Should I buy this boat?

[t.franscioni]

There's a post on here for a promising fix for the ecm. A bit complicated if I recall (involved software and copying the program onto a replacement ecm) but seemed promising.

[DaveNH]

One thing worth mentioning ..... GT-40 ECM's are no longer available through regular inboard parts sellers, PCM no longer supplies them. A guy I know just bought one on Craigslist, his boat had partially sunk and his needed to be replaced, he said it took a while to find one. It's not clear if someone will write the code to produce new ECM's or not.

If there is any new info on ECM's for GT-40's hopefully someone else will chime in. I'm not saying this is a reason not to buy a GT-40 boat.

[t.franscioni]

Ask them about their maintenance practices and try to get a history of maintenance on the boat and that can tell you more than hours about how reliable you can expect that boat to be. Then regardless have a mechanic look it over.

[t.franscioni]

There is no hour rating. As much as these old boats gets used over the years hours have much less impact on their mechanical
logevity than does time and dedication to maintenance. I bought a 2002 SAN with GT40 engine and it had 660 hours on it. The boat ran fairly well during the test ride. Found out later that the Vdrive leaked oil and needed a new baseplate gasket, the tranny worked but clutch plates were slightly warped and needed replacing (prop would turn slightly in neutral and do recall the boat moving slightly when I would shift to N) the motors major internal components were in great shape but because of time and long periods of unuse the valve seats and valves wouldn't seat correctly and 5 of the 3 cylinders wouldn't hold good compression. The engine would run fine and wasn't at risk of catastrophic failure but it did need a valve job.

Honestly my opinion about buying used is hours under say 1500-1800 means nothing. 300,600,900,1000... it's all the same. I would trust a boat with 1000 hrs that was ran 10 hours per month every month than a boat with 300 hours that was ran 50 hours a year and than sat 8 years unused. When you run an engine regularly it boils any condensation out and coats the internals in protective oil. When you don't run a motor it collects condensation and the oil runs off everything and you start getting rust inside and rust is extremely abraisive to moving parts and then those parts wear out much faster when the motor is ran, hence the idea of hours doesn't mean anything in my opinion. Have the boat inspected by a professional that's your best bet.

[Coygiles91]

That deal fell through. I found a 2002 San 210 with 600 total hours. Boat is in awesome shape also. Is there any one that could give me an idea of how many hours these are rated for and is 600 on the lower end?

[DaveNH]

If a boat has either 300 or 1,400 hours on it, and there is nothing that would lead you to think it is the higher number in appearance, wear and tear, accumulated grit and grime on and around the engine ...... then it's probably the lower number, but maybe it really just doesn't matter in terms of the value of the boat. Drivetrain life, if very well maintained, is an easy 2,000 hours and no reason it has to stop there, so the value is in the boat either way. Not sure if that will make sense to everyone, but it does to my simple mind.

I bought my boat with the seller explaining that the hour meter was not correct, many more hours were on it than indicated. I didn't really care, and still don't know, how many hours are on it, and it hasn't affected my enjoyment of the boat!

As to the price, I'm not tuned in to 210 pricing so hard for me to comment.

[Quinner]

50hrs per season is considered average so 23 hours per season for that boat is not insanely low, if you wanted to confirm hours that boat is likely to have a GM powerplant which will store hours and additionally if it has a factory installed perfect pass the hours should be logged separately there as well.

[obd666]

better safe than sorry, get hours off of motor. 300 would be hard to believe on a lift in florida i feel, but who knows ... great color combo, is a brochure boat for that year

[Beg4wake]

From what I've seen a lot of lately, only 300 hours on a boat like this isn't too unlikely! I see too many times people buy these boats but never use them! However, that can be just as detrimental to an engine as over using it! Any motor sitting that long without running can't be good for it!

[Coygiles91]

Yes boat does come with trailer and cover. I'll be sure to check all the fluids while I'm at it.

[wakemaker]

300 hours, if u had a boat in FL on a lift would it have 300 on ???? not me i would do that the first 2 years lol jmo said in best get a local Nautique dealer inspect it for you (well worth a couple hundred $) and they can pull the hours off the engine.

[jmo]

Have a local Nautique dealer inspect it for you (well worth a couple hundred $) and they can pull the hours off the engine. I think 2002 was the last year the Ford GT40 motor was available - GT40 does not store the hours on the motor itself, you have to trust the gauge. Speaking of gauges, not sure the last year the crappy teleflex digital gauges were used, ask if the gauges were ever replaced.

My 2006 has roughly 300 hrs on it, but I live in New England where we only get a 1/2 season and I have lots of friends with ski boats, hence we take turns.

Encouraging that the owner kept on a lift - that means the owner cares about the boat.

Does the price include a trailer and cover?

[t.franscioni]

Make sure and check Vdrive fluid. If it's milky take off 2k on the sale price. That's what it will cost you have it repaired. Those Vdrive in that era are pretty bullet proof and will run seemingly fine to the untrained ear even if there is a water leak or oil leak and they have been known to have oil housing gaskets go bad and leak all the oil out and or cooling line go bad and let water in the Vdrive. Not a big deal just plan on 2k minimum to have it overhauled to like new condition. Happened to me when I bought mine without knowing any better.

same for tranny, if milky then take off another 2k. Not end of world, both can be fixed just a matter of cost.

[Coygiles91]

heres a pic of boat

[markj]

I had an '03 210. Be skeptical of those hours...gauges roll over at 1,100. I sold mine in 2016 with "200" hrs. I was honest with the buyer. That said, even if it's truly 1,400 hrs, the Excalibur will go a lot longer than that.


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What the??? 1100? Never heard of that.