Poor wood work at the transom left some motors lying on the ground up to 2003, even talk of one jumping into the boat and killing a guy while running - is it true, I don't know, but apparently there are some raw pictures somewhere.
I've heard of transom problems even through 2006, being that they changed their design due to the big failures previously I don't think 2 years is enough to say they got the problem licked by eliminating their shoddy wood work.
After some googling, I wiped them clean off my list of used boat possibilities when I was looking. They aren't a strong company, or a strong name anymore - too much of an investment and repair risk to roll those dice IMO.
This is before they made the changes around 2003.
Attachment 56991
If the boat you're looking at has been on the market a while, there's a reason. I see a lot of them that don't move, so good pricing is pretty easy to get.
Sorry champion owners, I ain't hatin'. Just know not many men drop thousands of dollars and actually admit their mistake. Hell, not many men admit a mistake period, much less a BIG one.
Good luck, I'm just a guy.
Sent