Discouraged, and Overwhelmed newbie:

[watermellonI]

Re: Discouraged, and Overwhelmed newbie:

The ONE thing you always want in a boat is SIZE
fix it and go after the guy tooth and nail, no matter what size boat you get you always want somethin a little bigger!

there I said it ... size matters..

 

[Uraijit]

Re: Discouraged, and Overwhelmed newbie:

There's the 3rd option of gettin' your hands dirty, and grabbing an engine out of a salvage yard, "marinating" it (get it? "Marinate"? ) and swapping it over. Or you could "marinate" the engine, and then pay somebody else to install it. At any rate a little sweat equity goes a long way.

 

[Lou C]

Re: Discouraged, and Overwhelmed newbie:

Before you do anything, and spend any money, make sure that the STRUCTURE of the boat is solid, wood+glass you can have rot in the decks, stringers and transom. And I'd take replacing an engine, to doing a deck/stringers any day. I had the opposite on my FW, the engine and drive were fine, deck rotted and stringers were bad in spots too...that job took way longer than replacing an engine. But now it's fine, and I'm going to run it as long as I can.
for 4 grand, you will have a hard time finding anything with life still left in it, unless you are really lucky (boat stored inside maintained). Here most bow riders in that price range, have been left in the driveway with a tarp on them...if lucky, but most will have rot somewhere. I for one, will not buy another boat unless it is either a late model, or very well maintained higher level boat, that will hold its value. No more glass work for me!

 

[magster65]

Re: Discouraged, and Overwhelmed newbie:

Before you do anything, and spend any money, make sure that the STRUCTURE of the boat is solid, wood+glass you can have rot in the decks, stringers and transom. And I'd take replacing an engine, to doing a deck/stringers any day. I had the opposite on my FW, the engine and drive were fine, deck rotted and stringers were bad in spots too...that job took way longer than replacing an engine. But now it's fine, and I'm going to run it as long as I can.
for 4 grand, you will have a hard time finding anything with life still left in it, unless you are really lucky (boat stored inside maintained). Here most bow riders in that price range, have been left in the driveway with a tarp on them...if lucky, but most will have rot somewhere. I for one, will not buy another boat unless it is either a late model, or very well maintained higher level boat, that will hold its value. No more glass work for me!

Lou has a good point there... the boats structure is more important. You don't want to get into repairing a bunch of rotted wood. Engine replacements are quite common in the marine world so don't fret too much. You've noticed the engine compartment is a bit tight (like most boats) so the engines are made to remove fairly easily for maintenance. I think, even though you're a newbie, with a bit of common sense, you could have the drive off and engine ready to pull in a couple hours. Post any questions you have along the way and we'll help you through it.

 

[azlakes]

Re: Discouraged, and Overwhelmed newbie:

... call that pos and tell him he put you and family in harms way. see if he'll cough up part off the repair bills. also echo Luo C's comments, if your gunna expend money and energy on an older BR might wanna make a list of pro's and con's. sorry to hear about your troubles.

 

[mcleaves]

Re: Discouraged, and Overwhelmed newbie:

I don't know guys.. I see this situation a little differently with respect to whether he got screwed. To me the boat was priced with a busted engine. As I said in another post, every boat model has an intrinsic value to be in good running condition. If you steal it you are going to end up putting the money into it to make with worth the intrinsic value, because it's usually priced accordingly. That boat in good running condition (newer power) is probably worth 6-8k (I admit I didn't look it up though).

You can either buy cheap now and end up putting that money in later or you can buy it all done. IMO you are gonna pay the same amount one way or another for any given model to be a sound running machine.

Should the guy have disclosed the poblems yeah, of course, but you can't look at these cheap boats sitting on the side of the road and expect them to be cherries. That is just a pipe dream. We've all been there, done that. If you confront him about the JB weld my guess is he'll say it must have been there when HE bought the boat. He didn't know about it

As for whether you should get a bowrider for the money you are gonna spend. What makes you think the power in any bowrider for 4k is gonna be in better shape?

Sounds like you want to buy the cheapest boat possible and expect it to be turnkey. It' just ain't gonna happen.

You have this boat in hand. If the rest of it checks out (and I mean the drive and hull need to be good), then put the money into THIS boat and you will have brand new power you can rely on and take care of from day 1.

Just my .02

M

 

[G1K]

Re: Discouraged, and Overwhelmed newbie:

Ask PO if he knew about the JB weld. If yes, then ask why it was not disclosed. If he says no, ask him if he would mind submitting you a fingerprint sample. Imply there a fingerprint preserved in the jb weld (the putty kind will retain fingerprints, probably not the 2part liquid kind). Watch his reaction.

Ryan

 

[dcg9381]

Re: Discouraged, and Overwhelmed newbie:

Perhaps I missed the part about being sold with a known bad motor - if that's the case, then absolutely I see no recourse and wouldn't have an issue with the seller.

If sold as "runs great" - "no known problems" - I seriously thing the seller is culpable here as someone obviously made a major repair.

I'll refer you to this thread - where a seller sold a boat in working condition, demo'd it, sold it "as-is" and still was found liable for an engine failure that occurred within days of the sale. (I don't agree with the ruling, btw):
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=207127

Sellers - disclose - be ethical.

My advice is the same as the advice above me - have the boat checked out - if solid - hull, stringers, wood, outdrive, then I'd probably spend the $4-$5k and have the motor replaced. If you're mechanically inclined, have the tools, and the space, you could do the install yourself - you'd know that boat better than you'd even want to know it! Alternately, have a shop do it that will stand behind their work (as well as the engine replacement).

 

[worldmac1]

Re: Discouraged, and Overwhelmed newbie:

Yeah....The guy was the only owner, and he said everything from the engine to the head worked perfect. His reason for getting rid of it was that he just bought a huge sailboat and needed to move this Searay out of the way. I mean this boat was really CLEAN! No mold or mildew, and the engine oil and bilge area looked good. Regardless of whether I got screwed or not, I have to make something out of this mess. I look at it as a learning experience, a very expensive one, but one I can definitely learn from.:redface:

I'm thinking that if I spend the money and have everything fixed it will be well worth it. I already have 1400 in the outdrive, so another 4 to 4500 in a new engine and repairs would mean peace of mind I guess. The structure checks out...no soft spots or leaks. I'm having my guy check things out one more time just to make sure.

I appreciate you guys feedback and honesty...I hope to have things thought through fully soon and getting out there on the lake with you guys this spring.

Have a goodern..