1 reply to this topic

[badjoey]

I have a lot of questions. First, I'm about to look at two boats a 1997 Challenger & 1998 Sportster. The challenger has a bad seal, which causes oil in the cylinder, it does not have an hour meter,he is asking 4,300. Second the sportster has 800hrs,but the boat is in very nice shape. Hes asking 6,500. I,m not familiar with jet boats, How much would it cost to fix the seal? Are these boats dependable? How long before the motors need to be rebuilt? I hear parts and labor are extremely expensive? Am I better off buying a bowrider with a car motor?

[seadoofanatic]

Welcome. This is tough call without actually knowing much about these specific engines and being able to see them personally. You should be able to use the BRP parts finding to see what the seals costs, http://en-us.sea-doo...s-catalogs.aspx. Once you get the part number, call you local dealer to determine what they cost or find a part distributor online. I believe what is going to get you is the labor though, unless you are a do-it-yourselfer. If so you can get a shop manual from this site and attempt the repair yourself.

From my experience these boats are very reliable if they have been well maintained. Rebuilding the engine is relative to how well they have been maintained so this will vary depending on the engine. If you are really unsure of the condition of the engines then it might be a good idea to have a local mechanic look it over.