Need opinion if I should Buy this boat tody?
 

Looking at a 2004 23 LSV Malibu Wakesetter, new polk speakers and amp, 380 hammerhead motor, however its got 360 hours on it. Its red and black and has the older tower on it, guy wants 35K for the boat, is this a good deal?

yes, buy today!

360hrs is nothing, my 08VLX is just now two years old and has over 375 on it... boat still looks perfect!

Buy it!
 

360 Hours is nothing. For reference, 1 boat hour is the same as 100 miles on a car. 360 hours is the equivalent of 36,000 miles. That is nothing for that motor.

thanks for the help, I dont really like the way the older tower looks, is there any way to put the new tower on this boat?

One guy said to get the valves checked with that big of an engine. what else should i look for?

Yeah, fill the holes, repair the gelcoat and put whatever tower you want on there.

360 hours! So he barely broke it in for you!

THIS POST IS USELESS WITHOUT PICS.

Here's a 2003 on e-bay for comparison

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2003-...mZ250845232216

i thought this was him selling it at first but it looks exactly like this one

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/boa/2434878253.html

I would say it is a fair deal if it is in real nice condition and really optioned out. I would not be scared of the 300+ hours if it was well cared for. I would expect it to be in awesome condition to pay that kind of money for a 7 year old boat, but that is just the fact of the matter of what these are going for nowadays. Good luck to you.

383 is the same block as 350 block with different cam and stroke. No reason the valves would be any more worn than a standard 350, unless it got hot or had some other valvetrain malfunction.

Seems like a pretty good deal to me. It is prime boating season so there is always a small premium to be paid this time of year. Is it what you have been looking for? Is the price reasonable to you? Does it have most if not all the options you want? If you answer yes to those questions then go for it. Take it to the local malibu dealer and pay them a $100 or whatever to have it checked out and go from there. I wouldn't hesitate to buy that boat for around that price with that low of hours. Keep in mind that is an upgraded engine option so you will pay a little more for it. I would always rather have more engine than not enough engine.

the only thing i dont like about it is the tower, how hard would it be to put one of the newer towers on this boat and cost?

Not cheap

If it's the same tower as the one on the craigslist link above then it's a Titan 1. Not spectacular looking but there is no shortage of towers that look worse. I definitely wouldnt call it ugly. It's a solid, function and easy to fold design though. I wouldn't change it. Too much $$$$ for something purely cosmetic. If you want to feel better about it look at the oem towers that came on the malibus around 2000. The Titan 1 is a beautiful work of art compared to those.

yes buy, it is a good deal, offer him 33 and if he passes go after the ATL one and offer him less than 33, no one gets asking price unless it is a first time boat buyer on the other end, it happened to me twice :) when I sold boats to uninformed buyers

how much $$ we talking in changing the tower? like 5K? that is the only thing that bothers me on this boat, the boss man who is paying for it at the house wants to wait to the end of the season and get another SAN

Well, I think you can get a Titan 3 for around $3k but they've been discontinued and may be hard to find. There's a dude on here from Star One Wake that you'd need to talk to about the Titan 3. You could also look at New Dimension or Samson Sports for other OEM quality tower options. Gelcoat repair for the existing holes will probably be $300-600 depending on your local market. You could probably resell that Titan 2 to offset some of the cost. I'm not sure on the price to install the new tower but lots of people, myself included, do that themselves.

Unfortunately 360hrs can mean a few different things... I have 450 hrs on my SAN210 and it's in great shape. My friend has the same boat same hrs but he's had a new tranny and vdrive put in and it looks like s**t. So if that wakesetter was taken care of it sounds like a pretty good steal for ya.
On the tower if it's strong and sturdy and matches I'd keep it cuz my buddy has an 04 setter with the illusion x tower stock and the thing sucks for rack placement, so u might be better with the current one... Sounds sick tho

Did anyone else notice the boat in the ebay listing is NOT an LSV? It's an XTI. That "$12,000" wrap probably made the boat depreciate by 5k. Thing looks hideous imo

as far as taking care of the boat our buddies had it serviced and kept it VERY clean, however he is like me and drives it like he stole the thing so i am not sure on this engine.