New Boat Owner

[RagingBull]

Hi everyone, New member here in the UK looking for some advice if possible.

I am completely new to boating, but am considering purchasing a 1994 Maxum 2300SCR (5.7 Mercruiser V8). It's something that we would really like to enjoy as a family (wife 2 kids and a dog:-), but i'm just conscious that support for Maxum boats (parts) in the UK seems to a bit light on the ground. You seem like a friendly bunch so I thought I would start here.

As I say, i know nothing about boats. We've looked at Bayliners and Sea Rays so far, but I like the design of the Maxum, it seems to suit our needs perfectly (overnighting with the family). Should I be concerned with the percieved lack of UK support? (I'm possibly completely wrong here BTW)
I'm aware that it's an older boat that I'm looking at and as such will need a bit of TLC, but is there anything in particular that I should be looking out for?
The boat is currently in Brighton marina and I would probably look to keep there at least initially.

Thanks
RB

[mmwjr]

RB welcome aboard

Maxum, bayliner, and Sea Ray are all owned by the Brunswick Co., in 2009 the Maxum line was shut down due to the economy. Yes Maxum spefic parts are getting hard to find everywhere however that is mainly the hull, things like engine, drive, all accessories, ... Boat builders buy from companies such as Mercruiser, Perko, ... So these parts or replacements are still available.

We have member in the UK to Downunder maybe one of them will chime in.

[RagingBull]

Thanks Mike, I really appreciate the info being a newbie to boating in general.
That makes sense and gives me some confidence. I'm not shy of a bit of hands on tinkering myself as long as parts are available.
I've made contact with an independent boat surveyor and hopefully he's going to take a look for me during the week. As I say, I'm happy to carry out most jobs, but I just want to ensure there are no major expense items looking straight away.

I took the family out on a hire boat cabin cruiser in Devon a few weeks ago and the whole family has been bitten by the bug- My wife is actually trying to convince how much we NEED a boat :-)

We really like the layout of the Maxum, it seemed slightly more roomy (better designed) than the other models we looked at and the kids liked it straight away. I'm not the smallest guy at 6'4" so space matters :-)

Thanks
RB

[mmwjr]

Surveyor is a great idea.

Understand the size issue as I sm 6' 3"

Having the family wanting to get involved goes a long way towards finding the time and money for boating. It also is great bonding time.

Let us know how it goes and post some pictures if you get her.

[RagingBull]

Thanks again Mike,

Here is the link for the boat in question.
Maxum 2300 SCR | Brighton Boat Sales

It looks nice to me. Last anti fouled in 2013 so needs doing, and I'd be tempted to re-paint at the same time to get rid of the grey stripe as I feel that ages the look of her.
If you don't mind, id be interested in your first impressions just from looking at the pics.

Apologies for all the questions, but as a first timer I'm quite clueless...

RB

[mmwjr]

She looks rather clean from the pictures.

Looks like a partial (engine only) closed cooling system, most boat engines are raw water cooled where the cooling water is drawing in from overboard and used to cool the engine and exhaust. This boat has a heat exchanger so anti freeze is used to cool the engine, this is a plus.

Is that stains on the cabin seating? If so may be a sign of a water leak from the ports above. I think this was a common issue with this design. A good thing is the ports look good as many crack.

[RagingBull]

I spoke to the boat surveyor guy and he's going to take a look at her on Wednesday or Friday next week and I'll go along for the sea trial. I'm quite looking forward to that :-)

Thanks for taking the time to look and comment Mike,
Very perceptive of you to notice the stains. Yes, the seats were wet and it definitely looks like the port above is leaking causing that. I'm assuming that can be remedied fairly easily. Hopefully just replacing the rubbers, but worst case a new window I suppose.

This started off as something of a whim, but actually we're getting quite excited at the prospect. I'll let you know how things progress once I've had the survey done (fingers crossed will be good)

RB

[Skip R Maxum]

I recommend to found the local dealers that are bayliner or searay and talk to them as they may have been Maxum dealers. They typically will be helpful as go to folks for information when online searching fails. Our local bayliner dealer just closed and I used them as they were the certified Mercruiser servicing center. Now the closet to me is like 100 miles or more away. They are willing to talk but know I am too far anyway to be serious in service and parts purchasing. There are a few online shops that have Maxum OE parts, such as Great Lakes Skipper. We had to buy a porthole for our 3300 which they had at a cheap price. Using the forum too will help. Knowing others that have the same boat will help too as to compare side by side. Myself and dock neighbor have 3300s and we are always looking over how things compare and have fixed and improved things based on those comparisons.