Love my new, to me, boat. Oh yeah.

[Lager]

BOAT= Bust Out Another Thousand.
Ya just gotta love buying another used boat.
Back story, Im from Florida. Boating capitol of the world. Almost every household owns one.From fresh water on the St,Johns to the Salt. Every day is an adventure.
Then I moved to NC and brought it with me. Since I live inland, I splash it into one of our many lakes, ride in a big circle. Well, that wasnt much fun. Two years later, sell the boat.
10 years goes by, Wifey decides she wants another boat. You know, so we can take the grandkids skiing, tubing and fishing.
I finally give in and decide to buy a boat. I want a high powered bass boat, she tells me no. No room for the kids.
She wants a pontoon, I hate pontoons. Nothing but barges, Im NOT buying one of them.
I compromise and buy a 18 ft bowrider,4 cyl I/O, bimini top with a trolling motor already attached to the front. Shes got her top, Ive got my trolling motor.
Since Im cheap by nature cause I have to be,I buy a 1990 for $2500.
Come to find out, what you could buy for $2500 15 years ago, does not compare in todays $'s.
What looked ok at the sellers yard during the rain storm, didnt look the same when I dragged it home and spent hours inspecting it in my yard.
I might be really picky about mechanical things since Ive been an auto mechanic for the past 35 years and understand that I cant just get out of a boat and walk home if it breaks down, but some folks idea about needing nothing and water ready differs from mine. Now, Im looking at a total referb of the wiring, trailer beds shot, bearings havent been greased in years and need replacing.Owner tells me, to change oil? Just pull the plug and drain into your bilge area, then drive it around till it quits dripping.The bilge area is nasty, good Lord watta mess.
Im hoping the Grand kids and the Wifey will be happy when I finally splash this hunk into the water.
Hope it floats ! LOL
See first sentence above and repeat as necessary.

 

[SigSaurP229]

Re: Love my new, to me, boat. Oh yeah.

With the lack of trailer maintenance and sloppy oil changes I wouldn't move one single inch forward until you go over every single square inch of that boat looking for rot.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Love my new, to me, boat. Oh yeah.

You aint seen nothing yet!

If you want a real kick in the junk, remove your decking and check out what lurking in between the hull and deck bottom. Saturated floatation foam, rotten stringers, idiot Band-Aid fixes, and maybe even a rotten transom. You should feel obligated to check all of these things if you're going to have grandchildren aboard your boat.

$2500 doesn't hardly buy diddly-squat of a boat nowadays... unless you don't mind riding around on the water in a rotten POS.

 

[tazrig]

Re: Love my new, to me, boat. Oh yeah.

:welcome: Lager. I hate to jump on the pile but I have to agree with everyone on the thread you should go over this boat with a fine toothed comb. Especially for rot. (strictly for safety reasons)

 

[greenbush future]

Re: Love my new, to me, boat. Oh yeah.

Welcome to iboats, the place to go when things need fixing. with a 24 year old boat, you are gonna need to go over your boat with a fine tooth comb, to make her safe and reliable, sounds like you have some projects in your future, lets hope they are not too big and not too costly.
Now that you own it, it may make sense to make your "fix it" list to assess everything it will take to make it safe. B.O.A.T. really will apply based on what you have mentioned, but you wont know till you inspect every inch, cost out what needs to be fixed or replaced. Don't get caught up in spending anything, till you add it all up, you could easily spend another $2500.00 and not be finished. Then again, maybe it's better than you think, but most 24 year old boats have issues, they start deep inside, and work their way up and out. how's the floors, transom and stringers look for rot?

 

[Lager]

Re: Love my new, to me, boat. Oh yeah.

Lots of good responses, Thank you very much. Im hoping everyone took my posting in a humorous way that I was trying to portray.
I still look at this boat out in the yard all covered up and have to laugh at my self wondering why I did this to my self?
Structurally, it seems pretty sound. No signs of rot in the stringers I can get to.Floor is good and the transom appears sturdy. A few test drills come up with dry wood, so I think Im good so far.
The engine runs well and the transmission seems to work ok. The outdrive is free of any bad bearing noises but when I asked the second owner of the boat when he last changed the out drive oil? Got a blank look so who knows if I have any water intrusion from the seals.
Its the little things some boat owners just seem to live with that just drive me crazy.
Like switches, I expect to hit the light switch and have the running lights come on. I dont want to have to hold the switch just right or wiggle it.
Bilge pump, does not work with the switch. Come to find out, its only wired to run automatically by its internal float switch.
The fuse holder is bad, the manual switch is bad, why do people do things like this?
Batteries, yeah its got 2. They might start the boat and run the trolling motor, but barely. Needs two new batteries and the original owner thought they were just fine.
The original intent of this post was not to talk bad about cheap boats, but was to bring up bad boat owners and what they thought was perfectly ok to entrust their and their loved ones lives to and what it takes to bring a boat up to "code" since I cant come up with a better word.
Your experiences and results might vary then mine.

 

[Lager]

Re: Love my new, to me, boat. Oh yeah.

Bubba1235, yes I have to be frugal.
Last year my daughter passed away leaving me and my Wife with a 10 year old girl and a 6 and a 5 year old boy to raise.Since they are biracial they havent been exposed to the water world. The purchase of the boat just might expand their world a little bit and give them a little bit different experience then they were used to living in the hood.
If they take to the water world and its sports this year, I can always sell off this one and by something better next year.
Maybe, costs a lot to raise kids, especially since Im getting old and my pay gets lower and lower every year. LOL. I might be stuck with this ghetto boat for a while if they like it.

 

[SigSaurP229]

Re: Love my new, to me, boat. Oh yeah.

Well you are right the only way to know about water intrusion is to do what is maintenance is required anyway. You spent $2500 for a decently solid boat not rotten ( according to your core samples), but is behind in maintenance. No big deal spend another $600 to do the maintenance and you should be good to go.

I have definetly seen some people that have no clue. I watched two high rev neutral drops on dry land this year and two lower units trashed. Some owners don't know, what they are doing and the only way to learn is from experience, hey I've been there and done that. We all have to learn someway, as far as batteries are concerned I would charge em full then take em to Autozone and have them load tested if they pass then they are good to go like the po said.

 

[Lager]

Re: Love my new, to me, boat. Oh yeah.

Sig Thanks for the kind words. Im actually in pretty good shape here as far as $2500 boats go. Ive just got a lot of work to do and nickle and dime it till its ok.The batteries are OK I guess, just not good enough for me. I already tested them using my work test equipment.
But, you know what? You buy a $20K boat, its going to need work also. Its just our personal decision on whats needed or just good enough,just like our cars we drive every day.

 

[redneck joe]

Re: Love my new, to me, boat. Oh yeah.

......But, you know what? You buy a $20K boat, its going to need work also......

that is why i don't. I did once, never again and too many people I know do. Thankfully for us they do.

by the time I'm all in with the Carver, i'll have about $12k including trailer. And it will essestially be new.