Buying Bayliner

[GeorgeMcCormick]

New to boating and will be buying a Bayliner 185. We will use it for a bit of skiing and a little tubing and just to cruise around lakes, ponds, rivers....
I have done a lot of research on Bayliner , read a lot of reviews in magazines..read a lot of posts in forums about them, ..It seems the people who say they are a good value and boat for the money have been people who own them and the ones i have seen say they are garbage, never owned one... What I have been told talking to people who have been around boats in my area for 30 years is that Bayliner in the 80s and early 90s wasnt a great boat but that the past 7 years they have woken up and make a good product for the money. They also are NMMA certified. Some people may say NMMA certified, who cares? The same people might say a company that is ISO9001 certified..who cares? I guess every will have their own opinion on Bayliner but I have yet to read a post from someone that owns one that says the boat stinks. If I owned one and have trouble with it, I would be all over the forums complaining about them. Well guys?

[bilgeboy]

Hi George,

Have you visited the Bayliner Owners Club?

http://p076.ezboard.com/bbocweb

My boat is very different from the one you are considering, so I won't comment. But the BOC is a great forum. Lots of helpful folks, a bit of the usual BS, but you will always get a good answer. Its a good reason to consider buying a used Bayliner in its own right.

Some folks call it "Bayliner Bashing" and can be a bit amusing if you can take a joke. But if you spent less on your boat and enjoy it the same as everyone else, that puts you one up. If you search this forum, you can find some bashing, but you will not find specific faults identified in design or construction- just that attitude. This is even more amusing to me, since flaunting your ignorance always seems to have a way of biting you in the ass.

Someone from Bayliner thought to put Hino diesels in my boat, and I have yet to see a more reliable marine diesel engine (and I've been looking as I scratch that bigger boat itch).

Good Luck with your new boat.

Mike

[wdnboatbuilder]

I'm one of those ignorant Bay Slammer basheres, but I will also agree with bilgeboy there really is no reason they are the same as any other glass boat just what i have seen in the repair i have done to ONE boat is the stringers were rotted under the motor mounts which you will find in most glassed over ply stringers. good luck and enjoy your boat. It will service you well.