Looking for 342 in North Texas

Trudyawest

Looked at a 2004 342 in Rockwall, fell in love and it didn't do well on the survey. So now I'm on the hunt for another in good condition. I'm on Lake Texoma, but can also look at Lake Lewisville, Grapevine or other area lakes. Might consider a 350 if the price is right.

Black_Diamond

342 is an awesome boat.  Nice boats are hard to find, at least by me, and go for a premium. 

Michael T

Get a 350 if you can get a decent one for the price but only if it has the 496 magnum engines. 377s are imo not powerful enough and 350s are imo useless in that boat unless you only plan to run it at displacement speeds.

John41

How much were they asking for it? What did the survey reveal? I have a 2004 342 with 350’s. I feel that the power is just fine but it wouldn’t hurt to have the bigger engines except for in the pocket. Lol

LaRea

Check the one at Little Yacht Sales:  https://littleyachtsales.com/

Trudyawest

The 2004 342 fiesta vee that we passed on had moisture issues in the transom and the stringers were bad. I love the layout. I agree that nice kept boats are hard to come by right now. The surveyor warned us to expect a 15% premium. This will be our first cruiser and am I’m torn between keeping it around 50k and wondering if that’s not false economy. We’d be using it on Lake Texoma. Our grown kids all live in the area and we are tired of stuffing everyone into an 18ft ski boat. We never get out of town because we farm and the lake is 30 minutes away so it’s the perfect way to relax without leaving town.

LaRea

With patience, you'll find a good 342 within shouting distance of that $50k mark.  It's a fantastic boat.  I had one for a decade and loved it.  But you need a solid survey, as you've found out.  

Liberty44140

$50k for a freshwater 04 342 will be tough even 2 years ago. That’s a salt boat price. I’d expect to be in the $60k arena for a good freshwater 04 342. 

John41

I purchased my 2004 342 for under 50,000 a couple of years ago. The guy that did the survey never mentioned the crappy composite outdrives. Lucky for me I got caught up in bad weather and grounded the outdrives. They both had to be replaced. I replaced them with the  Volvo ocean X.I’ve been keeping an eye on some of the other 342’s for sale and the prices are way up. Some of them are 70-90,000 ( doesn’t mean they are selling at that price). Just keep looking I’m sure you’ll find something reasonable. You will not be disappointed with this boat. 

Trudyawest

I think you’re right on the price range 
Liberty44140 said:

$50k for a freshwater 04 342 will be tough even 2 years ago. That’s a salt boat price. I’d expect to be in the $60k arena for a good freshwater 04 342. 

Trudyawest

We have found a 2000 340 in our area that we are taking a serious look at. Kind of a weird scenario, the sellers are third owners and only taken it out three times in two years and someone else drives it for them. Previous owners didn’t take it out much either. When we took it out today they brought the service company out to captain the boat for us. It seems to have been well taken care of, regularly serviced, winterized and on a cleaning schedule too -  but really low engine hours for a boat that age 250 hrs. That said, the lake we are on tends to incur higher generator hours than engine hours lol. 

Liberty44140

High generator hours is usually a good thing. That genny will go to 5000 or more hours so if it has 1000 hours on it I would not worry a bit. 

LaRea

For a boat that age, it's all about the survey and what your eyeballs tell you.  Maybe it's a "garage find" in great condition.  We'll be interested to hear what you find!  

Trudyawest

We've got a survey scheduled for the morning of Sept 2 and it's being lifted out of the water and power washed that afternoon. I will let you know what we find out.