What's a Stratos 254 worth?

[dheisner]

Mike,

The problem is that the photo has to be sitting on a web server somewhere. I didn't see anywhere on this site where you can post photos, but I may have just missed it. All the photos I found were sitting out on other web servers and the guy posting just points to the photo.

If you have somewhere on the web where you can publish photographs that you don't need a username and password to get to, you can easily publish your photo and point your post to the photo.

Using fifth icon from the left, which has what looks like a mountain with a sun or moon above it, you can to a photo. If you had a photo at http://www.photosareus.com/photos and it was named boat.jpg, you would have to enter http://www.photosareus.com/photos/boat.jpg between the two IMG tags.

Somehow, you can upload photos to BBC, but I wasn't able to figure out how. It's obvious from the owner photo album. If you right click and select Properties, you can see the names of the photos and where they are stored and they are on this site.

Maybe someone else can chime in here and tell us how to do it.

Hope I helped at least a little bit.

Danny

[trisonmike]

I will look into getting a pic to post. thanks for the info.
One thing to remember is that I found a diamond in the rough,and got lucky to find a boat as old as mine is in as great condition. But I did pay 4,500. It was worth that and more,but unless the boat you are looking at is in bad condition,you are stealing it for $ 2K.
If the hull is in good shape,and the gel coat still has its original shine,without any roughness,I will buy it for 3K.

[dheisner]

After taking a really close look at it and talking to the car dealer, I would say that it is probably even worth every penny of what they are asking for it. The hull is in great shape on the bottom, but the finish on the top is dull, but just rubbing on it with my finger seemed to shine it up a bit. I wouldn't be too surprised if I couldn't buff it out and it look good as new. I wouldn't know that until I got it home. The other thing that makes it look really good is the fact that it looks brand new under the hood. If it could be replaced, it looks like it was. I don't have to worry about the hoses going bad or the carbs being full of gunk. The guy even said they broke the engine in. It belonged to one of the old men in the neighborhood and his wife gave him permission to buy a new one when he retired. The guy that owns the car lot's parents actually live in my neighborhood and I have met them before, so I don't think he would try to pull the wool over my eyes.

Now its just time to work on my lovely wife. Wish me luck!

By the way, we moved to Alabama from just up the road from you (Spring Hill).

Have a great one!

Danny

[trisonmike]

I fish at Lake Wilson. Its an 1:15 drive from my house in Columbia. Now you are closer to the water. There are some great products to bring back the shine in the gel coat. Mine looks like it came off of the shrowroom floor,so all I use is BassBoat Saver now.
If you buy that boat let me know and we can meet on the lake. I have already turned down 5K for mine,and it is an 92.
Buy the boat this weekend,or I may drive down and buy it myself.

[dheisner]

Unfortunately, the pool sprung a leak, so I'll probably be replacing the liner in it this weekend. The wife and I have been talking about puttin an inground pool in... which would put an extreme delay in any notion of a boat. I'm going to lobby for a new pool liner and a boat instead, but an in ground pool sure would be nice. She teaches swim lessons, so its also a money maker for us.

When I lived up your direction, I lived in a subdivision with a 24 acre lake. It had some really nice bass in it. I fished it from the bank one day while somebody else fished it from a bassboat. They pulled in as I was leaving an asked if I had any luck. I pulled a stringer of a couple of 3-4 pounders out. They caught 1 bluegill. The guy made a comment to his partner asking "Exactly why did I buy this boat?" It was kind of comical.

My biggest reason for wanting a boat is to be able to fish larger lakes and do a little tournament fishing. I'll probably only do one or two charity tournaments a year unless I find that I actually start making money (not holding my breath on that one). I realize that the little Stratos isn't exactly a speed demon for tournament fishing, but I also realize that it can go places that larger boats can't, which could work to my advantage in some situations. I had one buddy that used to run his little boat up the creeks feeding into the lakes that he fished during tournaments and would do quite well using that tactic certain times during the year.

I also wouldn't mind throwing a tube behind it and taking the kids for a spin. My kids are small, so it doesn't have to go fast for that either.

Mostly, I'd rather fish than eat and I LOVE to eat. I've been doing a lot of pond fishing lately and would just like to move to something a little more challenging. My wife and I are not about to take out a loan for either the pool or the boat, so it will just have to sit there a while longer until I can make enough side money and sell a few things to scrape together what I need. I figure if the Lord wants me to have THAT boat, he'll save it for me AND give me favor with my lovely bride. Otherwise, I guess I'll stick to the ponds a while longer.

Have a great rest of the week!

Danny

[dheisner]

Forgot on my last post.... if I get the boat, you will be the second to find out and I will definitely try to hook up for a fishing trip!

Be blessed!

Danny

[trisonmike]

Good luck with all of that. It doesnt sound like you are buying a boat.

[acesover]

Saw this old thread about 254's. I have a 93 254 that I bought new. Still doing fine, on it's 3rd motor, went with Mercury, as the Johnson it came with blew up 4 times in 4 years. Right now, it has a 75 Opti Max on it.
I keep it in the garage and the gel coat still looks good transom is fine, but did have to replace a section of floor around the drain,as Stratos just drilled thru the deck and didn't seal bother to seal the plywood.
It has been a great little boat, fishes tight with 3 people,but 2 guys are fine. Runs around 43mph with just me in it full out, but I usually just keep it around 4500rpm and 35mph.
I've had the thing so long (28 yrs), that I don't think I would ever get rid of it as I fish by myself 99% of the time.

[acesover]

Here is a pic