Looking fo insight on this ‘87 Starfire 175!

[evangorp]

New guy been looking for a beginner bass boat, have a ‘88 Ranger 354v I’m looking at, but this one just popped up locally, and looking for some insight and thoughts? What to look for, it looks great from the pictures, but know nothing about Skeeter boats! Any insight would be greatly appreciated!


https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...1197040817448/

[Fx20 2011]

Nice boat back then I really liked them. Just make darn sure the transom is sound along with the stringers. Back in the day they used wood.

At the time i could not afford the Starfire and bought the F80 Strada.

[evangorp]

Yesterday I was going back and forth with the gentleman who owns the boat and it sounds like it’s been taken care of pretty well for a 31 year old boat:
-He has owned the boat for 13 years
-Has been around it it’s entire life as his uncle sold it new
-New power pack in the motor 2 years back
-New plugs/TM/recessed TM pedal/expanded front deck last year
-asked him about the transom and he said he drills a test hole every couple yearas to check the state of the wood, just took his talon off and inspected the hole and it was nice and dry, for preventative measures he coats the top of the transom with truck bed liner to keep it sealed up
-only reason for selling is that he fishes tournaments on the Mississippi, and simply needed a bigger boat

I’m going to go look at it this weekend, but it sounds like a good solid boat to get started on my addiction!!

[Fx20 2011]

Cool. Like I said the only thing that is important is the transom and stringers. Though I find it odd he keeps drilling holes every few years and adds the bed liner. Don't get blinded by price or over all looks of the boat. Check the floor and transom out in great detail. Walk on the floor m9ve up and down on it. Check out the bilge for soft spots. Check for flex by pushing up and down on the motor. Check the bolts to see if they are tight, maybe take one out to check if the wood is soft. Look for small cracks.

You don't ever want to have to deal with a bad transom, it's money and a lot of work.

If it all checks out then your good to go.

I find an old motor will either work like a top or give you problems. No rhyme or reason but it sounds like he maintained it. Just take a good under the cowl. A compression test would be great.

From the photos it looks very nice. Don't forget to check out the trailer and note the age of the tires.

Good luck and you will like this boat.

[evangorp]

Cool. Like I said the only thing that is important is the transom and stringers. Though I find it odd he keeps drilling holes every few years and adds the bed liner. Don't get blinded by price or over all looks of the boat. Check the floor and transom out in great detail. Walk on the floor m9ve up and down on it. Check out the bilge for soft spots. Check for flex by pushing up and down on the motor. Check the bolts to see if they are tight, maybe take one out to check if the wood is soft. Look for small cracks.

You don't ever want to have to deal with a bad transom, it's money and a lot of work.

If it all checks out then your good to go.

I find an old motor will either work like a top or give you problems. No rhyme or reason but it sounds like he maintained it. Just take a good under the cowl. A compression test would be great.

From the photos it looks very nice. Don't forget to check out the trailer and note the age of the tires.

Good luck and you will like this boat.

I will check all these spots! Thanks for the insight!!

[OkieLure]

When I bought my current boat, the above warnings all existed hence the reason for the cheap bartering and restore on my end.