Squirt Boating Message Board

I am looking for my first squirt boat, and have found a New Wave Projet for sale. I have not sat in it yet, however it sounds like I am on the upper end of the weight limit this boat is designed for.

So if I could pick your brains for a few questions, I'm wondering:
1. What are your thoughts on this design for a beginner?

2. What would be a reasonable price if it's overall in good condition? I realize this might be hard to say without seeing the actual condition.

3. What are the performance implications of me being on the upper end of the weight range for this boat?

4. Any other thoughts for a new squirt boater and his search for a boat?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

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Is it this one? http://allentown.craigslist.org/spo/4027603306.html

Eric Z -
Thanks for the detailed response. Your points all make sense, and are helpful in my consideration.

Don -
Yes, that is the boat! I haven't seen it in person, but I personally love the graphics of this boat. I realize this isn't the most important part (I'm a big believer in function over form), but it's certainly a plus.

The person selling this boat has said that he thinks it would be good for someone between 140lb and 165lb, and I weigh 165lb, hence my concern. Overall I realize it may not be the perfect fit for me, but if it gets me into the sport "relatively" cheap, then it's a good way for me to get started. I do say relatively, because although he does say a new one is around 2k, $500 still isn't cheap!

What EZ said^

$500 is not an unfair price but... that's almost a 30 yr. old design- the bumps aren't as good as they are now. I'd offer $400 and settle for $450. You WANT to be at the upper end of the weight range b/c the weight ranges back then were quite whack and BS- it was common knowledge (amongst thems who knew) that you had to go off the charts to get the chop right.

You miiiight want to check if the cockpit is glassed in or not- there were problems with the puttied in cockpits popping loose back then. If it's not glassed in- drop the price $100 b/c you will have to pay for or do that repair someday- pretty much guaranteed.

On the rim- they used to be made in a separate mold and the boat's deck has a 'chimney' that the cockpit fits tightly into- and they were usually assembled with putty to fill the gaps and bond the rim in. But a shocking hit can fracture the rim away from the putty making it leak real bad real fast. The fix was to epoxy the failed joint back together which *sometimes* worked.

The better version then has the rim puttied in- but you would also re-visit the situation by layering maybe 3 layers of glass on the underside of the rim or on the interior of the rim- wrapping all the way around and to the underside of the deck. The fiberglass protected from the shocking hits and almost always worked- but was a lot more trouble to do.

There were also some done where the cockpit was laid up over a hose and the glass of the rim wrapped under the deck- those were the very best- but also hard to do and didn't quite have the shiny finish a molded part does.

This one was probably NOT glassed in- you can just run with it till it breaks and try to be careful about not bumping it. But if (when) it fails- it's not a great job for a beginner to take on to fix it- so maybe find a friend with mad glassing skills when the time comes. To do the repair right and have it look good- could easily run $100.

Ditto what Jimmi said.

Price seems a bit high and you should be able to score a Bigfoot or Shred in this price range if you are patient.
Cut is NOT too small for you. By today's standard it would probably be considered borderline too big for you.

Don't worry too much about the cockpit rim. Any NewWave boat a couple decades old will have been built this way. It wont affect the day to day use of the boat. It's that when it fails it will be without warning and it may happen at a time that ruins a road trip.
Most of the time the damage will be from tying too tightly against another boat on a roof rack (hence "crank the rope until you hear a pop" being part of the squirt boater's lexicon)
I had one that came off from someone bumping it with the tip of their surface boat in an eddy, so that is something to watch out for.
Bias cut (at a 45degree angle) fiberglass can be wrapped around the underside to add strength. This can be done by a glassin amateur if you don't mind it looking pretty rough.

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