes and the main passenger cushion facing the rear of the boat.

G&T vinyl of that era that Malibu used had a problem, especially with darker colours.  You can find much better, correct colour vinyl, but a whole new interior would be a few thousand.  Or just piecemeal it.  Hard to  go wrong with that boat IMO.  Note that it has no Wedge, so larger wakes might need some fat sacs.  Cleaned up with a tower (ie. Monster Tower) you will make money on that boat.

[Gotfuel]

Thank you.  I just wanna make sure I’m spending my boat money wisely, or I hold off for this season, buy over winter with a bit larger budget, and more knowledge 

[Michigan boarder]

It's RARE to find an open bow boat with a 454!!  They usually put that in closed bow Echelons, I think I've seen one other Sunsetter with it.  When it's time to sell it, you will move it quickly, that is a rare boat to find, seriously.

Interior - lots of upholsterers can do it, enjoy this season and do it in the off season.  You can do the removal and install pretty easily, create your own custom look, and it'll cost about $2k tops.

You can wakeboard off of any boat, but this will throw a decent wave at 19mph with a 60' rope.  Enough that they can learn all kinds of surface tricks, likely jump wake to wake with some board grabs, etc.

That's a great first boat to get started on, and start learning about stuff with.  Personally, I'd buy it, have fun this season, put an interior in it (DIY as much as I can), then decide whether to put a tower and wedge on it next spring and keep it, or sell it and upgrade.

[Gotfuel]

Great advice guys.  I’ll reach out to the dealer that I get updated once I completes a water test

[Michigan boarder]

1 hour ago, Gotfuel said:

Great advice guys.  I’ll reach out to the dealer that I get updated once I completes a water test

If you pass, let me know.  I'll run it by my ski team, we might buy it.

[Gotfuel]

Will do, forgot to add they did a leak down test, and everything held at 150-155

[Eagleboy99]

4 hours ago, Gotfuel said:

If I wanted to replace the cushion covers, any idea on ballpark $$?

Another option compared to local.  http://www.copycatupholstery.com/services.html  Although a local guy did some work for me last years and no one can tell except me.  Matched 20 yr old vinyl perfectly.  

[Gotfuel]

Well it’s been about 36 hours. No real Pupdate from the salesman, despite sending him a couple texts about status on the water test.  I’m sure they are busy. I’ll update one way or another if I hear anything. 

[Eagleboy99]

1 minute ago, Gotfuel said:

Well it’s been about 36 hours. No real Pupdate from the salesman, despite sending him a couple texts about status on the water test.  I’m sure they are busy. I’ll update one way or another if I hear anything. 

I swear email/msg is useless.  Pick up the phone.

[Gotfuel]

3 hours ago, Eagleboy99 said:

I swear email/msg is useless.  Pick up the phone.

Thanks for the advice.  I did that already. 😉

[jayR]

Is that a 454 a 340 hp motor because it has pre vortec heads? My recollection is they did not come out until 96, maybe later in boats?.

Edited July 16, 2020 by jayR

[Gotfuel]

Update on the boat.  Trent the salesman, good guy. Very honest.  The story with the boat is they got it on trade last year. It had vapor lock issues on hot days. They fixed the problem, but winter hit. They stored it. Covid hit they got busy. Now they are starting to slow a bit and low on inventory so they were waiting on a hit day for a test run.  I’m out at this point.  Headed on vacation. Someone is looking at it Tuesday.  If anyone is interested, call and ask for Trent. Good guy.  

[Michigan boarder]

21 hours ago, jayR said:

Is that a 454 a 340 hp motor because it has pre vortec heads? My recollection is they did not come out until 96, maybe later in boats?.

No, they just have it listed wrong.  It's 395hp.

[Michigan boarder]

We're out, our team has other items further up on the list to spend money on.

[snydco]

On 7/12/2020 at 7:52 AM, Nitrousbird said:

Owner lied to you - that boat has wood stringers.  I can't recall the exact year each model went to all fiberglass, but it was the early 90's.  

Personally, I wouldn't buy any wood stringer boat.  The price difference between that and a couple year newer, all glass boat will be very little and you will get any of that extra money spent back at resale time.

Im a little late to this party but thought I could add some info that might be useful to some... we had our '87 Sunsetter redone down to the fiberglass hull last year. The total cost for new stringers, floor (including new foam,) carpet and all new vinyl was about $10,500

This was worth it to us as we've owned the boat since new... my dad bought it back in 1987. The original stringers lasted nearly 30 years in our case, even with some of the bad techniques Malibu was using back then. We always kept it either in storage or on a lift.

 

[Eagleboy99]

3 minutes ago, snydco said:

'87 Sunsetter redone

Pictures?