Questions to Ask Before Buying a Stars & Stripes

I'm new to the site and getting ready to pull the trigger on a 80s Stars and Stripes. I grew up during the 80s with summers on a lake admiring these boats.

What questions should I be asking prior to buying to make sure I know what to expect with little surprises?

Thanks for helping a newbie out.

[Jim@BAWS]

Originally Posted by damm135

I'm new to the site and getting ready to pull the trigger on a 80s Stars and Stripes. I grew up during the 80s with summers on a lake admiring these boats.

What questions should I be asking prior to buying to make sure I know what to expect with little surprises?

Thanks for helping a newbie out.

What year?

83 1/2 MC went to all fiberglass stringers
What is Price?
How many hours?
Compression?
Service Records?
Color of oil ( Clean and clear)
Color of Tranmission Fluid (Should be BRITE RED)

If the boat appears clean then more than likely it has been maintained.

Hope you get it!

Welcome to the MC family

Jim@BAWS

[TMCNo1]

This buying a used boat tutorial may help, http://mastercraft.com/teamtalk/show...4&postcount=47

Sure does...Thanks!

[85S&S_Keuka]

A common problem with mid-80s (and probably earlier boats) Stars & Stripes is that the ski deck bolts are just lag bolts, not thru-hull. The upper ones tend to tear oyt of the hull after time. Check these carefully.

I've re-filled mine several times over the years, and am finally going to fix it properly this winter (cut out floor and thru-bolt). There are several threads on this board on how to do this - now I just have to find them again

[sethro]

Here was my thread on platform backing plates which also has a link to another one in the first post.

http://mastercraft.com/teamtalk/show...+plates&page=3

Thanks for the responses!