Boat being worked on at Ski Masters

[jangell]

Just wondeing whos boat is at Ski Masters and what the issue is...

As a guy who is trying desperately to purchase and Epic (Against almost every dealers reccomendation) I'm just wondering what the issue with the motor is and if it is an issue I should be concerned with...

Jeff

[toyotafreak]

Take your time!!!! There are always Epics on traderonline, and occasionally an Epicmariner will offer his up to a good home.

The engine is the most bulletproof part of the boat and not quite at the top of my list of concerns. Sure, when it breaks it'll be expensive, but it was built to the tightest tolerances (zero-tolerance is what they call it) of any production engine.

Resale value is dropping pretty quickly, so being patient will help in other ways too ;-)

As I've said in other threads, if I were in your shoes, I'd simply be looking for a hull with the right colors in the very best shape possible, then would pay whatever I could make peace with. You're gonna buy one of these and will probably own it for a long time. Start with a good specimine and take great care of it.

On a side note, this is exactly what I'd be looking for if I were looking to adopt another:

[cyclone]

No doubt, SX for me too!

[2000epic]

as I have heard it, the 1uz is the only inboard marine engine that is FAA aproved for use in aircraft.  That speaks for itself.  As for the rest of the boat, most of the parts are off-the-shelf marine parts.  The only things that scare me are the CPU and exhaust manifolds.  of coarse dealers are going to steer you away from Toy, cause if you bought a Toy, you wouldn't be buying thier boat and they wouldn't be making any money

[epic_toy]

I keep reading about how fast the value of my boat is dropping! I'm not sure why anyone owning one would post this. Perhaps it is the reality, and maybe I'm just sticking my head in the sand, but, part of the value of anything is perception. Since this forum has basically become Marketing for the living Toy boats, as owners we're responsible for perception.

It's really only a machine, and machines can almost always be fixed. The real value is the quality and uniqueness. Let's spin it a different way!

[toyotafreak]

Maybe some of our more recent purchasers can come forward now and tell us how epicmarine's input shaped their buying decision and their initial satisfaction.

[festivus]

i think the epic-toy fella is right. I know that they are great, I have NO regrets about buying mine.  And honestly, it hasn't depreciated that much more, if at all, that any other boat in the time I have bought mine.  I would buy it again.

[phenom_1819]

I have to agree too.  I've owned my boat for almost 2 years now and could sell it for probably $2-3k less than what I bought it for.  That's not too bad in terms of depreciation, especially since I've doubled the hours on the boat.  As gas prices keep increasing, I'm beginning to wonder if used prices might level out pretty much where they are, at least for a few years.

[Lakeside]

I just took my first look at the NADA value of my Epic since I bought it last August.  I was expecting a big drop in value based upon the stuff that I read on this site.  Guess what... it is still valued at the same price that I bought it for last year - i.e. no depreciation in the past year!  In fact, I wonder if I could sell mine for a slight profit (nothing dramatic, perhaps a couple of percent more than I purchased it for).  I am glad I took a look at the NADA site.

I saw my first Epic at a boat show in the late 90's.  I loved the boat, but its new price was quite steep back then, so I didn't really consider it.  In fact, I forgot that Toyota even made boats.  Then, last year, I fell into the boat market and I was browsing the boats for sale at Skipper Buds and came across my Epic.  I couldn't believe the value, it was about $5k more than many of the used I/O's they had for sale.  Such a great boat for a decent price... a true value for the money.

I went home and looked up Toyota Epic on the web and found this site.  At first, I wondered about Epics since they were discontinued.  Then I read this site from cover to cover.  After reading this site, I felt confident about the long term quality of these boats and the fact that, with the exchange of ideas on Epicmarine.com, I could keep this boat on the water as long as I wanted. 

So, I bought the boat. 

It's been a great purchase.  The boat has been absolutely trouble free and a total pleasure to own.  It is exactly what you think of when you think Toyota/Lexus: top quality and reliability.  As long as I perform basic maintenance, this boat will last long after my kids are out of college (they're in grade school now) and our family will have created a lot of fun and memories on this boat. 

These are great quality boats and this site will allow us to keep them that way.  Thanks, Pete for sponsoring this site!  Thanks, Lesman and others for your help in maintaining it!

[matthewf]

as I have heard it, the 1uz is the only inboard marine engine that is FAA aproved for use in aircraft.? That speaks for itself.? As for the rest of the boat, most of the parts are off-the-shelf marine parts.? The only things that scare me are the CPU and exhaust manifolds.? of coarse dealers are going to steer you away from Toy, cause if you bought a Toy, you wouldn't be buying thier boat and they wouldn't be making any money

2000epic, engines,ecu's and exh manifolds are easy to come by.. somewhere else i have posted the info, but for you guys these bits are straight off the shelf in Aust and NZ and dime a dozen, cheap for us, so extra cheap for you with exchange rate..  for example a 2nd hand engine (their good virtues already extolled here somewhere getting 2000 plus hours after they are removed from car..) is about $600.00usd, manifolds and high risers about $700usd, ECU and loom to suit engine just plug inn about $1300usd all ex NZ.. I just put new exhaust and high risers on my toyota/lexus in australia $1200aud...  friend of mine is also doing cam kits and head porting ex NZ...  or to spend plenty from large commercial guys and see these engines retro fitted back into supercars see  http://www.bulletcars.com/parts/?category=7

[toyotafreak]

With just zero options selected in NADA guides (didn't enter tower, racks, bimini, cover, SS prop, etc)...for 2000 S22

June 2003 - Low retail $21,310, average retail $26,970

August 2005 - Low retail $19,880, average retail $23,950

[festivus]

Jangell...look what you've done.  I was having a good time posting depressing threads about my plot in the boating world, and now I have a positive attitude and am coming to the realization that our boats aren't  different depreciation wise than any other, perhaps even better than most. 
Thanks for bringing your beam of sunshine to this forum. 
MY BOAT ROCKS!
thanks dude.

[epic_toy]

I agree. I'm almost upbeat about it myself!

Toyotafreak- If you're up for it, it would interesting to see the same pricing comparison that you did for 2000 S22 on a comparable 2000 Mastercraft, Supra, etc....?

[toyotafreak]

I'm up, but I'm unable to find historical information without paying. NADA will do a historical search for $30 - I had the 2003 reference already...

[LookinForaV]

The Epic's actually have held their value slightly better than MC, Tige, and Centurion when comparing initial 2001 MSRP to the current NADA values.  This was one of the many contributing factors that swayed us to the Epic, not to mention $12-18k less at today's price for a comprabably equiped boat.  We just got back from Texas this morning (we live in Lake Elsinore CA) where we puchased a 2001 S-22.  I have been lurking for some time and have read almost every post on this awsome website before we finally dove in and decided to purchase one.  Many thanks to the webmaster, moderator, and many posters to this site!