Am I out $3000 plus or is there something we can do?

[Steve Mahler]

Re: Am I out $3000 plus or is there something we can do?

outboard boat wont be any cheaper to fix/maintain in my experience. all boat parts are expensive, and labor rates are tough.

 

[superpop]

Re: Am I out $3000 plus or is there something we can do?

I would not waste my time with Small Claims court, the guy could simply come in and say it was winterized when it left the lot and then you left water in it and that caused the damage. Not worth it for what it will probably cost you to fix. If you are going to buy an older boat, either be prepared to spend a lot on repairs or learn how to work on the boat yourself. Outboards are not any better than an IO when it comes to maint and reliability. They all need regular service and tune ups or they will fail you when you least expect it. Unfortunately boating is an expensive hobby as you are discovering. Once you get it running I would get a complete service done on the motor and drive, that would be a good starting point. Also check bellows and all hoses.

 

[Lrider]

Re: Am I out $3000 plus or is there something we can do?

, also, if we can get this fixed we are going to sell it and we will be buying an outboard, far less costly!!


Also, the marina said the engine ran good (if that means anything??)

Would be nice if you can get your investment out of it, however that might be a problem. You have a significant portion of repairs completed and paid for, you know what is fixed and what works.

Are you really prepared to do this again? I believe that people get rid of their toys when it starts to cost more money to maintain them then to buy a new one. Be sure you will buy someones headache unless you bite the bullet and buy new - of course that can be a whole can of worms in itself

Just MHO

 

[mattb1974]

Re: Am I out $3000 plus or is there something we can do?

I can not believe the amount of people here that are willing to sue someone over a used item sale. If you didnt buy it brand new with a warranty you always risk putting some money or work into it. BUYER BEWARE. You bought it without doing certain checks, etc. The seller did not forcibly remove the cash from your hand. BE RESPONSIBLE, suck it up, you made a mistake, learn from it and move on.

 

[JimKW]

Re: Am I out $3000 plus or is there something we can do?

A boat is a hole in the water that you throw money into. That's a saying I heard several times when I owned an older boat years ago. So far I have been lucky with the one I have now, but eventually they all cost money.

You can try taking the guy to small claims court, but if he started it on muffs and you heard it run before you bought it, you probably won't have much luck in small claims court. Hard to prove he misrepresented the boat. Then what if he had somebody else winterize it and the other guy is the one who screwed up? In that case the guy who sold it to you might not have any idea something was wrong.

Just hang in there, get it running and enjoy yourself. Having fun costs money.

 

[rebars1]

Re: Am I out $3000 plus or is there something we can do?

Quote:"Called the guy we bought it from and he said as far as hes concerned we drove it off his lot its our problem now!!! "

Did you buy it from a dealer? That might make a difference in court.

Sorry to hear about your experience. If you like the boat maybe it's worth fixing. If you had spent $5k on a different boat, it would probably need more $ in initial fixes too. It's hard because you we not planning on spending the extra $$.

Manifolds and risers do rust out after a few years and need to be replaced periodically anyway. If the Marine shop said the engine was running well, maybe that's all it needs for awhile.

When I buy a older used boat, I figure on automatically replacing the manifolds, risers, fluids and water pump just so I have a known starting point on maintainance.

Good Luck, and keep us posted.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Am I out $3000 plus or is there something we can do?

I hate to say it but i must agree...3k is not worth the hassle of going to court.
You will spend more time and effort than what it will cost to fix the boat.

Most all states look at these cases as sold "as is"..

The next boat you buy i am sure it will get a test drive and pay a mechanic for a couple hours of his time to inspect everything.

 

[Stachi]

Re: Am I out $3000 plus or is there something we can do?

I can not believe the amount of people here that are willing to sue someone over a used item sale. If you didnt buy it brand new with a warranty you always risk putting some money or work into it. BUYER BEWARE. You bought it without doing certain checks, etc. The seller did not forcibly remove the cash from your hand. BE RESPONSIBLE, suck it up, you made a mistake, learn from it and move on.

 

[DJ]

Re: Am I out $3000 plus or is there something we can do?

buying a 20 year old boat on a shoestring budget is usually not a good idea as you found out. I would seriously consider doing it yourself if possible, it is not that hard and these guys will walk you thru it.

Very good advice.

It very much concerns me that so many want to go the legal route. The BUYER has a great deal of responsibility here.

We armchair consumer advocates were not there and do not know all that went on. It is very possible that the seller did not know that anything was wrong.

I feel for the buyer, I've been there myself. However, I chalked it up to a learning experience and went on.

 

[Lrider]

Re: Am I out $3000 plus or is there something we can do?

I have read a lot of replies here that scold the buyer - I am sure they are well aware of what they shuolda/coulda/woulda have done if they read this site before they bought.

Hopefully they may have some recourse in court, however, at least where I live, they can not recover time off work and a lot of other BS stuff they will have to do to make the case move forward. additionally, (again here) I believe there is a limit as to how much that can be recovered in small claims something like 5 to 7500.

We should encourage them to bite the bullet, finish fixing the boat, go ahead put it on the market, but to use and enjoy the boat until they sell it, trade it etc.

I wish them all the best

IMHO

 

[Frank Acampora]

Re: Am I out $3000 plus or is there something we can do?

AND----Even if you did go to small claims court, winning is not necessarily going to get you the money. A smart seller will have any number of ploys to avoid paying.

 

[seabob4]

Re: Am I out $3000 plus or is there something we can do?

So the question begs to be asked...Who looked at the boat, heard it run, and OK'd the purchase? Wife or Hubby? Gonna be some fun times at the dinner table for a while...

 

[karatejoe]

Re: Am I out $3000 plus or is there something we can do?

My wife is a paralegal. She said you have no recourse unless...
The seller in writing stated the condition of the engine or you had a witness that heard the seller state the condition of the motor. Or
A bill of sale that has a warranty on it.
Otherwise its buyer be ware. You can go to court and waste your time and money but you will get no where since its a used boat.

 

[Stachi]

Re: Am I out $3000 plus or is there something we can do?

so you will have roughly 4k into it , and have a nice boat?............not bad for buying used......count your blessings....whatever you get will cost you $.....it's a boat....lol

 

[ftl900]

Re: Am I out $3000 plus or is there something we can do?

We did pretty much the same thing a few months ago- not knowing better, we bought a boat in March without putting it in the water. He wanted $2500 and we talked him down to $1800 cash. It sounded really good on the trailer, and we didn't have a clue of other things to ask about, look for, or look out for.

So the family boat we had hoped to put in the water the following week has now been in the water 3 times, and limped back to the trailer twice- towed back the other time... and we still don't have it all figured out yet.

I know I need to replace the raw water pump innards and the outdrive impeller.
I'm sure it would be beneficial to replace the distributor cap, points, and plugs.
But it runs poorly, then runs better, then runs poorly again- and NEVER runs really great like I feel it should. So I'm trying to get a boat-savvy friend to look at it to determine where the power problems are.

My wife is disillusioned, and I'm facing a big learning curve. Probably the biggest challenge for us is the money involved- just having the money for a new impeller kit or to replace the spark plugs is a lot for us right now. And most of all, to prioritize, rather than throwing money and parts at it in a process of elimination.

Then, at the end of this season, I expect to rip the floor out and start rebuilding everything under the floor. The boat is a 1988 and has a few soft spots, so I expect the more we look, the more we'll find there. I've been reading the restoration threads here as much as I can, and learning quickly.

I don't mind doing any of this; but with us like many others, it's a matter of generating the cash to follow through with it to completion. We also have many family obligations, and this hobby is a ways down the priority list (regardless of where I'd LIKE it to be). I'm hoping things have improved financially by September or so when I'd like to begin rebuilding it.

I hate that your purchase was misrepresented to you as it was. I'm not sure what your legal options may be, but for me, I bought our boat used, and it's ours now, so I'll roll with it and do what we can to improve it with sweat equity on a meager budget. I feel like a used boat costs money to maintain, and a new boat costs money to pay off, but at least this way I can put it on hold when we can't afford it.

Best of luck to you and your family, and I hope things work our for you.

 

[kimscrim]

Re: Am I out $3000 plus or is there something we can do?

lol @ Seabob!! That made me laugh, cuz thats exactly whats going on here. Well, i can see paying 4k into and have a nice running boat, but what if the engine is gone! I know its more than 1k for an engine, so that would mean 3k down the tubes of our hard earned money, for nothing but a boat without a motor? How much would a boat with trailer (shoreland'r) w/o running motor sell for?? the marina said the motor runs nice that is until its in the water, so paying 3k for a piece of crap was a huge mistake for us and believe me we have learned a lesson from this....never trust no one no matter how nice they seem!lol

 

[kimscrim]

Re: Am I out $3000 plus or is there something we can do?

@ftl900, wow it sounds like you are almost in the same boat as us! lol. but we did pull out a little loan for this so we will still have to make payments =( I havent heard from the marina, but hopefully tomorrow to see if the engine is toast. Crossing our fingers that it is just the manifold thats cracked and not the block. =(

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Am I out $3000 plus or is there something we can do?

Well the sky has not fallen yet. You are about to what if yourself to death.

3.0 liter motors are plentiful if you ever have to go that route. We have guided many many people through repairs here.

Let's see what the next step is.

 

[BTMCB]

Re: Am I out $3000 plus or is there something we can do?

lol @ Seabob!! That made me laugh, cuz thats exactly whats going on here. Well, i can see paying 4k into and have a nice running boat, but what if the engine is gone! I know its more than 1k for an engine, so that would mean 3k down the tubes of our hard earned money, for nothing but a boat without a motor? How much would a boat with trailer (shoreland'r) w/o running motor sell for?? the marina said the motor runs nice that is until its in the water, so paying 3k for a piece of crap was a huge mistake for us and believe me we have learned a lesson from this....never trust no one no matter how nice they seem!lol

If you want to try selling ......do you have any in-laws looking for a boat??!!

Sorry, couldn't resist and wanted to lighten the mood. With all due respect to my fellow IBoaters, the type of advice you are seeking should be directed to an attorney - who will no doubt review the Purchase Agreement and advise you accordingly. Good luck and I hope it all works out for you and your family and you will enjoy the world of boating when you get on the water!!

 

[kimscrim]

Re: Am I out $3000 plus or is there something we can do?

@MattB1974 & Stachi, no its not that i want to sue him, its that i just want to be able to put my boat in the water and drive it. You would think for 3k u should be able to do that. He did say it was well maintained and winterized every year! I do have witnesses but they are my sister and her fiance'. Its sad that this world has came to total dishonesty between people and for the few of us left out there that are totally honest, we are the ones that pay for it.