2000 Larson SEI 206 ADVICE

Looking at a 2000 Larson SEI 206. Comes with Mercruiser 5.0L V8 (i think 350 model). Motor has remanufactured outdrive and engine has 600 hours. Upholstery is in rough shape but I can have that professionally redone. Anyone had this boat before and any luck with it or huge pain? Anything about motor or drive? Need lots of advice

Find a different boat.
on a scale of 1 to 10 and 10 being the best, a Larson is a 2 on it best day when it was new.

A 5.0 V8 is a 305 cubic inch motor. a 5.7 is a 350

So if the price is under $1000 then maybe it could be a project worth doing but other than that I would spend the extra money and buy a turn key boat and enjoy it, not work on it....

Ditto... (just so you don't think his occasional "attitude" is showing)

Motor is turn key ready as it is. Are they just non reliable boats? It looks pretty nice on the exterior. Looking for a fairly basic boat that I can take the family tubing on and not have tons of repair needs and engine problems. Would that boat not suffice or should I completely forget about it

You have to ask yourself what's there? The fact that the outdrive was rebuilt and the seats are roached implies that it wasn't cared for. 600 hrs isn't a ton on the engine if someone took care of it. If they didn't take care of it with annual oil change, lube, and proper winterization I wouldn't count on that. If the boat wasn't covered the flotation foam is probably full of water. Not sure if that boat has potential for stringer and transom rot, but again it all is how it is maintained.

You can find a lot of relatively low hour boats that age for $6-8 k that need nothing. My old boat is a 1991 sea ray that other than a few small rips at seams has really good upholstery, but the boat was always covered ...

sandkicker said:

Ditto... (just so you don't think his occasional "attitude" is showing)

Click to expand...

No attitude on this one...there is a Larson dealer near me...I see a lot of them...They do not last long cosmetically. Very low quality materials and that is why they typically are so inexpensive.

Again if the price is right then go for it. But if it is over say $2000...............walk away

It makes me SICK to see a boat sitting out in the weather, totally uncovered and exposed to the elements! THis sounds like one of those.

I recall Larsons were slow compared to others in their class. Mine sure as heck was, and the double bottom leaked.

Jeff

I've owned and operated boats on Barnegat Bay in NJ for MANY years. There are always a few Larsons around the marinas that I've been in. They seem to deteriorate more quickly than lets say a Boston Whaler or a Grady White for example. Cosmetic deterioration on some boats is just that, cosmetic. Often however it indicates underlying structural (and expensive to fix) issues. I'd rather buy a top tier quality old boat with a bad engine than a 5 to 10 yo old "entry level" boat.