1989 24' Skater, Twin Diamond Marine 280's

[tony97gt]

Seeing how much interest there is for my Skater. Thinking of upgrading to a Center Console to get back into fish, diving, etc. This is not a fire sale and if it doesn't sell then I'll keep it. So tire kickers and low ballers just keep moving. I will ship it once I have funds on hand and everything is clear. Trying to make sure I disclose everything here to avoid any confusion and answer everyone's questions.

HULL- 1989 24' Skater. I bought this hull with a buddy in May of 2013. It had 200hp fishing motors on it and they just weren't enough to get the job done. After purchase we had a tech from the JL Audio install a top of the line sound system. It includes 4 JL Audio 8.8 woofers with sport grill, two JL Audio 10" Subwoofers with sport grill, two JL Audio Marine Grade Amps (one powering the 8.8's and the other for the subs), a JL Audio Line Driver (this allows you to play music directly thru the amps without having a stereo) and a JL Audio MBT-RX Bluetooth receiver (allows Bluetooth connectivity from up to 30' away). He also removed the wood interior side panels and replaced them with a marine grade plastic (can't remember if it's starboard) to support the weight of the 8.8's. The same tech installed blue LED lighting in the cockpit and white LED in the bilge area, and wired in a switch under the dash. The wiring on this boat is second to none and was done by the previous owner. I cannot attest to whether the tanks are done or not, but I have only run a 50/50 mix of Aviation Fuel and Recreational Fuel in it since we've owned it (both are non-ethanol). I have pulled both onboard fuel filters to check if there were any issues and nothing was found in the filters. The boat does have two high-pressure fuel pumps and the on-board filters are very large so they almost act like catch tanks. There are catch tanks built in but we don't have the need to use them. I believe each fuel tank holds 50 gallons. The transom has two Bob's High Performance Manual Jack Plates with 4" of setback. The boat has a tunnel tab as well but the seal on the ram for that needs to be replaced as it doesn't hold full pressure. We have been using a bungee cord to keep it up for safety reasons, and the tab is still functional if needed, but that's the story with that. Boat currently has a Latham Dual Ram steering setup with wingplates and tie-bar. One ram had a leaky seal so it went back to Latham a few months ago and was overhauled. The boat has Livorsi Blue Anodized Dual Throttles in the center so you can run a throttle man/wheel man setup. It has a Livorsi Steering Wheel and Livorsi Black Face Gauges with red lighting. The ignition, fuel pumps, bilge etc are controlled by Livorsi Military Style Toggle Switches. Has dual 1000CCA Batteries up front and dual battery switches. Each engine has it's own battery that is isolated from the other. LED Nav Lights and 3 pop-up SS Cleats on each side of the boat. The interior is a silver Skater interior. It currently has new black snap-in carpet. Dual bilge pumps on each side of the boat. A previous owner of the boat drilled a battery hold down tray into the bottom of the tunnel (long before I got this boat) and water got into those holes and caused some delamination. That area was cut out, re-cored, re-glassed, and re-gelcoated about a year ago. There is a small area on the front of the port sponson that had some delamination and went to a Fiberglass shop (they build cat style race boats) where the bad stuff was completely removed and the area was recored and reglassed (vacuum bagged) . Other than that small area the hull is solid and has blue gelcoat on the bottom and blue/silver automotive paint with clear coat on the sides and top. It has a full Sunbrella cover that is felt lined on the inside and includes two engine covers as well. I keep the boat under a 20' canopy at my house. The boat is hand washed and towel dryed after EVERY use.

Trailer- The trailer is a custom made 2014 AllStar Aluminum trailer. It has full LED lighting, custom rims, and hydraulic brakes on one axle. It has a small ladder on the front post to make it easier to get in the boat. I painted the axles black with the bed liner paint before they ever got wet to keep them from rusting.

Engines- These engines are 1999 Mercury 280's. They were purchased with 130ish original hours on them and they had never been rebuilt. We ran them for about 10 hours and then they were taken to Diamond Marine where Marty and Joe did their magic. Both engines got full rebuilds to include Mercury top-Pinned Pistons and custom Diamond Marine Tuners. We also sent the ECU's to Simon Motorsports in Cali and had them flashed to ROS specs. If I recall correctly they dyno'd around 310hp each and were broken in for 2 hours each by Marty. They've only seen the best fuel and oil and the Nicasil was good so they were honed during the rebuilds. Hard to find virgin 280's like these that haven't been dogged or heli coiled by some shadetree mechanic. These motors run flawless and are used in saltwater in South Fla. However, each motor is flushed for a minimum of 5 minutes EVERY time they hit the water and we use Salt Away when flushing. Total run times are 155hrs and 161hrs, keep in mind they were rebuilt around 140hrs.

Mids- Both mids are Heavy Duty Offshore midsections with single ram trim. When the engines were being rebuilt I removed the swivel arms and rebuilt the bushings and had them re-powder coated. Unfortunately the powder coating on the mids is not in the best shape and it will need to be refinished eventually.

Lowers- Both lowers are 20" Sportmasters. The left lower had an issue and lost fluid last year so it was taken to Diamond Marine and got internals, a brand new prop shaft, and a 20" stainless steel driveshaft that was machined to fit the sporty. The left hand has a custom water intake modification done by Diamond Marine which gives it about 5psi more than the stock right hand. Both are 1.87:1 ratio and fat shaft.

Props- Mercury 34p by 14.5 3 blade cleavers. Flo-tor hubs on both. The left hand prop got a small crack in it so they were both taken to Frank and Jimmies and it was repaired and both were polished and balanced by Mike. The props are in great shape and I think one edge might have a small nick the size of a ball point pen tip.

Cowlings- Both are Mercury cowls that have been painted with black/clear. They have custom Mercury decals on them and have the Offshore racing cowl pins on top to keep them secure. They also include skirts on both sides. I discovered today that the starboard pan is cracked where it mounts to the stainless plate that anchors it to the front of the motor. It's easy to replace the pan.

Any questions feel free to call me at 786-473-9789 or email me at [email protected]. Hopefully I've answered a lot of questions. I work nights so if I don't answer the phone just leave a message. I REALLY hate to sell this boat but I want to go a different route. This is a turn-key 110mph boat as it sits with the jackplates bottomed out. Put in more setup and you should see 120mph no problem. I will only separate if the hull sells first. This boat is meticulously maintained and Diamond Marine can attest to the motor builds. Looking to get $53,999k OBO for the entire boat, motor, cover, and trailer TURN-KEY. Boat is currently financed with Navy Federal Credit Union so I do no have title on hand at the moment. 1989 Skaters are Vinylester builds according to Peter at Skater and should not have tank issues.

$53,999k OBO

Here's a few videos of it in action:
https://youtu.be/cBwtol17Dy8
https://youtu.be/ss6MGrdXB9U
https://youtu.be/gSHDTUw8QsY
https://youtu.be/0T1bcUHwiUo

[tony97gt]

[tony97gt]

[speedfreak2030]

Sup? Everyone selling there 24 footers. Hmm?

[tony97gt]

[tony97gt]

Sup? Everyone selling there 24 footers. Hmm?

Only selling to go a different route. South Florida has way too much opportunity for fishing, diving, Bahamas trips, and weekends at the sandbars. Not practical in an Offshore Cat.

[tux974]

Tony, very nice ad! GLWS.....

[JerseyChris]

Wonder if I helped spark this sale by asking you 6 weeks ago if you knew of any 24's for sale

[tony97gt]

Wonder if I helped spark this sale by asking you 6 weeks ago if you knew of any 24's for sale

Nah what actually sparked it was a friend saying he wants to buy a center console and me not being able to scuba dive or deep sea fish off the back of a Skater. I used to own a center console and really enjoy the skater but I'm not using the Skater for what it should be used for. I do more local sandbar trips than high speed poker runs.

[Jamescole]

How much? i might have missed it in the ad...

[tony97gt]

Yeah sorry the ad is long I tried to disclose everything I know to avoid a ton of phone calls with questions. 60k OBO turn key.

[SotallyTober57]

I can confirm the motors have never once seen the rev limiters. Even when we were cruising at 108mph with 4 people, at least 60gallons of fuel (if not more) and a 100qt marine cooler on board. All of which took place with a 2ft chop and a head wind gusting up to 20mph. I still have my wife's skid stained bikini bottoms to prove it.

[jas638]

32 pitch 7400rpm at 9%slip calculates to 109mph. 280s can spin a lot higher than that . this boat with dialing in the setup could do 117-120 mph

[eli]

32 pitch 7400rpm at 9%slip calculates to 109mph. 280s can spin a lot higher than that . this boat with dialing in the setup could do 117-120 mph

add says 34 pitch so 110 at 7200 is about right,isnt that funny video from rear looks like your going 200

[aggiestckl]

You guys crack me up. Guy lists an ad for one of the nicest 24 skater and gives most detail of any ad on here. You got no cash to buy but you gladly write BS questioning what he's saying.. Buck up or keep it to yourself. Tony GLWS!