Thinking of buying my first boat..

[Ricco]

I have seen a 1994 Bayliner Capri 120 for sale. The guy tells me it is in very good condition, I am going to go see it on Saturday.. I am more of a car guy and know very little about boats.. I have seen on here so far that the force motor is not a good choice, how do i know if it has that motor?

Anyway, it is listed as a Bayliner Capri 120... It is the 1800 so its 18 feet long right? I know the motor is a 2 stroke outboard, but thats about as much as i know.. I figured the worst case, the outboard could be replaced with a 4 stroke right? How much work is involved in that sort of thing and

He had it listed for $5000 but now $6000.. I was going to offer him $4500.

It comes with 2 covers, 2 sets of skis, rev counter.. he says it has been stored indoors and winterised every year by bass pro shops..

Any advise would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Richard.

 

[oops!]

Re: Thinking of buying my first boat..

hi richard.....welcome to i boats

your in the right place here.......

but um ....uh........just hold the phone a moment.........

you said the magic word.........bayliner....!


ok....bliners , in the earlier days had huge quality control issues....they rotted....bad.......no kidding....ive got one.....

now... by 94 the may have fixed some of the problems...but unless the owner could prove the craft has been garage stored all of its life. i would have a marine surveyor look at it first......

i can tell you what to look for, but trust me ....if you are a first time buyer, hire a surveyor......

and 6k is a huge dollar......i got a 19 foot open bow capri with a four cylinder inboard with a alpha one drive for $2200, and its not that bad.
(great if you dont know what your looking for).

also.....you didnt say in your flag where your from......(thats really important on this site...even if its an area...because it will tell us lots of information.....like weither you will be near salt water, temps, ect...ect....

if the boat has been used in salt...there could be othere issues......

can you pull up the add?....or post a pic?


cheers
oops

 

[BF]

Re: Thinking of buying my first boat..

I figured the worst case, the outboard could be replaced with a 4 stroke right? How much work is involved in that sort of thing and

He had it listed for $5000 but now $6000.. I was going to offer him $4500.

Hi & Welcome...

Just FYI, the cost of outboard motors usually comes as a major surprise to non-boaters. If you're not happy with the motor hangin' on the back when you're buying it, you probably shouldn't buy the rig. You don't say what hp the motor is, (or is it 120??) but for fun, call your local outboard dealer and ask for their best cash price for a 4-stroke (or e-tec of they are an evinrude dealer) motor of that size. Then ask if that includes controls and installation. My guess is that after that phone call, you'll be wanting to make sure that the rig you buy has a power plant that you can live with for a while.

And yes, for the money you're spending, you should probably be able to find a good package.

 

[oops!]

Re: Thinking of buying my first boat..

you said rev counter.....are you in europe?

 

[Dave K.]

Re: Thinking of buying my first boat..

hi ricco, i'm not an expert but will try to help. first: 6k is a lot of $$$. 2nd, ask him the make of the motor, probably is a Force 125. Now, I have an '84 capri w/ the 85hp & i've had great success w/ the boat & motor, only minor maintenance & upkeep on both. yes, it does appear that force has a "bad rap" but not from me.. anyway, i agree w/ getting a surveyor if you don't know that much about boats or cannot bring someone along who does. keep one thing in mind: 4500 can get a LOT of boat nowadays due to the cost of fuel etc & maintenance & so on. look around, i know i was a bit impatient & eager to buy, but fortunately my brothers slowed me down. i found exactly what i needed. and that's the point, KNOW what you want & for the reason you want it. One thing I can tell you is this: if one deal slips by, don't worry, another will come along. trust me, there are & will be plenty of boats available & for a real deal too....welcome to the site - great place for boating advice & knowledge. dave

 

[QC]

Re: Thinking of buying my first boat..

Or Oz?

 

[QC]

Re: Thinking of buying my first boat..

Here's one for $2500 http://tampa.craigslist.org/boa/662909667.html

More than likely a Force, apparently 120 was a rating then. Keep looking, unless he drops the price by half.

 

[BF]

Re: Thinking of buying my first boat..

QC... that one is described as being in rough shape, soft floor, upholstery "has seen better days", motor runs. Owner says it's ugly and he's been hard on it. Most likely a saltwater boat (?). That's waaay different than a garage kept freshwater cream puff (if the original boat was a freshwater boat). I'm not saying $4500 is a good price, but a $2500 beater/project boat doesn't seem to be a good yardstick either. Maybe they're both overpriced (?)... local markets determine price. Around here, I'm pretty sure a clean capri would get $4500.

 

[Jack Daniels]

Re: Thinking of buying my first boat..

Dont let them scare you, although the boat seems high priced, dont run because if the FORCE. If the FORCE engine is properly taken care of it is a good motor. I like mine, because its easy to work on, parts are easy to get, and they put out decent power. Just my own two sense but i can assure you that the money hes asking you could probably get a hell of a better boat, at least in INDY you could.

 

[QC]

Re: Thinking of buying my first boat..

I didn't read the whole add, but $6K sounds REALLY high to me regardless. And if the other is that rough it's worth less than a grand . . .

 

[QC]

Re: Thinking of buying my first boat..

Let me clarify a little more. I am not afraid of any boat, even a stringer . . . however . . . What I would be willing to pay is a whole differnt discussion. Even $4500 seems high to me for a 14 year old Capri in any condition.

 

[Ricco]

Re: Thinking of buying my first boat..

Wow... Thanks for the replies guys! I was expecting one reply if i was lucky!

Anyway, yeah its a 120hp motor.. He says it has always been stored inside and winterised every year by Bass Pro shops - I guess a bunch of receipts for that should be fairly good proof right? I think he has it stored in a shop at his place and it sounds like he has owned it since new.

Like i said, he had originally had it up for 5, now 6 b/c his daughter said she thought it was worth more, i hadnt planned on going more than 4.5.

Yeah i said Rev counter, I'm from Europe (well England) but I live in NE Oklahoma so i'm pretty sure the boat is fresh water only! I have been keeping an eye on Craigslist and Ebay for a while now and this is the only thing to come up roughly in my price range that actually looked halfway decent, everything else is like 80's and you can tell just by looking at the style

Here is the link to the Craigslist ad..

http://tulsa.craigslist.org/boa/662569234.html

Cheers,
Richard.

 

[Ricco]

Re: Thinking of buying my first boat..

Forgot to mention, i looked it up on Nada and it says average retail is around $4700 but above average condition can command above average prices.

 

[Bigprairie1]

Re: Thinking of buying my first boat..

1st, welcome to Iboats. Next, QC is right....$6k for that boat is too much money. Don't worry about having time to think about it...it will be there for a while at that price. I'd guess it's worth around 3k-ish? (little less, litte more?..depends a bit on the following).
Regardless, before even that amount would be spent...do a compression test (or have someone do it for you, while you are there). Then check the floors to see if they are solid (or again have someone check them out for you). Ask a few questions...where was it stored in the off season? (outside? factory canvas only? tarped?....or garage/shed kept?). Oops is right about where it has lived it's life playing a big role in how sound it is.
Ask around where you work to see if anyone knows anything about boats perhaps they can go take a look at it with you for starters.
Given current economic conditions there are going to be thousands of boats out there to choose from (if not already) so no need to rush in.
Give it some thought....good luck!!
BP

 

[Jack Daniels]

Re: Thinking of buying my first boat..

I just did a nada search on it, Nada probably not accurate but gives you a ball park figure. For that boat bear bones it lists 3400 in great condition. I would bet you offer 4k and he would jump at it, and if not give it time, he is way over priced regardless of condition.

 

[External Combustion]

Re: Thinking of buying my first boat..

Ricco:


The fellow is taking advantage of you because you are a "furriner". That age of a Bayliner at any condition can be had at half the price here with a little bit of shopping. Bayliners aren't thought of well here. No personal predjudice as I have no horse in this race.

Look elsewhere for a good deal.

Sounds like you found a guy at Grand Lake wanting to unload his albatross.

Don't be snookered. Educate yourself by looking through the search engine here. There is too much good information to be ignored unless you are made of money.

Hope to see you on these local lakes.

 

[azlakes]

Re: Thinking of buying my first boat..

... looks and reads like a peach to me. check it out thoroughly and stick to your plan 4 - 4500. BF is right, a new 4 stroke replacement of equal or close hp, 10 - 15 thousand new. make sure that OB is solid.

g-luck

 

[Ricco]

Re: Thinking of buying my first boat..

Ricco:


The fellow is taking advantage of you because you are a "furriner". That age of a Bayliner at any condition can be had at half the price here with a little bit of shopping. Bayliners aren't thought of well here. No personal predjudice as I have no horse in this race.

Look elsewhere for a good deal.

Sounds like you found a guy at Grand Lake wanting to unload his albatross.

Don't be snookered. Educate yourself by looking through the search engine here. There is too much good information to be ignored unless you are made of money.

Hope to see you on these local lakes.

Can you show me any examples? I certainly havent seen any but that doesnt mean to say they arent out there i guess...

Cheers,
Richard.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Thinking of buying my first boat..

The boat looks nice and if it was well maintained it probably is nice. I'm not going to debate that. I'm also not going to get into the Bayliners are crap camp. Because if well maintained they probably aren't much worse than many other brands. The big problem is that Force outboard. Even if it's in excellent running condition the fact remains that most parts are not being made for it anymore and they are becoming harder and harder to find. Also many mechanics will not work on them anymore because of this. This may be a good boat, you may take the gamble and it will provide years of trouble-free service, but you absolutely should NOT pay $4500+ for that boat.

 

[Dakota47]

Re: Thinking of buying my first boat..

Thats a $4,500 dollar Bayliner.. looks to be very well matained. Take care of it and it will last a long time..