Purchase? 2000 Excalibur 26
Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2023 9:04 pm
I stumbled across a local Excalibur 26 for sale. It's a 2000 powered by a Volvo 7.4 Gi. 400-ish hours with many recent services, including gimble bearing, bellows and fluids. Owner seems fastidious and open-checkbook regarding maintenance. I have no idea what the options would have been. It does have selectable exhaust (Captain's Call, maybe?).
I have never owned a Volvo and am a bit gun-shy of "unknowns." I have been out on boats with duo-prop power and was impressed the immediate up--on-plane and lack of torque steer issues. My impression is that Volvo drives are rock-solid if well-maintained, but expensive to repair when something goes wrong. Probably not well-suited to performance mods. Is that an accurate "nutshell" take on Volvos? Having owned many big-block Mercruisers, I'm very comfortable with the engine itself. For me, this would be a giant leap in technology and drivability; first MPI boat engine and first ever dual prop drive.
With that all said, a couple of questions: what kind of cruise speed should I expect, and top speed (I'm not afraid of a W.O.T. burst, but I like 3200-3400 rpm for cruising)? I'm guessing 32 mph cruise, 55 top. I'd love to be surprised by a bit more.
Also, the ask is $24k. Does this seem reasonable? I wasn't really looking for this boat - it kind of found me, so I'm totally out of touch with potential value!
TIA.
I have never owned a Volvo and am a bit gun-shy of "unknowns." I have been out on boats with duo-prop power and was impressed the immediate up--on-plane and lack of torque steer issues. My impression is that Volvo drives are rock-solid if well-maintained, but expensive to repair when something goes wrong. Probably not well-suited to performance mods. Is that an accurate "nutshell" take on Volvos? Having owned many big-block Mercruisers, I'm very comfortable with the engine itself. For me, this would be a giant leap in technology and drivability; first MPI boat engine and first ever dual prop drive.
With that all said, a couple of questions: what kind of cruise speed should I expect, and top speed (I'm not afraid of a W.O.T. burst, but I like 3200-3400 rpm for cruising)? I'm guessing 32 mph cruise, 55 top. I'd love to be surprised by a bit more.
Also, the ask is $24k. Does this seem reasonable? I wasn't really looking for this boat - it kind of found me, so I'm totally out of touch with potential value!
TIA.