1997 Moomba Boomerang - Info Please

[motophile]

I am interested in a Moomba I found for sale near by. It is a 1997 Moomba Boomerang. I still have not seen it in person and will not buy it without a test drive. I just want as much info as I can get before I go check it out or make an offer. I was hoping someone could tell me what issues to look out for with this year and model. I am good with engines so I plan on checking the compression on all cylinders, looking at plugs, etc... before buying. Especially since it does not have an hour meter. What are the non-engine things I should look for? Does the asking price seem fair? I was planning on offering $5000 and settling on $5500?
Thanks for help, Ron

The ad is as follows:



1997 Moomba Boomerang. No hour meter but runs great! Starts on first crank even when hot. Clean interior. Wakeboard tower. Water proof stereo. Bilge pump, horn, blower, and nav lights all work. Replaced belts and impellar last year. New tires on trailer last year. Traded up to new model. $6,100

[MOOMBA_97]

I had a '97 Boomerang until I bought an Outback a couple years ago. Loved that boat. They are an absolute pocket rocket. Probably has the PCM 260 hp motor which is plenty. No hour meter on mine either BTW. Only thing is it is VERY small so I hope you don't plan on taking many people or much gear. I had no trouble spots with mine really. The motor or transmission never had any issues. There is not alot of "bling" on them to go bad. I have heard of the windshields being prone to crack and break as they are plexiglass, although I didn't have a problem with that. You can usually look at it and tell if it was taken care. If so the price seems to be very fair, especially with the tower included.

Monty

[motophile]

Nice. Thanks for the quick reply. I really want to want this boat. Just don't want to make a bad/quick decision. The smaller the better as far as I am concerned, 3-4 people tops. It looks like their would be a lot of storage under the closed bow...? Looks like a wakeboard would fit under the gunwale too...? I guess there is a ski locker too with room for bumpers, anchor, ice chest...? Trying to get a boat for just knocking around on the lakes but squeeze in some watersport ability too. I have always liked the sleek, low profile of a ski boat, and inboard direct drive is my favorite.
Thanks again and any more tips welcomed please!

[sandm]

buddy just bought that same boat only in red here and no tower. he paid $5400 for it. had a receipt for a brand new motor as the last owner let the block freeze. motor was $4900. boat is in good shape, but has some gel cracks, all cosmetic.
his has a few small issues, such as only one speedo working, fuel gauge seems to read funny, and blower is a little noisy, but otherwise as stated, it's a friggin rocket out of the hole and holds speed rock-steady with no cruise.
It's a blast to drive... he feels that what he paid was a fair price, and wasn't expecting anything brand new. had the motor not been new, probably would have offered 4k.
have seen several others in this area in the 7500-9000 price, but they are still sitting.

[maxpower220]

Don't forget to give the trailer a once over. It is easy to forget, but maintenance costs on a trailer that needs work is almost worse than boat issues. Check for corrosion on the motor. BTW, the impeller should be changed each year (or at least inspected).
Good looking boat, price seems great. You would be hard pressed to find something cheaper in any condition.

[kaneboats]

The picture looks like it's from last fall. The boat may have been for sale for a while. Open bow designs are much more popular so these go pretty cheap. BUT, they are awesome boats if this model works for you. Give it a lake test but I think you're right in the ballpark if it checks out OK. Good luck!!

[motophile]

Well the guy finally got back to me and the boat has been sold. He said I wouldn't have liked it anyway because it only had 2 keel fins and did not track true/pulled to side when cutting hard...? WTF? I have always wanted an inboard direct drive boat with as little bling as possible and Moomba seems to fit the bill. Guess I will keep looking for Boomerangs or maybe an all fiberglass Stars and Stripes for between 5-10K. Thanks for help, any leads welcome...
Ron

[sandm]

give us your location or geographic area you will drive to and price limit..

if you are anywhere in the pac northwest, there's 3 or 4 that have been on cl here in boise recently. couple look real nice, couple look chopped up.

good clean example and probably will fetch around 8k here
http://boise.craigslist.org/boa/1258838208.html

[Sled491]

Dude the Boomerang is an awsum boat. And at the 5500 looks like you would have done well. THey are small and quick and not much freeboard. I doubt a wakeboard would fit under the gunwall. If your into wakeboarding and not skiing, even though it had a tower I'm not so sure you would have gotten what you were looking for out of that boat.