[Pascal]

I'm helping a friend who's looking at a number of boats, including 02/03 Johnson 70s.

The one we looked at today seemed to be very nice... the aft deck and platform is huge for such a boat yet it doens't come at a high price. We poked around quite a bit and found a few minor things, some to look at closely during survey.

couple of questions though... How good are the 1400hp C18? some c18 appear to be rated at 1000hp, we're afraid that 1400 maybe pushing it a little too high? engine survey will help, but those engines have close to 1000hrs on them.

how about the 1300hp MTUs?

about construction... the stringers seems to be hollow (from taping and feeling around in some limber holes). how solid is the construction? solid glass or cored below water line?

We also saw a streak next to a bonding bolt (under the master) indicating less than ideal sealing. hopefully, this is a solid glass bottom!

ER is a little tight but manageable... altogether the boat has few "what-were-they-thinking" issues on it, although i dont' like batteries (even AGM) in living quarters and locating the shorepower plugs on the bottom step on the swim platform ins't very bright...

any feedback on these boats is welcome!

[Pascal]

thank you to those who replied, via PM. The deal closed last friday and i'll be delivering the boat to NAntucket next month.

so far, i find it to be an pretty impressive boat, the aft deck layout is incredible for a boat this size, yet they didn't compromise the rest of the boat. The only thing some owners may find to be an issue is the lack of separate crew quarters but this is still mostly an owner/operator boat so the 4th SR acts as a crew. We did see one with a bunk and head crammed in the bow compartment... yikes...

very minor things turned up during surveys, most are being addressed before we head north, the only "bonehead" design appear to be the SS steel rudders and rudder bearings...

visibiliity from the skylounge is excellent, on the sides but also aft as you can see one corner of the swimplatform from the helm, thru the door. The boat also has a remote station on the aft deck making backing into a slip a breeze, even singlehanded.

The only glitch in the process was the incompetent seller's broker who made numerous errors in the listing, incl. non existent equipment... resulting in some headaches along the way. They didnt' even get the engines right, listing c18 instead 3412s.

luckily, the buyer's broker was excellent and worked really hard in ensuring the deal went thru.

An interesting thing i learned about Johnson is that they are in fact the final evolution of the earlier High Techs and you can find some of the 70 design in the older boat. it's always a good sign when a builder refines an existing design over 15 or 20 years...

Altogether, it's a production boat but decent quality. All three J70 we saw were in excellent condition, which i can't say of other boats we saw (same year) but better known name plates...

again, thank you for the off line feedback.