Is this a good deal from Marine Max?

[glocklt4]

I found a 2001 Sea Ray 210 select for $18k. Has 38 hours on it. It's a "broker" boat.

1) Is this TOO LITTLE usage for a 7 year old boat? (ie mechanical problems from sitting too much?)
2) Is there anything I need to be aware of with the 2001 210 Select's?
3) Is this a good deal?
4) Can MarineMax be trusted to check this boat out without having to hire someone else to come look at it?

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Is this a good deal from Marine Max?

as far as a used boat i do my own checking. i do not take a dealers word. sorry dealers.

 

[glocklt4]

Re: Is this a good deal from Marine Max?

as far as a used boat i do my own checking. i do not take a dealers word. sorry dealers.

So if it is a used Broker boat through a dealer, who do you have check it out then?

 

[bhammer]

Re: Is this a good deal from Marine Max?

So if it is a used Broker boat through a dealer, who do you have check it out then?

Aw, you do it yourself or hire someone, such as a surveyor to look at it for you. If they are a good dealer/broker, they will expect it.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Is this a good deal from Marine Max?

A seven year old boat with 38 hours amounts to a little over five hours of run time per year. The average boater runs about 50 hours a year. Think about the situation with the dealer. He wants to sell the boat to get his commission. Don't you think he will tell you whatever it takes to sell the boat. The very least you need to do is have an on-water test run. Take very careful notes (on paper) of the oil pressure at idle, cruise, wide open throttle, and back at idle after a long run. Do the same for water temperature. Make sure the charging system is ok by looking at the voltmeter which should register between 13.5 and 14.5 volts at anything over 1500 rpm. Check the oil level before the engine is started. Check it after the run to make sure it is not milky colored which is a sign of water intrusion. Check ease of starting both hot and cold. Insist on a compression test "while you watch". If they add anything through a spark plug hole during the test, grab your wallet and run. Except for the compression test, all of the things I mentioned can be observed on a test run. Insist on a new battery unless they can prove it has been recently replaced. A seven year old battery is going to be junk even if it did start the engine. Check inside and outside the boat for obvious damage. Repaired areas should be visible. After the test run check the bilge for water. Make sure all blowers and pumps work. That's the easy stuff. There are electrical and mechanical issues that the novice can't detect which is why an independent surveyor was suggested. He is working for you so he is not biased toward the dealer.

 

[glocklt4]

Re: Is this a good deal from Marine Max?

A seven year old boat with 38 hours amounts to a little over five hours of run time per year. The average boater runs about 50 hours a year. Think about the situation with the dealer. He wants to sell the boat to get his commission. Don't you think he will tell you whatever it takes to sell the boat. The very least you need to do is have an on-water test run. Take very careful notes (on paper) of the oil pressure at idle, cruise, wide open throttle, and back at idle after a long run. Do the same for water temperature. Make sure the charging system is ok by looking at the voltmeter which should register between 13.5 and 14.5 volts at anything over 1500 rpm. Check the oil level before the engine is started. Check it after the run to make sure it is not milky colored which is a sign of water intrusion. Check ease of starting both hot and cold. Insist on a compression test "while you watch". If they add anything through a spark plug hole during the test, grab your wallet and run. Except for the compression test, all of the things I mentioned can be observed on a test run. Insist on a new battery unless they can prove it has been recently replaced. A seven year old battery is going to be junk even if it did start the engine. Check inside and outside the boat for obvious damage. Repaired areas should be visible. After the test run check the bilge for water. Make sure all blowers and pumps work. That's the easy stuff. There are electrical and mechanical issues that the novice can't detect which is why an independent surveyor was suggested. He is working for you so he is not biased toward the dealer.

Awesome!! Thanks for the reply, that really helps for what I need to look out. I'll print this out to take with me and do for sure.

After looking at pictures that I finally got, I decided to pass on this boat from above. It just looked like an older boat to me because of the design. I like a 2005 with 80 hours i've been looking at a lot more, althought it's $25k... so a lot more costly. But it just looks a lot nicer. Lots of others to look at around here too.

So... where do I find an independent surveyor? I have no idea.

 

[EricR]

Re: Is this a good deal from Marine Max?

Look in the yellow pages under "marine" and if you are in a coastal area, you should find a marine surveyor. Now call around, some of them only do steel/commercial,and some only pleasure.

I can tell you that as a marine diesel tech for more than a few years, I see more problems with low hour pleasure boats than say a charter boat used every day. The marine environment is very humid, and marine engines in pleasure boats generally have an exhast system below or at the waterline. This acts like a chimmney (sp?) to duct nice, moist, in some cases SALT laden air right into any cylinder with an open exhaust valve. Yuck. I have in frame overhauled a lot of diesels with less than 1000, hell, 500 hours on them in boats TEN YEARS OLD due to high metals in the oil, rusted pitted cylinder liners etc.

I swear, some people buy that sixty five footer so they can park it at the yacht club and say LOOK AT ME and drink cocktails on it!

Usually what happens with the boats 40' and up I work on is they hire a general hull/boat surveyor, and hire a dealer for the particular engine line to do an engine survey. In the diesel world, this means a visual inspection, a sea trial with diagnostic equipment,and oil samples when hot. Now if someone wants a compression or leak down test, that's a whole 'nother day. Diesels are not as easy as pulling a spark plug to do compression or leakdown, lots of them if unit injected require removing a lot of components and basically a tune up when reinstalling them (unit injected engines with rocker are actuated injectors)

Plus most of the stuff I do has twin engines, marine gears, and one or two generators.

I hate doing them. Why you ask? Usually, a whiny seller is hanging over my shoulder, who thinks the boat is pristine and asking "What are you writing down? " and over the other shoulder is a broker, now brokers are right there with the single cell ameoba on the evolutionary chain, and this broker wants his commission so he does not want me to speak the truth about that rusted out oil pan or hoses as dry rotted as an old tire on there. Then there is the prospective buyer, who wants me to find EVERYTHING wrong so he can beat them down on the price.......

 

[glocklt4]

Re: Is this a good deal from Marine Max?

yeah, that does sound like a hassle... I found another one in Houston that I'm looking at, so surely there are some good marine surveyors down there.

So for this case, I don't want to drive all the way down to Houston without knowing that I'm going down to buy it.

How much should a surveyor cost on a boat like this?

 

[jaywiz]

Re: Is this a good deal from Marine Max?

GLOCKwhere are you from?