I got one!

[dalman]

so after a pretty long search and some near misses I agreed to a deal last night on a 98 larson 176 sei w/4.3. I am pretty excited and can' t wait to pick it up..too bad all the water around here has ice all over it!

The guy I dealt with was pretty cool...I agreed to buy it after seeing photos and speaking to him about the boat. I am aware of the dangers of buying something site unseen but we agreed to have the local mechanic who winterized the boat present when I get it and have a walk through/inspection with me there...and i do have the option to walk.

Now I just have to sort out the details of bringing the boat back across the border into Canada.

Cheers all
Peter...dreaming of boating this summer!

 

[thefairlaneman]

Re: I got one!

I dont know how much money is envolved but you need to hear it run and get some sort of WRITTEN garantee if you cant test drive the boat.Why not? I just bought an engine the guy had 600 bucks worth of recent repair bills for and said it ran well. I took his word and as soon as I pulled the cover and started checking I found one spark plug stripped out and just stuck in the hole and the new thermostat he said was just put in was missing and the generator has the main wire pulled out of it. My 300 doller bargin may be next to worthless. Its your money.

 

[ziggy]

Re: I got one!

sounds like a a nice boat dalman.
i did roughly as your doing with a few exceptions.
i made no deal over the phone with anyone to buy. though i'd think the dealer thought i was prepared to buy after driveing 550 miles to look, and i was. but i was also willing to walk too. it just came down to i had to see it and run it prior to my decision....
mine was a consignment sale so the boat was already at a dealer. after questioning both the dealer and the owner. compression tests, drive pressure tests were done prior to me gettin there. though i was skeptical about the results as it's easy to say anything over the phone.
where i differer is the test drive.... not only was it test driven but after the run, compression tests and drive pressure tests were done again with me present. only after my test run and those items were confirmed was a ready to make the leap.... i don't know what yer gonna do for a test drive with frozen lakes...... a real delemma i'm sure....

 

[Bigprairie1]

Re: I got one!

Congratulations...so far Dalman.
You are doing all the right things. Make sure you are prepared to walk if it's not all its supposed to be. What are the odds of taking a compression tester with you and taking a few minutes with the mechanic to do a compression test....heck offer an extra $50 for the time to get this piece of mind...it would be worth it. The owner should have no problems with this....if he does....get suspicious.
Check out the floors. Take a look at his general house set up and where/how he stored it. Is he a messy guy? Is his house neat or is he another 'back yarder'. These people tend to be great 'corner cutters' on just about everything in their lives. This is not always a good thing if you are buying something from them.
The border part will be easy just make sure you have a title for the boat AND the trailer. No photo copies!!! I think the border only accepts originals. (PM 'Oops' on this....he recently brought a boat back from Vegas).
Be excited, but be diligent and thorough. If you are, the odds of this being successful are relatively high. (...but I would do a compression test!!).
Good Luck & Congrats!!! (if it all turns out as it should...post a photo)
BP

 

[rndn]

Re: I got one!

Make sure you're upfront with customs about the purchase price. A very long story of a guy from Canada bought a boat from my brother and lied about the price to save taxes. He ended up paying all of the taxes due along with an additional $800 fine. Customs found email in this guys truck where my brother had stated he would not take less than X dollars for it. From what I understand the guy also spent several hours at the border. Congrats on the boat by the way.

 

[PhatboyC]

Re: I got one!

Congrats! I know the feeling of waiting all winter before you can ride your new boat for the first time. I'm in that position right now!