Any experience w/ 93 180 bowrider w/ 115 Merc o/b?

[EricW]

I'm considering adding a 93 180 bowrider with a Mercury 115 outboard to my "fleet". Anybody have any experience with this boat? How's the performance? Good watersports boat? Anything to look out for?

 

[revlimiter776]

the floors are notorious for rot, and waterlogged hulls

 

[EricW]

I didn't buy it. I was tempted due to the price, but too much work was needed on the interior. ALL the interior side trim panels were completely rotten away. The floor wasn't TOO bad, but was a tad soft and already had a patch section installed on top.

 

[Big Island Lifer]

I'm considering adding a 93 180 bowrider with a Mercury 115 outboard to my "fleet". Anybody have any experience with this boat? How's the performance? Good watersports boat? Anything to look out for?

I grew up with a 1990 180 OB with a 135 merc. I loved the boat and we used it for almost 15 years with very little problems. My father ordered it direct from the factory with two bucket seats and a U shaped seat in the back. You could comfortably seat 8 in that boat. It felt much bigger then other 18 footers with I/O's because the motor box wasn't in the way. We had no rot problems- probably due to the fact that it was lift kept and in a covered slip for its entire life. Ours had a 135 black max with a Laser 2 prop. The top speed with me and 1/4 tank of gas was about 56 mph on the best day. It would pull me out of the water with a little butt dragging on a slalom ski (I am 6'6 and weighed well over 200lbs ) but it had a great ski wake due to the outboard and weight of the boat. We also had a factory installed ski pilon on the transom. The old 2 stroke was smoking pretty bad by the time we traded in for a more family friendly boat.

Yours may be a little sluggish with a 115 on the back. But give it a good test ride. Check the windshield too. I did have to re bed ours one summer after taking a large wave at speed.