Thanks for looking Craig. It is the one in Goffstown that I found on ablboats.com and it,s sold. Went and looked at a Wellcraft 210 Coastal today. Nice boat but again it,s a I/O and I "think" I,d be better off with an outboard as I,ve never had an I/O. Any thoughts pro and con? Cal P.
The only gripe I have about I/Os is the motor hump. But, at the same time, I really like not having the outboard power head in the way of netting fish. Pluses and minuses to both I guess. When it comes time for a new boat, I'm really looking forward to trying out some inboard setups with below deck engines. I'd be strictly using it in lakes, otherwise I'd probably look harder at outboards for power and performance sake. I've been warned the maintenance is more costly and the steering is a bit different... but I really like the idea of no motor hump and no outboard hanging off the back. Who knows, I may hate the concept once I operate one myself. However, I've been on a few and really liked all of them. So, inboard is the first thing I'm checking out when I'm in the market.
I did see a few other Starfire 24 HTs for sale online. Nothing real close, but if its what you want you can find them for under 10k further south. Probably saltwater use all their lives though?
Hey Cal, for what it's worth, Rob loves his Islander, but still misses his old I/O, he knows quite a bit about car engines so working on his I/O was no problem whatsoever, now as far as working on his 150hp outboard????? Yep just like anyone else he had to order an engine manual. If he had his choice he would take an I/O any day of the week. But as Craig said the one thing I also didn't like about his old boat was the hump in the middle, I didn't find the hump to be as bad on Craig's old boat as there was a little more room, but the hump in the middle does take away from deck space on the back of the boat. I know I love the new islander as we can have 4 people on the boat comfortably without ever really being in each others way. Good Luck with the new boat Take Care God Bless LOL Dave
I have an I/O in my Proline. I debated long and hard when I bought it because they also had an outboard right next to it. The box does take up some space but so to did the splash well for the outboard. Mine is a 1997 with a Chevy Vortec engine with a Volvo Penta outdrive. I have not had any problems with the engine at all. I change the oil myself every 50 hours. The only 2 things I find to be a slight bother 1. takes a while to winterize compared to an outboard. 2. Gotta remove the outdrive to check/lube the gimble bearing every other year. My mechanic always reminds me that if the engine ever goes, much cheaper to replace than an outboard.
