dateline bounty

[Guest]

Hi Gents / Ladies

I am about to take the plunge and buy a speedboat, I wonder if anybody on the forum can give me some advice about a 18ft Dateline Bounty speedboat. It's fitted with a 3lt V6 Ford inboard engine. I cant seem to find any info on the net about the Manufaturer etc. What are spare parts like to get hold of etc

Any help whatsoever will be greatly appreciated

John

 

[jfm]

Dateline were a very respectable speedboat manufacturer in the 70s and 80s. Good quality boats, they competed with Fletcher, Simms et al. The Bounty was their main model, loads of them were built, nice brochures with bikini clad totty, dealerships all over UK, etc etc. So you're not buying an unknown make.

But they seem to have gone out of business like many others and I would expect the chances of getting "spares" from the manufacturer or any successor are zero. But that's no prob at all, becuase the boat will not need spares generally speaking and if any part breaks (like a windscreen or something) you can diy repair or any boatyard with a decent workshop can fix it. So, no problems here

The engine sounds like the marinised ford 3.0 V6 that was in capris and granadas in the 70s, and fitted to many boats. Spares easy to get from auto suppliers, and Lancing marine can supply bits for the marinised portion of the engine. The engine is a pretty lo-tech pushrod job. Nominally 130-140hp. I assume on a dateline it is driving an outdrive leg, those need carful check as expensive and messy to repair

Also make sure the trailer is good. This is a heavy boat cuz of the 'gine and there are some crappy trailers from that era, lots with carpeted supports so you have to float the boat on, you can't use the better arrangement of winching it along a bed of rollers.

Good luck

JFM