Any experience with this??

[mj05]

Does anyone have experience with buying boats from Charity Auction houses? Specifically the ones on E-bay?? They seem to have good ratings and many if not all go with no reserve!! Tell me what you think especially if you've done it!! Thanks, Mike

 

[Fireman431]

Re: Any experience with this??

The only thing that I've noticed is that there are no sea trials before you buy and none of the boats seem to come with a trailer.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Any experience with this??

Ayuh,... Generally speakin',.. You're buying a pig in a poke...
Most, if not all of the stuff offered has Problems...
That's why folks give 'em to the charity....

That said,... It's a decent place to find a Project....

 

[nofuss]

Re: Any experience with this??

I was doing quite a bit of reserch on them when I was considering buying a boat a few years ago. what i will tell you is that what u see is what u get and bid expecting nothing to be working. I was able to chat with one of the guys working where one was being held and he was able to tell me that it came in runing but they had no details. but at the price some of them sell for if you like doing major over haul projects like i do, some of them would be an ok buy. if I lived in the USA I would have bought one just for the joy of the project. but expect to have to do major work. try to get all the extra pics and trust your gut. if it looks like it is in a really bad way, it is. if not then there is a chance that it may not be. all require a small downpayment, and if u make that and its really worse than you expected when u go to check it out. consider the down payment as a donation to charity, and leave the boat there as a donation. the guy i spoke to said that this has been done before and they did not give the person bad feedback or anything as their ebay cost was covered. but I was also able to contact the buyer of one that i was biding on, and he was able to tell me that I should have bidded higher as the boat was in better condition than even he expected. it was donated by a widow who just wanted to get rid of the marina charge. so do your research and dont expect it to be working and u are on the right track.
if u get a deal then u are lucky if not u expected it not to work.

No Fuss

 

[jonesg]

Re: Any experience with this??

Project boats.

 

[vintageglass]

Re: Any experience with this??

Most people seem to only donate boats that they can't get rid of otherwise. If you donate it, they haul it away by a promised deadline regardless of whether it sells or not. Be aware that most charge a hundred or more dollar fee on top of the sale price. I've known a few guys that donated a few really rough boats just because they didn't feel like paying the fees to take them to the dump or cut them up.

You can donate just about anything, title or not.

I'd say finding a boat in even usable condition would be pretty rare. I'd count on it being a major project in most cases, needing the most costly of repairs.
A neighbor bought one like that a few years ago, when he went to get it, it looked almost nothing like the picture. The picture was provided by the person donating the boat, not the seller or charity. The pic was probably 20 years old. The boat in the pic was intact, with seats, trailer, tires, etc. What he found was a trailer with one dry rotted tire, the other rotted off the rim, the boat's seats were all but dissolved into the muck and slop that was once the floor. The boat was full of water , sagging over the trailer rollers, and the motor was stripped of it's lower unit and most bolt on parts, plus it was seized up, and had been left to sit for many years with the spark plugs out.
He took the boat for what ever reason, afraid to get a negative feedback back then but I'd have walked away after seeing it's condition. It's still sitting in his yard now under a tarp, I don't see much chance of it ever being brought back to life. The trailer is a rusty painted bunk trailer with small wheels, the boat needs everything, plus major hull repairs.

Unless your close enough to the boat and can go look at it at get an idea of it's real condition, run, don't walk from that sale.

 

[mj05]

Re: Any experience with this??

Seems like a good assessment. (all the replies)

 

[roscoe]

Re: Any experience with this??

Rawhide does have some decent boats, but their starting bid is usually too high. Some of their $3000-$5000 boats would have been a good deal a couple years ago. Some are pretty decent, and almost water ready. Most are not.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/18-S...6389297QQptZPowerQ5fMotorboats#ht_4644wt_1167

Boatangel seems to be sell mostly junkyard rejects..
Have bid on an won 2 of their auctions.
Boat 1 was bought for the trailer only, was gong to junk the hull. Was not as described, total junk, left it sit and got a full refund as is their policy.

Boat 2 was a decent little boat which was listed as being located just 40 miles from me. Won the auction, but was notified the boat was located 250 miles away at the donors cottage, it could only be picked up on a Saturday 4 weeks down the line. Had to argue with boatangel about the location and pickup restrictions. I was to be in Syracuse that weekend for my mother-in-law's burial service. Told them to go fly a kite.

Innercity, just south of the Wisconsin state line seems to sell junkyard bound boats too.

 

[mj05]

Re: Any experience with this??

Rawhide does have some decent boats, but their starting bid is usually too high. Some of their $3000-$5000 boats would have been a good deal a couple years ago. Some are pretty decent, and almost water ready. Most are not.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/18-S...6389297QQptZPowerQ5fMotorboats#ht_4644wt_1167

Boatangel seems to be sell mostly junkyard rejects..
Have bid on an won 2 of their auctions.
Boat 1 was bought for the trailer only, was gong to junk the hull. Was not as described, total junk, left it sit and got a full refund as is their policy.

Boat 2 was a decent little boat which was listed as being located just 40 miles from me. Won the auction, but was notified the boat was located 250 miles away at the donors cottage, it could only be picked up on a Saturday 4 weeks down the line. Had to argue with boatangel about the location and pickup restrictions. I was to be in Syracuse that weekend for my mother-in-law's burial service. Told them to go fly a kite.

Innercity, just south of the Wisconsin state line seems to sell junkyard bound boats too.

Man that's too bad!! Could've been a fun way to buy boats!

 

[jonesg]

Re: Any experience with this??

Man that's too bad!! Could've been a fun way to buy boats!

Use craigslist, buy local when possible.

 

[mj05]

Re: Any experience with this??

Use craigslist, buy local when possible.

You're right... lots of seemingly good deals! I just can't wait to get a boat!! Picking up my future tow vehicle tomorrow!

 

[Sixmark]

Re: Any experience with this??

Project boats.

Hey I thought all of our boats were project boats, unless that is, we just picked up a new one from the dealer......

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Any experience with this??

I won an auction a few years ago from a charity seller. The boat was still at the person's house that donated the boat. They gave me a very narrow window in which to pickup the boat, nothing of which was mentioned in the ad, and the boat was advertised as having a new trailer, good hull, and possibly a bad motor. It was 200 miles away.
When I got there, I got an ear full from the owner about his being in a hurry, he kept on about me wasting his time, then the trailer was missing. The boat was sitting on the grass in the guys back yard, which was far too muddy to drive on, and he made it very clear that no one was to drive beyond the driveway. The boat was 500' down into the muddy yard. When I asked about the trailer, he said he sold it. The boat motor which was pictured at being a late 60's Evinrude 55hp, was gone, and a rather well corroded late 50's 50hp V4 was dumped into the boat in pieces. The guy said he had donated the boat a year prior, so apparently they had been listing it for a while before I won it.
Not having a trailer to haul the boat, and the trailer being my main concern, I left. A few emails to the charity seller got an instant refund, but I was still out the day's drive and gas.
A week later the boat was relisted again using the same pics and description.

The only thing I did gain from the whole experience is that you can donate just about anything to those sellers, the problem is that they seem to leave it sit in your yard while they try to sell it or find it a new home.
Being someone that strips a dozen or more boats per year, their deal is just not an option as I can't have the last boat still sitting around when I cut up another one. My neighbors would lynch me if I let the last boat sit here while I worked on the next. I did five last month. If I donated them to one of those sellers, I'd still have five junk boats here.
From what I've seen, not many of the boats they list are worth much at all. Most are pretty rough and neglected boats that the original owners just couldn't sell.