Reinal boats

Two cents?
There are five people in my family and I was looking at a 97 reinel, 4.3 litre vortec w/penta overdrive open bow with 190hp.
Anyone have 2 cents on reinel boats and whether they think this would be an ok boat (first boat)for wake & ski.
Also is there a cut off point where the hours are getting up there? Thanks Mark

Probably not a bad first boat to learn to drive, bump a few docks, ding a prop or two, figure what kind of boarding/skiing your into, etc. A bit underpowered to do anything serious, but then you don't know if your going to be into this a year from now.

Don't spend a ton on it, age would be my concern. Technically, average hours should be about 75 per hours per year, give or take depending on the weather where you live. But I doubt I'd buy it if it had 825 hrs on it. Maybe under 500.

Whats the price range?

Hey Bill, thanks for the response. The boat has 325 hours on it. The person was originally asking $9400 but now will do $8000.00 A one owner boat. As long as it is dependable and can get the kids (young adults) up on skies, boards or tubes. That will work for me. I just don't want any problems. Looking for something I can count on.

Thanks again

Mark

Mark

Be sure to run it thru Nada.com to determine the value. I would also Google the brand & model of boat & find other owner's opinions on it..... just the kind of due diligence I do on everything I buy.

The Volvo Penta/GM engine & drive train is a tried & true setup. You won't have a problem finding numerous dealers who can work on it, or available parts. Taking the boat to a mechanic to give it the once over might be a good idea too. Performing a compression test, leak down test, scoping the cylinders, checking the engine & outdrive oil would be some things I'd get done, either by yourself or a mechanic.

And take it out for test drive. Run thru all the motions, at speed, forward, reverse, etc. Test all the accessories. Does it start easily? Go in & out of gear without any big clunks? Reverse easily? I'd even ski behind it to make sure I like the wake & how the boat handles with a rider.... but you may not know what you like yet.

All that said, for about $8k - $10k you could find a late 80s CorrectCraft 2001 that is an inboard ski/wakeboard boat more in line with the likes of this forum. Not that it would or could be any less problems. But most boarders & skiers tend to like the inboards over the I/O runabouts. So if your not under the gun to buy right away, this might encourage you to do a little more research & see if this is THE boat for you & what you anticipate to be doing with it.

I bought a boat in October & knew what I wanted. And I still looked at & test drove at least 10 used boats over about 4 or 5 months before I found one I had to have.

I think with the family the I/O would be a better choice than a 2001 IMO. A boat like that you can probably run for one year and sell at what you bought it for or close if you want to move into an inboard. Water test that sucker (see if you can get someone to go with you who knows boats) and if it check out, go for it.

Thanks a lot for the time you guys took to respond to my post. It was a big help for a newbie boat owner.

I purchased a 1998 Reinell 184 BRXL from an original owner with only 36hrs back in Sept. 2005. Brought it to the dealer that sold it originally and had them go through the boat and trailer. Dealer made a few repair recommendations that were completed. Since that time my family and I have had a blast. The Reinell has been very dependable as well. It was a first boat purchase for me and now after two seasons I want sell mine and upgrade to a larger v-drive boat. The only complaint with the Reinell is that with five or more people, an ice chest, towels, etc. room in the boat becomes a premium. I also installed a BigAir H2O tower just to get the wakeboards out of the boat for space, then upgraded the sounds with a Pioneer AM/FM CD player, Kicker amp and subwoofer and 4 Sony marine speakers. It's been a great first boat for us. Good luck with your decision.

Are you in cali? I have an 06 bayliner for sale

My first boat was a 97 Reinell 180 with the 4.3 liter V6. It was a great starter boat and is now at my vacation home in Michigan so I use it every summer for a month or so. It actually puts out a very good wake for an I/O with a 600 lb. fat sack in the walkthrough. It has plenty of power for a boat that size and helped me really learn how to ride. My wife still loves this boat and uses it for extended periods every summer in Michigan. I wanted a bigger wake a couple years back so we upgraded to a SAN that was quite a bit bigger inside the boat and the wake is world class. I would say that the only drawback of the Reinell is lack of room in the boat but we would still cram 7-8 people in there if we had to. For the money it was a great deal and it got me into boating and wakeboarding at a low price point with no loan. The Volvo engines are also rock solid if you take care of them. Get a compression test and drive the boat and if both check out then you should be good to go. Here are a few pics of my Reinell and I picked mine up with 200 hrs. with everything you see for 11k in 2003.

beware of that penta drive. make sure everything works on it first. cause when you go to get it fixed you will be cringing at the cost of parts. we used to stock parts for them but have since quit due to the fact that they were soooo expensive. but on the backside of that, they are hard as hell to break.

"get the kids (young adults) up on skies, boards or tubes"

regardless of boats, avoid the third in that group. This is wrong board to even bring that up.