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**fandarr** · 01-04-2022, 08:39 AM

For whatever reason The Hull Truth people generally seem to hate Mako and I am not sure why. There is nothing wrong with that hull. In the mid 90s Mako sold to Bass Pro Shop. After that sale the first few years there were some bumps in the road and there were some quality control issues. It took a few years but they did seem to get it fixed and generally speaking they have been good again for a long time. Most of the issues Bass Pro had were discovered very quickly by owners. Any Mako out on the market today, regardless of the Era, that has been well maintained and in good shape would not scare me at all.

Part of the knock on them at The Hull Truth I think is that they might not be as nice or refined as much as the high end boats. The problem there is Mako is not trying to compete with those boats, just look at the price points. Mako used to be the king of the mountain in the 70s and 80s, but lots of other manufacturers have entered the market and really stepped up the expectations of people. Mako has never tried to cater to the luxary boat crowd, even back in the day. They have always been about appealing to fishing. Making very rugged and utilitarian boats that had all the necessary features to catch fish without all the bells and whistles.

I think that if the boat you are looking at is in good condition it would be a great choice, I personally like that hull. Could it possibly have some typical old boat problems? Sure, it's 20 to30 years old depending on which one you get. Just do your do diligence checking it out and if it has been maintained well it will be a beast for you.

**hectorsn** · 01-05-2022, 04:42 AM

I read somewhere (maybe THT) the possible origins to the 282's bad rap. Supposedly, there was a boat built during the new ownership of Tracker that was defective. It was a known bad boat and it was sent off to get destroyed. At that point it was instead sold to an employee or someone who had ties to the company on the pretense that it would be repaired and would be for personal use after. It was instead flipped for a quick profit. Some years later, the boat had an issue, like the transom broke off or some major failure like that. Subsequently, a few other boats from those years started showing up with signs of fatigue in the same area. And that pretty much sums up how all 282's are crap. Please take this with a grain of salt. My memory is foggy on the subject and who knows if the person recounting the story was even telling the real story or just repeating something someone said, that may have been something someone else said, etc.

What I do know is that there are original Mako 282's around and in good shape. By original I mean 95, 96, and maybe 97 boats. The owner of the bait shop I frequent has a 95 and that thing is on who knows how many repowers. Those were built by Mako Marine with the exception of the 97 boats. Those were built by the company that took over Mako Marine but was basically the same boat built by a lot of the same people building the 95 and 96 boats. From 98 on the changes in production started occurring and IIRC by 98 or 99 the company was sold to Tracker so there may have been multiple changes in production. Not long after 99 the production in Miami ceased and was sent to the Carolina's.

There is someone on this site currently rehabbing a 282. He was re-doing the structural bits at the euro-transom. I can't remember the year of the boat but it may have been a 95. Either way, it would be worth looking it up. I tried searching for it but the search engine on this site leaves much to be desired.

Edit, found it with google: https://forum.classicmako.com/forum/...71-95-mako-282

**mrdelgado** · 01-05-2022, 09:11 AM

I think there was immediately a bad task in the mouths of Mako owners when Tracker Marine came in the picture. Those big companies are known for squeezing every ounce of resin out of a dollar. Of course, I'm pretty sure, even if Hinckley bought the company, Mako owners would throw their arms up, lol. But sure enough, some of the Euro Transoms delaminated and failed. And the big 'I told you so' came out. That spread on the interweb like wildfire since the keyboard commandos love to be negative in the forums any chance possible. Anywho, the transom failures were covered under warranty.
Anywho, aside from the transom, I like the 282's. So inspect the transom thoroughly or pay someone to if you don't know what to look for.

**RingLeader** · 01-05-2022, 07:03 PM

On The Hull Truth its got to be a minimum of 36ft and have at least 3 motors, preferably 4, for consideration of acceptance into the cult of really rich guys that have giant piles of money to set of fire.... Or its got to be a Freeman. Anything else is a floating piece of crap that will likely not be floating SOON!

All kidding aside (not really, there's alot of truth to what I said above), most of us... myself included, are just not in a financial position to spend over 50K on a boat. I make a good living, but I'll be damned if I'm going to mortgage my life on a boat. AND repeat the process every 2 years in order to keep up with the Jones'. There's nothing wrong with the Mako 282. There was a batch of them that had transom issues. Mako had some engineering done and even had a kit that they would send to shops to do the repairs. Unfortunately they didn't warranty the defects to my knowledge, but the company had changed hands twice during that time. By now, most all of those hulls have been identified and repaired. I wouldn't hesitate to get a 282 if it had a good survey.

My boat next to a 282 looks alot smaller, but they supposedly built the 282 off of the 261 mold. I spoke with a local charter capt that had one at the fuel dock this summer and he said its a fine performer offshore. He had yamaha 250 4-strokes. Sounded like his fuel economy was about 20% less than mine. All that said, I've never been one on for a ride. But I know a few guys that have them. None have talked badly about the boat.

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Why so much negativity on mako 282

Why so much negativity on mako 282

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