Purchasing used boat - what to look for?

[m3gumby]

Good afternoon!

I am looking to purchase my first boat this coming weekend, I found a 1992 Wellcraft 215 Eclipse XL for sale for a good price - $3500. He's said he's rebuilt the engine 30 hours ago, and from the pictures he's sent me it looks like it's in good condition, but in need of a good clean up. Is there anything specific with these boats I need to be privy to before pulling the trigger or anything I should look out for other than transom/stringer rot? I'm not sure of the exact hours on the boat, but does that seem like a fair price for a 92?

 

[jbcurt00]

This is a good start:
For New Members Needing help buying a boat. A Buyer's Checklist.

 

[gm280]

m3gumby, first let me welcome you to iboats :welcome: we like having new boaters join us...

I would be really surprised IF that old of a boat doesn't already have some transom rot and stringer rot as well. Water and age seem to work on boats very badly. Use the above posted checklist as your guide. If the original owner has never replaced any of those things, and it wasn't totally garaged for its life time, that will be an issues for certain. So make sure YOU check those things for yourself. Don't take a simple "everything is great" answer to your questions. Remember that person is trying to sell you his boat and/or problems. So basically anything should be taken at face valve until YOU verify it... Same with the engine and trailer questions. Take a very good long look before settling on a price. Point out everything YOU see questionable so he knows you are not a push over. The price could change as well...

 

[m3gumby]

I've worked in the auto-industry and have a very good grasp from an automotive side, but marine is a completely new world to me. I doubt it's been garaged its entire life and is currently uncovered in Florida so it's been suspect to rain/elements that be. I know to keep my emotions out of it but what is the best way to check for rot?

 

[gm280]

I've worked in the auto-industry and have a very good grasp from an automotive side, but marine is a completely new world to me. I doubt it's been garaged its entire life and is currently uncovered in Florida so it's been suspect to rain/elements that be. I know to keep my emotions out of it but what is the best way to check for rot?

Try tapping on the transom as many places as you can. Especially towards the bottom where it meets the hull floor. Water rot usually starts in the lower areas and works its way up. Also walk all over the floor and push with your foot in even the out-of-the-way places. If any of them seem even a little questionable, you have rot for certain. Floor rot can go undetected easily and maybe only one areas seems suspect. But that usually means the floor and usually the stringers are gone too... The best way is to actually drill small holes in the transom and floor to see if good clean wood shaving comes out. But I'm not so sure the owner will go for that. If you could drill a few inspection holes and wet dark wood was seen, that transom or floor is toast. Not trying to talk you out of anything. But just posting what so many others have found out over the years with their purchases. Let us know if you do purchase it and how it worked out...

 

[m3gumby]

One other question I was curious with buying Boats - do you guys recommend doing an on water 'test drive' or does hooking up a hose usually suffice?

 

[jbcurt00]

Sometimes the best you can do is get an overall feeling of how the boat looks, how it was really maintained (not just cleaned up for sale), how the trailer and set up look.

When was the last time it was stickered, registered and used (trailer too). What impression do you get from the seller? Skivvy used car salesman? What's the rest of the yard, house, garage look like?

Then ask yourself if the motor needs 3times the work I think, the boat needs almost a complete gut and redo (which will also cost 2-3times what I think it will), and the trailer needs attention, is the asking price what I'm willing to pay.

If it's in Florida, can it be float tested? A rebuilt motor w/ 30hrs on it should be able to be fired up, and given a cruise around the ramp area (engaged into forward and reverse), at a minimum.

What's the seller's reaction when you ask for either of those 2 ^^^ conditions of sale? That might tell me all I'd need to know to walk away, possibly at a brisk pace

 

[dwco5051]

Test drive and try to bring along a friend who really knows boats.

As far as pricing goes condition is everything. Would you even consider a 1992 Jeep at any price with frame rust?

 

[Scott Danforth]

Most boats I have witnessed sitting in the florida sun uncovered have the upholstery eaten by the sun. in half the cases the bilge plug is still in, there is 18" of standing water with all sorts of insects and mosquito larvae.

the other flip side is the boat with the leaky blue tarp held on with bungee chords and the black/green/gray fuzzy mildew on everything underneath.

Make sure you have the boat inspected.

 

[Robbabob]

One other question I was curious with buying Boats - do you guys recommend doing an on water 'test drive' or does hooking up a hose usually suffice?

Test drive is always preferred. During the test drive, feel if the boat lists to one side with a balanced load. See if it planes easily or if it struggles. Write down the RPM at Wide Open Throttle (properly trimmed out). If you tell us the engine and prop before your sea trial, we can give you what the RPM should be. Assuming the trim of the out-drive works.

Besides the checklist provided in link above, check any and all lighting that may be in the gunwales and/or under the dash and in the Cuddy Cabin.

This is an exciting time. Do NOT rush yourself into a purchase. In my opinion, $3,500 is a good price if everything checks out, but it may be too good to be true if anything fails. Before you go, ask about everything working, what isn't working and why isn't it fixed. We can help you determine the cost to fix what isn't working.

Good luck!

 

[frantically relaxing]

One other question I was curious with buying Boats - do you guys recommend doing an on water 'test drive' or does hooking up a hose usually suffice?

Back in 1981 my little 2 year old 17' Galaxy 4-banger was proving a bit gutless for the skiing we were doing. I found a '77 Kona mini cruiser for sale, 460 Ford/Berkeley jet (sorry about the crappy pic, it's all I have!)

The guy was willing to take my Galaxy in straight across. It was parked in a garage. Being a jet, a no-water test fire for 10 seconds wouldn't hurt anything. Fired right up, rapped up nicely, sounded great!

However, once out of the echo-chamber garage and in the water, it seemed to have a dead spot. Not a normal dead-cylinder dead spot, just not quite right. Idled out to the big water, and it wouldn't get on plane. And, there was some not so nice grindy noises from out back. And, the oil pressure was quite low. AND, we noticed afterwards some oil in the bilge...

Turned out this 4 year old boat had about 40 years worth of (ab)use on it. The reason it sounded 'not quite right': Both the #7 pushrods were broke in half. Their lifters were sitting in the intake valley, which explained the low oil pressure. The fact there was no compression in that cylinder explained why it didn't seem like a 'typical' dead miss. The grindy noises were due to the jet sucking up a log or a boulder or some other bad thing, which bent the impeller and the prop shaft, which caused the gimbal bearing to shatter into pieces. If that wasn't enough, I also found out the boat had sat half-sunk in ocean salt water for who knows how long, which rusted out the bottom of the oil pan. That was weird, because when the oil was cold the pan held the oil, once hot, it would seep thru the million pinholes.

THIS is one reason why a test drive is advisable! But to flip the coin on all those problems, my friend spent an afternoon pulling the jet and the intake manifold, and disassembling the jet. We were able to sand and tweak the impeller until it spun pert near dead-on true. He had the lifter issue fixed in about an hour. I took the shaft to a machine shop that pressed it back straight and did some minor machining to true it up. It took me one weekend to pull the engine to change the oil pan and re-install it. Total cost of the repairs, about 10 hours of our own labor, $30 to fix the shaft, and $16 for a pair of pushrods, and about $40 for the big bearing. Afterwards we had a fast, good running non-oil-leaking boat with plenty of power (and oil pressure)! We had a total blast with it the rest of the summer!

But that was then...

 

[m3gumby]

Its a Mercruiser 5.7l serial # 0D647314

 

[oldjeep]

One other question I was curious with buying Boats - do you guys recommend doing an on water 'test drive' or does hooking up a hose usually suffice?

Water test would be preferred, but with a $3500 boat it is going to depend on if the seller is close to water and feels like putting it in the water for prospective buyers.

 

[m3gumby]

I just pulled up google maps and there's a public lake 5 miles away so I think that's almost mandatory for me to buy it.