Thoughts on 1986 Supra Comp TS6

Has 500 hours on the 351 engine. Looks like there are new bolts around the engine mount possibly new shaft and new prop. I've heard older Supras are prone to rot. Are there a lot of issues with this type of boat? It's at a fair price but I don't want to be putting in another $3k to fix it up. Any feedback on this type of boat would be appreciated.






(Message edited by wakeboy01 on April 15, 2009)

Check out my project its the 89 saltare
all I can say is floor and stringer rot check out my video and trust me splitting a boat is no fun actually it was cuz I got to play with the crane but pulling out wet foam is not

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU2kQ-JodfI

I got an 88 & have had no issues with rotting, but it was BABY'D When we got it.... Just make sure the foundation is good....

I heard through the grape vine that a buddy of mine is selling a Nautique (not sure the year) for $3000 if you are interested in that....

The Comp has a really low transom. If your going to weight the boat down much, or use it on a lake that has a lot of boat chop, I'd keep looking for something with a higher freeboard.... like the the other Supra models, even the older Nautiques.

Having owned a boat with a low freeboard, and using it weighted a lot, then going to a boat with higher gunnels, I can say I'm a lot more at ease now when another boat sends us a wave. I don't worry about it swamping us nearly as much.

I had a '84 and never had problems with rot. Only sold it because I got a great deal on my SkiSupreme. You hit the jackpot with those colors as a lot of Supras had horrible earth tone colors and stripes back then. If you'd tell us the price it might be helpful as I've seen that era of TS6 priced between $4-10k lately and they all may have been reasonably priced. 23yo boat and all. I don't know how much weight you could put in the back as I seem to remember the back wave coming up pretty high on the transom whenever you slammed on the brakes.

If you want to wakeboard try to stay away from the comp as it sits very low in the water. Look for a SunSport. It'll work and plenty of people do it, but personally I would say keep looking. Stay away from anything comp which is a slalom boat.

I could probably get it for $3k. I would use it for wakeboarding primarily so it's good to know about more a slalomn ski boat. Thanks everyone for your input.

If you can get it for 3k and the floors are in good shape and it runs good I would buy it use it for the summer sale it and make some money off of it.

Its a bitch to get weighted but if done right it puts out a decent wake. I had an 85 that looked just like that for years and it ran great. Like it was mentioned above...check for stringer rot! And have a good bilge pump. When weighted it puts more water over the bow than a waterpark log ride.

All these older boats were slalom boats, some are just better for wakeboarding than others.

i had that exact same boat. it was $@#%ed in a number of ways. yes the stringers had rot. you can check to see if the motor mount bolts spin. i had spinning bolts, plus missing ones, and it wasn't really an issue. the motor stayed put -not effecting drive shaft alignment at all. how long could i have ran like this i don't know.
also check where exhaust goes under the floor. if your exhaust leaks it may try to pump it out in that area when the foam and stringers are completely saturated. judging by the oxidation on the motor, an exhaust leak may be lurking.
if you do find any delamination or soft spots anywhere on the stringers, remember you probably have 10x that amount in areas you can't see.
the rudder mounting area also had issues. look under the boat and if you have big stress cracks around the rudder, the wood underneath is probably shot.
if it was me doing it over again, and the boat was cheap enough, i'd use it for a few years and scrap it or sell it to whoever was crazy enough to want to fix it.. for the sub-standard wake it produces, it wasn't worth the thousand hours of labour.

I really appreciate the feedback everyone. Alex that was a pretty interesting video... I don't think I have the time nor the crane nor the money to do that.