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Looking at these for my first PWC purchase

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Rusty75459

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After a few weeks of looking, I think these may be the ones; I'll find out Saturday.




I chose the coldest weekend in north Texas to lake test some skis. I haven't ridden since the early 80's and the lake temp is about 41 deg. There is a good possiblity that I'll end up wet.

I would be buying from the "2nd owner".....he changed the color scheme. Supposedly these are '95 model 3-seaters. As near as I can tell, that makes them GTX's; correct? So they would be 650's? I'm not looking to win any races and am by far the heaviest in my family (235 lbs). What should I be looking for at WOT? What is the weight limit for these -400-500?

I printed off the "Used Ski Checklist" (thank you for that, btw). Any other words of wisdom? Is $3k a reasonable price? (hours, at this point, are unknown)

Thanks in advance...
 
Yeah the 95 GTX has a 657 in it. I honestly wouldnt pay anything near 3K for them. Where I am from in the midwest, you can find a much newer pair for that.
 
These are from Craigslist.

The Dallas area one you linked is in the town I work in; 1 ski is $2,500

The SA area ones are 6 hrs away; 1st set a little newer (96 & 98) but if I get down there & they don't run I'm out 12 hours of diesel....

2nd set; same distance; smaller skis...

I am going to try to get the guy to $2,250; don't know if he'll take it.... he's at $3,500 to start.

I've got a much rougher set (2 1/2 hrs away) that I could get for $1,800; '96 SP & GTI. I just have concerns about them. I know the seats need to be replaced.
 
Thats misleading on the Dallas ad. It says 1999 and 2000 and double trailer. $2500.

Just dont be in any hurry. Stuff starts to come out of the woodwork for sale in the spring.
 
Understood & I appreciate the input, seriously...I want something that I won't regret. I'm not opposed to traveling a couple hours to look at something; 6 would just tick me off if I got there and they were POS's...
 
IF they are perfectly clean, and they have new engines... I wouldn't go over $2500. If they run well, but have the original engines... I wouldn't go over $2000. The real problem is, that style ski wasn't very good, even when they were new. The early GS hull was kind of smooth on the bottom. That's fun by yourself, while you are spinning and splashing... but if you have a couple people with you, and you want to make a nice controlled turn... it makes it tough. If you don't need 3 person skis... the 2 person Sp/Si hull handles much better. What I'm trying to say is... the resale isn't very good on them.

$3k is WAY too much for those. It's winter time, and there will be other skis. As said above, don't be in a hurry.


It seems like March is the month people dig their junk out of the garage and post it up.
 
Sometimes you can find awesome deals if you are willing to drive. I bought my boat which was 10 years old at the time off ebay. It was 10 hours away. I just asked tons of questions and got a lot of pics. I made it known if it wasnt as advertised the deal was off. I would have had no problem walking away. But it turned out to be a good buy and was in awesome shape.
 
I also agree with driving if you want a deal... and the distance depends on the deal.

When I was looking for a Seadoo boat locally, all I found was WAY over priced... or total junk. (that was still over priced)

The boat in my avatar was a "Fixer-upper" that I drove 3.5 hr's each direction to get. It was VERY rough, but it had a brand new engine in it, and the kid selling it basically was just asking for the price he had into the engine. ($1200) So... I figured... "What the heck."

I think the closest thing I bought recently was my 2001 Polaris Genesis. It was about an hour away. It was $1k on a nice aluminum trailer, but needed a little TLC.

The deals are out there, and it's still winter time. Relax, and check Cragslist a couple times a day.



(the day I brought it home)


77.jpg
 
Rusty75459 said:
Thanks for the feedback. It sounds like that year GTX isn't the way to go anyway.
Click to expand...

If I was buying a 3 seater... my first choice would be a 96 or 97 GTX (787), and second choice would be 98-01 GTX Limited (951) if i could afford it
 
Dr Honda said:
I also agree with driving if you want a deal... and the distance depends on the deal.




(the day I brought it home)


77.jpg
Click to expand...

Are there any concerns getting a Polaris? Didn't they stop production? Is there still a supply of parts?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
dsw222 said:
If I was buying a 3 seater... my first choice would be a 96 or 97 GTX (787), and second choice would be 98-01 GTX Limited (951) if i could afford it
Click to expand...

A coworker told me about a 99 Limited. What does "Limited" bring to the table? I am going to look at it tonight on the way home.
 
Rusty75459 said:
A coworker told me about a 99 Limited. What does "Limited" bring to the table? I am going to look at it tonight on the way home.
Click to expand...

Its a bigger engine... the 951. I think the general consensus is that they have a shorter life than the 787 and they might be a bit different to work on. Maybe someone with a 951 can chime in here
 
Rusty75459 said:
Are there any concerns getting a Polaris? Didn't they stop production? Is there still a supply of parts?
Click to expand...


In my mind... no there are no concerns. Officially SeaDoo doesn't fully support anything older than around 2001 ~ 2002, (but there is a bunch of carry over in parts) and they don't even admit to making boats with Mercury engines. (more or less)

Polaris still has MOST of the parts available. I think the exception is the Fuji engine parts, and that's because Fuji stopped making them. (my Genesis has a "Domestic" engine)

But... this question was asked recently, and you can read the comments here:

http://www.seadooforum.com/showthread.php?t=37906


I like my Polaris. I've owned all the major brands out there, and between the big boys (Yama, Kawi, BRP, Polaris) they are all good.
 
The scam is, you get an email back saying the guy is out of the country in the military and he has to do business through a 3rd party. They have been listed numerous times all over the country. You can try but I bet you get some variation of that.
 
Yep... the top post is a scam. The first giveaway is the price... and the second is that they blanked out the hull registration numbers. If you are selling, why blank them... and why do it so it's almost impossible to tell they were even there?


The older ones would be OK, if they both run. The X4 hull (the Sp) handle very good for a 2 seater.
 
Dr Honda said:
Yep... the top post is a scam. The first giveaway is the price... and the second is that they blanked out the hull registration numbers. If you are selling, why blank them... and why do it so it's almost impossible to tell they were even there?


The older ones would be OK, if they both run. The X4 hull (the Sp) handle very good for a 2 seater.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for the feedback! I was supposed to try them tomorrow but it's been bumped out a week on the seller's end. That's OK, more time to shop around. Hopefully it will warm up some by then...
 
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