So how many have ever heard of Toyota boats?
The line up only lasted a short time, 1998 to 2001.
For the first 3 yrs hulls were mfg by Maritech ( mfg of Gambler bass boats).
In the last 6 months of production hulls were mfg by Toyota at a new plant built specifically for the venture.
Toyota used the Lexus 400SC engine as the powerplant, and went as far as to freeze a water filled engine to study durability issues.
There were only a limited amount of models available:
1998: Epic 21 closed bow, Epic 22 open bow.
1999: Epic 21 closed bow, Epic 22 open bow, and the Epic X22 which was designed and sold as the official tow boat of the gravity games.
For 2000 all models again remained the same and a new addition called the S22 was added. This was a V drive boat with sporting a completely different hull from previous models.
The final year saw all previous models held over and the addition of the Epic SX which to this day is considered the premier wake boarding boat.
Later in 2001 Toyota closed the doors and discontinued mfg boats citing a failing economy and limited production numbers made the venture non profitable.
As a boating fan at the time I really wanted one of these boats, but finances and the fact I was stationed overseas in Italy during the production period and Toyota refused to sell overseas left me wanting but never buying.
I was recently able to purchase 2 of these boats, one low hours in perfect condition and another with all the parts except an engine, which in the Marine version is virtually non existent for resale, the few hundred boats produced and still operating are highly prized and when one does become non operable the parts are quickly purchased for a premium by other owners.
My two boats were owned by a local marine dealer the originally sold Toyota boats, the low hour boat was a demo boat and the engineless one was a warranty buy back. They were stored until 2009 when the dealer went bankrupt, the bank has just recently begun liquidating the dealers assets and I was lucky enough to have an acquaintance in charge of clearing the warehouse. The boats cost me, but Even if I keep one I should still make a profit after doing a reengine conversion on the engineless boat. I plan on using a recently acquired Tundra I-Force V8.
At this time I believe Ill be selling both boats since I already have A extensively modified 2003 Glastron 185 bowrider with a GM crate ZZ383 vortech Supercharged engine Ive been building since 2003.
If only Id been able to buy a Toyota Epic 21/22 before purchasing my Glastron, things might have ended differently.
The line up only lasted a short time, 1998 to 2001.
For the first 3 yrs hulls were mfg by Maritech ( mfg of Gambler bass boats).
In the last 6 months of production hulls were mfg by Toyota at a new plant built specifically for the venture.
Toyota used the Lexus 400SC engine as the powerplant, and went as far as to freeze a water filled engine to study durability issues.
There were only a limited amount of models available:
1998: Epic 21 closed bow, Epic 22 open bow.
1999: Epic 21 closed bow, Epic 22 open bow, and the Epic X22 which was designed and sold as the official tow boat of the gravity games.
For 2000 all models again remained the same and a new addition called the S22 was added. This was a V drive boat with sporting a completely different hull from previous models.
The final year saw all previous models held over and the addition of the Epic SX which to this day is considered the premier wake boarding boat.
Later in 2001 Toyota closed the doors and discontinued mfg boats citing a failing economy and limited production numbers made the venture non profitable.
As a boating fan at the time I really wanted one of these boats, but finances and the fact I was stationed overseas in Italy during the production period and Toyota refused to sell overseas left me wanting but never buying.
I was recently able to purchase 2 of these boats, one low hours in perfect condition and another with all the parts except an engine, which in the Marine version is virtually non existent for resale, the few hundred boats produced and still operating are highly prized and when one does become non operable the parts are quickly purchased for a premium by other owners.
My two boats were owned by a local marine dealer the originally sold Toyota boats, the low hour boat was a demo boat and the engineless one was a warranty buy back. They were stored until 2009 when the dealer went bankrupt, the bank has just recently begun liquidating the dealers assets and I was lucky enough to have an acquaintance in charge of clearing the warehouse. The boats cost me, but Even if I keep one I should still make a profit after doing a reengine conversion on the engineless boat. I plan on using a recently acquired Tundra I-Force V8.
At this time I believe Ill be selling both boats since I already have A extensively modified 2003 Glastron 185 bowrider with a GM crate ZZ383 vortech Supercharged engine Ive been building since 2003.
If only Id been able to buy a Toyota Epic 21/22 before purchasing my Glastron, things might have ended differently.
