1993 Mastercraft ProStar 205 good buy?

shocker47

im looking at a 1993 Mastercraft ProStar 205. its open bow has a bimi and tower. its very clean it has 700 hours. its listed for 14500. is that a good wakeboard boat? this will be my first boat and is the price too high?
thanks!

Wakebrad · Ladies Man Joined: 11 Dec 2003 Posts: 12257 City: Dallas

'93? I thought the first year they made one was '94. I may be wrong though. Definitely a great boat. It's the platform that the original X-Star was based off. 700 hours is low for that year. $14,500 is pretty high though. I'd say $12-13k would be the upper end for a decked out older 205.

But I've always felt it's worth paying a little more for the perfect boat, than getting a deal on something mediocre. Just gotta make sure everything checks out and see how much he'll come down. Look up the NADA value, I bet $14500 is high.

shocker47 · Posted: Feb 07, 2011 5:47 pm Post subject:

heres a link of it. http://www.onlyinboards.com/Details.aspx?ID=26635
what should i be mainly looking for when buying this thing? i've bought a older jetski before 95 and it was great for a season then next the engine blew. I'm very particular about older boats.

Wakebrad · Ladies Man Joined: 11 Dec 2003 Posts: 12257 City: Dallas

Looks like it's in great shape. The floor is fiberglass so no worries about stringers. I'd ask them how they maintained it, get the service records, how often they changed the oil, transmission fluid. See how well they know the maintenance schedule or how often they took it in. Impeller replacement. Has it ever been run in salt-water. Do not buy if run regularly in salt-water: it cuts the life of the engine in half from my experience.

A big part of it is the test drive. With no ballast it should FLY out of the hole. Make sure it starts the first time, and fast. Drive it for a good 10 minutes and make sure it doesn't overheat. Turn it off and restart.

shocker47 · Posted: Feb 07, 2011 6:35 pm Post subject:

what if i cant test it out? its winter and everything is frozen out here right now..

Wakebrad · Ladies Man Joined: 11 Dec 2003 Posts: 12257 City: Dallas

shocker47, hmm, I definitely wouldn't pay a premium for a boat I couldn't test drive. With a fake-a-lake you can start the boat, and run it to test for starting, overheating etc, but you can't test the power, which is important to make sure you don't have an engine/transmission problem.

Not sure what to tell you on that one. You could wait it out and see if the boat is still around, just depends on what your other options are I guess.

chawk610 · Addict Joined: 06 Jul 2010 Posts: 668 City: Fort Worth

I agree with Wakebrad... you HAVE to test the boat!!! That being said... it is a super clean boat. One would have to imagine it is in good shape. But with everything :Buyer Beware!

shocker47 · Posted: Feb 08, 2011 3:28 pm Post subject:

It's winter and its winterized, what should i do??

brew · Posted: Feb 08, 2011 6:40 pm Post subject:

I bought and sold a 92 with less hours but pretty major fading in the gelcoat and some interior issues for $12,500. I would say that's a reasonable price.

As far as the winterization issue, it's a tough call. Anyone trying to sell a boat right now should realize that buyers are going to want to test it before buying. If they don't agree to let you test it, I would probably walk. Too many things can go wrong with these boats and a lot of them aren't cheap to fix.

Wakebrad · Ladies Man Joined: 11 Dec 2003 Posts: 12257 City: Dallas

brew · Posted: Feb 08, 2011 8:38 pm Post subject:

I bought it in 2006/2007 and sold it in 2008/2009 (don't remember the dates), so it's fairly recent. From what I've seen the lower end pricing has held up very well and the higher end pricing is what's taken a beating. I sold a 2007 SANTE 220 last summer at a pretty steep loss after 12 months of owning it, so I can vouch for the boat market getting pummeled.

If you're serious about buying it I would come in closer to the $12,500-$13,000 range with an offer. The '92 I bought was listed for $14,500 and he came down to $12,500 with very little negotiation. You can do a search of '93's for sale and that is probably closer to a fair price I would think.