Thread:

Looking to join the club!!

Like brgrcru said, there's a lot of really nice jets with a 454 or 460 for sale. You be much happier. Unless you're willing to do a lot of machine work to the 455, you're going to outgrow the 455. You can pick up some really nice boats for just a little bit more. In the long run, you'll save yourself some money.

Originally Posted by zombie54

Around 3k is what he is asking

back in the day, apollo made good quality boats. just from the pic, it looks nice. this is like a runabout, where you can take the fam to the water, cruise around, maybe tow tubes or a skier, enjoy the water. it might top out at 50 or 60, but you won't want to run it like that. this thing would work well for a small family that just wants to cruise around and have fun. having an engine cover makes it that much more user friendly for what it was built for.

you did not take a pic of the transom. i'm just guessing that something like this, from that time period, will have an e pump. that makes it a bit more work for servicing, but not impossible. e pumps can work just fine for runabouts.

but. this is a 40 year old boat. while it -looks- as though it was taken care of, there are some things you need to verify. the steering wheel should turn the nozzle from one side to the other, freely. not hard to turn. the shifter should easily and smoothly move the bucket fully open and closed. lift the hatch, check stringers for any rot; make sure all wood is still solid. pull seat cushions, check condition of the wood used for the seats to see that it's in good shape, not rotted or falling apart. with a closed hatch, there has to be a vapor extractor under the hatch - make sure it's functioning well. not just making noise, but actually moving air out of the engine compartment (hold your hand over the outlet vent while it's running). crawl under the boat with a flashlight, look up the pump intake and make sure the impeller leading edges aren't all dinged up, scarred, or eroded. they should be straight and relatively sharp, not rounded over in any way.

if you understand what this boat is for, and it's still something you really want, have the owner take you for a test ride. it's not important you drive it, but it is important that you know it runs, runs reasonably well, and that everything in the boat works as intended, such as gauges, steering, shifting, throttle movement. after it's been running for awhile, open the hatch and look for any leaks from anything that could leak. once the boat's back on the trailer after running on a lake/river, check the oil. look very closely for any water/moisture on the dipstick.

if you find any wood rot, walk away. if you find any water/moisture in the oil after it has been run ON THE WATER for awhile, walk away. with these types of issues, you can spend well more than what the guy's asking just to fix things, or you could end up parked. if anything around the engine compartment leaks, you'll need to evaluate what it is and what it will take to fix it (parts or cost). if the impeller is all chewed up, that's added cost. if steering/shift/throttle cables are difficult to operate, replacement is added cost (and they will need to be replaced). it's all part of it.

like wolfie said, bbc's or bbf's are preferable to an olds. but for what this boat is, and what it's intended use is, an olds can be just fine. as long as it's in good condition and well maintained, it can last for a long time within these parameters. if you start thinking that you want to make this boat go 70, 80, or 90, you shouldn't consider this thing in the first place.

good luck with it...

Originally Posted by GRoper

Is 3k your max?

porbly 5k max. oh and e jet? is that a bad thing

Originally Posted by zombie54

porbly 5k max. oh and e jet? is that a bad thing

in a berk e, the suction piece and intake are one piece. the bowl bolts to the suction piece outside the transom, and the suction piece is bolted/epoxied to the hull. if the shaft has to be removed to replace the thrust bearing. so to service the entire pump, the engine has to be removed to remove the shaft and replace that bearing. it's not a terribly big deal. a berk jc or jg has an intake that's bolted/epoxied to the hull, and the suction piece bolts to the intake flange, just above the hull. looking down "under" the driveshaft/hbar, you'd see what looks like 2 flanges bolted together. with an e, you'll see no flange an inch or so above the boat bottom. with a jc or jg, the entire pump is removed from the boat if complete service is needed.

whatever you decide to do, do your due diligence inspecting whatever it might be. a $3k boat can turn into a $13k or $15k boat overnight. a $5k boat can turn into the same thing or more. worn out junk that might "look" cool is still worn out junk. it is a buyer be aware kind of thing.

There's a ton of really nice boats out there for that money. I spent a couple months trying to find my wife a boat. They're out there. You can find a bunch on here in the spam section for that. Look on Craigslist. If you don't mind driving a little, you'll find a bunch in California and Arizona's C/L.