Re: Buying on eBay
I've bought two boats on ebay. Learned a lot in the process.
The first was a Glasspar G3 with a 35HP Mercury outboard. I asked every question I could think of at the time--are there soft spots in the floor, any parts missing, etc. Every answer I got was just on the correct side of true, without revealing the actual nature of the boat. Turned out it was wrecked. The lower unit was so corroded that it was completely useless. It worked, but it had bad seals and there was no way to get the old ones out. The power head ran, but was useless without the lower unit. Floor was solid, but under that solid floor was rotted stringers. Transom was solid, but only because someone had bolted an aluminum plate over it. In short, I got hosed. Moral--don't buy it because it looks cool thinking you'll be able to deal with it. I did eventually get it on the water, but it took a lot of fiberglass, a new transom, a new outboard, and an awful lot of labor.
The second was my current boat, a Glassply Donzi replica. This one was honestly listed, I communicated back and forth with the seller extensively, he offered to run it for me at pickup, and everything was very cool. Got it home and found out that Puget Sound hadn't been kind to the trailer and the cross-beams were rusted almost completely through in a place only visible with the boat off of the trailer. The seller refunded me most of the cost of a replacement trailer. Moral--find out everything you can about the boat you're bidding on, communicate with the seller, and when you pick it up, verify that it matches the description.
