1st Boat purchase

[mavryk]

Re: 1st Boat purchse

Re: 1st Boat purchse

Thanks for the input and the tip on the oil check on an I/O. I know excactly what you mean- had this happen on a truck engine one time. Dipstick looked good, filler cap looked good buy when I changed the oil it was milky. Pulled the valve covers and looked nasty.

You are right, I am heavily leaning towards and I/O. My reasoning (and I may be wrong, please point out the errors in my logic), is that I have a fair amount of experience working on small block chevy engines, and although there may be more maintenance, I would be able to do a large amount of it myself. I also like the idea of not having to deal with 2cycle oil.

Thanks very much for the recommendations on boats. I havent' really seen/looked at many Chaparrals listed, but I have noticed a fair amount of Glastrons. I am not against any one brand per se, but I have noticed on the Bayliners I have seen, the interiors always seems to be in a little poorer condition than I would expect for a given boats age, even when the boat seems well cared for. Is this a misperception, or is the material used on the Bayliner interiors a little lower quality than some other manufacturers?

 

[jkust]

Re: 1st Boat purchse

Re: 1st Boat purchse

Thanks for the input and the tip on the oil check on an I/O. I know excactly what you mean- had this happen on a truck engine one time. Dipstick looked good, filler cap looked good buy when I changed the oil it was milky. Pulled the valve covers and looked nasty.

You are right, I am heavily leaning towards and I/O. My reasoning (and I may be wrong, please point out the errors in my logic), is that I have a fair amount of experience working on small block chevy engines, and although there may be more maintenance, I would be able to do a large amount of it myself. I also like the idea of not having to deal with 2cycle oil.

Thanks very much for the recommendations on boats. I havent' really seen/looked at many Chaparrals listed, but I have noticed a fair amount of Glastrons. I am not against any one brand per se, but I have noticed on the Bayliners I have seen, the interiors always seems to be in a little poorer condition than I would expect for a given boats age, even when the boat seems well cared for. Is this a misperception, or is the material used on the Bayliner interiors a little lower quality than some other manufacturers?

I think I could agree that an I/O will fit your style. The thing is that I/O's just require more maintainance than OB's. All of my O/B's have been bullet proof including that 85 HP force I mentioned. Literally zero maintaince (not overemphasizing at all) since we got it new except for plugs. The I/O on the other hand requires annual plus scheduled maintainance. If you are DIY'er with the time, then the engine stuff is easy but you need to also remove the outdrive which isn't as diy friendly. As for brands, Glastrons are like a ford or a Chevy and are everywhere since they are cheap and most people can't or don't care to discern between them and a boat such as a Chaparral that is subatantially in a different category. You are talking a Mercedes versus a Chevy. A lot more Chevy's on the road since they do the job but in the boating world all I/O boats have the same engine's so even less reason to care about the differences and save the money. Bayliners demographic are folks that generally are newer to boating given they are bottom of the barrel cheap and so with that comes a learning curve and the learning curve takes place on that boat and so can be in worse shape then sold to the next new boater for them to repeat their learning curve on. Now days the Bayliners hardly resemble the ones of the 80's, 90's and early 2000's as they have picked up their quality a good bit. Glastron is very good at making a boat LOOK good with shiny components and wood steeringwheels, etc, yet their dry weights (a huge indicator of how well a boat is built) are still light. Of course side by side you can't tell which boat is lighter if you are in the water standing between them. Inside there are lots of tell tales as to corners cut. Also Chapparral changed their hull design with a 2002 patent that they used on all of their bowrider up until the most recent retool which was around 2009 or so. There aren't nearly as many on the market and at least here if one of those 2002 on up models comes available, it is snatched up quickly.

 

[fen-isl]

Re: 1st Boat purchse

Re: 1st Boat purchse

Thanks for the input and the tip on the oil check on an I/O. I know excactly what you mean- had this happen on a truck engine one time. Dipstick looked good, filler cap looked good buy when I changed the oil it was milky. Pulled the valve covers and looked nasty.

You are right, I am heavily leaning towards and I/O. My reasoning (and I may be wrong, please point out the errors in my logic), is that I have a fair amount of experience working on small block chevy engines, and although there may be more maintenance, I would be able to do a large amount of it myself. I also like the idea of not having to deal with 2cycle oil.

Thanks very much for the recommendations on boats. I havent' really seen/looked at many Chaparrals listed, but I have noticed a fair amount of Glastrons. I am not against any one brand per se, but I have noticed on the Bayliners I have seen, the interiors always seems to be in a little poorer condition than I would expect for a given boats age, even when the boat seems well cared for. Is this a misperception, or is the material used on the Bayliner interiors a little lower quality than some other manufacturers?

I have noticed the same thing about Bayliners, They always seem to be in the price range then you look at them really good, and find they are kinda of cheaply made or put together, when they are new in my opinion they look nice. I also notice that the ones from the 80's look dated, where as other boats look dated but not as much. I have a check list somewhere I will try to post, you basically print it out and take it with you when you look at boats. Just check the box's where required and fill in the notes, then when you get home you can compare different boats on paper with out trying to remember all the little details. I have never posted a file to a forum, so it may take some trying, or we could try a PM.

Rich

 

[mavryk]

Re: 1st Boat purchse

Re: 1st Boat purchse

Thanks again for all the input. The info I have gotten here has definitely helped me to narrow down/eliminate/focus my search parameters. I am really considering upping my budget to around $7k, as from what I have seen so far, the jump up in year, motor size, condition of boats I have been looking at is substantial if I were willing to spend another 2 grand, i.e. a lot more available in the mid 90's
to early 2000's with 4.3's and nicer condition. I learned long ago it is bad to pay too much, but even worse to pay too little.... basically it's a pay me now/pay me later deal. Do I want to drop the extra $2k upfront to have a nice, reliable boat that has been well cared for, that I can enjoy with a minimum of hassle other than normal maintenance, or do I want to spread out spending $2k (probably more) and
nobody knows how many hours working to constantly fix things on a so-so boat instead of taking it on the water and enjoying it? The days when I enjoyed wrenching on a car/snowmobile/4 wheeler all the time to keep it going becasue it was "cheap" are long gone. My time is just too valuable.
From what I have seen, it seems there are a decent number of what appear to be well kept, well maintained and good condition boats in the 18' class with 4.3L or bigger in the late 1990's listing for around $6500-$7000, and that's the direction I think I'm heading in.

Once again, thank you everyone for all your advice and input. It has been a great help!

 

[littlerayray]

Re: 1st Boat purchse

Re: 1st Boat purchse

I have to laugh at some of the stupid prices being listed on CL around hear. Apparently folks think spring fever turns us into slobbering idiots. :facepalm:

i resent that comment i am one of those slobbering idiots i just dont act on it cuz i already have a boat

 

[Shoreleave]

Re: 1st Boat purchase

I think upping your budget may be a good idea. I looked for several months in the PNW for a good condition older boat. I finally found a 1994 Seaswirl 195 with an OMC/Volvo 305 Ford I/O. This boat had been garaged all it's life and looked like it just came out of the showroom. The engine only had 154 hours on it. I paid $6500 even though this was above the NADA guide because this boat was in exceptional condition.

You should build into your budget a significant cost to bring the engine up to snuff. I took it into the dealer and he replaced the belts, hoses, plugs, distributor cap, water pump, etc. and aligned the engine/outdrive for a total bill of $1450. The dealer told me I got a cherry and that this boat should last another 20 years if it is taken care of like it was the first 20 years.