Advice on 2001 2100 SD Purchase

[paul65k]

Hello Guys,

I am new to this forum and hoping I can get some opinions based on actual experience with the specifics of the 2001 model year boats specifically outfitted with the VDO Gauge/keyless entry package and/or the Mercury thruster system.

I have a chance to buy an extremely nice 2001 2100 SD with all the goodies including wake board tower and thrusters. It is equipped with a 5.0 EFI and a Bravo drive and best of all (maybe??) it has less than 100 hours TT since new. Apparently this boat was purchased by a wealthy guy to use at a vacation house for the kids and everyone got busy so the boat just didn't get used much.

The boat seems to have had top notch maintenance with annual service(s) and even the tires on the trailer are only a few years old even though it was primarily used to launch and retrieve the boat.

I plan to use this boat as mostly a "Commuter" vehicle going 6 miles each way across the lake each day (dock to dock). We'll also use the boat for recreation but we have a very nice tritoon that we like to spend our fun time on as we're past water skiing and such and mostly just like to find a cove to hang in and run the boat up on the beach (rocky).

So here is my concerns about the 2100 SD: I am concerned that while the hull is in amazing shape and the engine O/D package is easily maintained and there is lots of support for these items the Proprietary switches/gauges as well as the thruster systems are both now obsolete and there seem to be no spare parts available.

The thrusters actually would be a "Nice to have" as I am in an inside slip here in the city but walking the boat in and out is not a big deal so if one of these were to fail and I couldn't get it rebuilt I'd just live without them. The electronics on the other hand are a concern and having to rewire the dash would probably be a PIA.

I'm confident that the boat would meet my mission when running I'm just concerned that those 2 obsolete systems could turn a Gem into a lemon and I was hoping to get some input from others that have first hand experience.

Thanks in advance guys!!

[mmwjr]

Paul I agree the thruster system in this size boat is a nice to have but far from a must. I have heard some folks getting the motors repaired at a starter/alternator shop when required. Other than that it's just replacing the battery's for the system.

Now the keyless ignition has several components that can fail; touch pad, filter box, or computer module all of which are not available. These can be bypassed with a standard key ignition and some wiring changes however if this is going to be used as a daily commuter boat the down time when the keyless fails and switch over may time some time and most shops do not know how to do this.

If you really love the boat and want to prep to swap over the ignition for when it fails go for it otherwise pass so you sleep at night.