Trying to sell my boat, and giving up on boats all together.

[Shwinkyyy]

So I have a 74 cobia bowrider currently. I did a transom rebuild on it but i cannot afford to finish my project. I'm trying to sell it for around 3,000 but people are basically just laughing at me. The worst part of this is I bought it for 2,000 when the transom was trash, and then I spent around 2,000 on material rebuilding. I did all the fiberglassing but it still needs to be sanded down painted and gel coated. The motor is also mounted back onto the boat. I did a test run to make sure my work was right and it is a perfect solid transom. It's a huge disappointment to let this boat go, and even more that I'm basically being told its worthless. This is boat number 3 I've tried to get going, I've lost a lot of time and money. And I haven't even gotten so much as 1 hour of enjoyment out of any boat I have owned. Boats have left a bad taste in my mouth, and I have lost all hope of ever owning and enjoying a boat. It's been nothing but almost 4 years of neverending work, with no payoff whatsoever.

 

[TyeeMan]

I'm sorry to hear that. But on the other hand if your buying old fiberglass boats for $2000 unfortunately that's all your going to get out of it is pain and heart ache.

The thing with your current boat is, you now may have a solid transom, but how do you know that what the transom is attached to is solid? Floors, stringers, etc could all be rotten.

And then there's the hard fact that you have a 45 year old boat. Unless it was highly colectable, you basically have a motor and drive that might be worth something, and if you have a trailer under the boat you might be able to sell the trailer with a free boat on it.

Maybe bump up to the late 80's early 90's, get away from the glass boats and see if you can find an aluminum run about. You'll at least have"bones" that won't rot. The floor and other wood things are easily replaceable.

The only boat build I did was 1985 17' Lund, , aluminum boat Bought it as a project. Put all new flooring in it, redesigned storage compartments, etc. The thing looked new when I was done with it. Probably put around 4K into it, used it for 2-3 years and sold it for $4500. And the thing is, unless a tree fell on it or someone crashed it, it's probably still around, , and not rotten.

 

[ahicks]

Hard lesson, but the reality is you never start a boat restoration with money in mind. If that is necessary, you should likely look for something else to do.

Even when (if) it's finished, the ONLY way you're going to realize any profit is with a few years use.......

 

[alldodge]

Boats are a love hate relationship. I bought my Formula for (If memory serves) 37K and it had a hard time getting on plane. After many years and I would say 2 times that more going into it, and its running good, but (note the but) it still is not running as good as I thought it should. I do like the boat, so bust out some more money

Just like autos, your either making payments or repairs, but boats do cost more and the warranty is not that good

 

[JimS123]

When I was a little kid all I wanted to do was go boating with Grandpa. When he sold the boat I was devastated. As soon as I turned of age I bought one of my own. It was a little outboard tinny that cost me $600, motor and trailer included. I used that boat for 19 years and raised my two sons in it. It wasn't fancy and didn't go real fast, but it only cost me pennies and nickles and was one of the most valuable and enjoyable purchases I ever made. It needed nothing when I bought it, and other than spark plugs I never put a dime into it.

Although it is still listed in my signature, truth be told I gave it to my son and he still uses it regularly.

My point is that the problem with too many boaters is that they want the biggest and fastest thing on the water, and since they can't afford it they buy old cheap junk that is almost beyond repair at a reasonable price. Set your sights a little lower, buy an outboard tinny and when you can afford to move up to a fiberglass bowrider, buy one that needs no repair.

It's kinda like camping. You can buy a $100,000.00 motorhome and show it off to the neighbors. However, I guarantee you that you will have just as much fun in a $99 tent, maybe even more.

 

[KD4UPL]

Enjoying a boat and going out boating with friends and family is a whole different hobby from restoring ancient boats back from the dead. I've owned 2 boats, both were in fine running usable condition when I bought them. The first one, a 1997 Larson I bought for $10,000. I enjoyed it for 10 years and sold it for $8,500. My current boat, a 2004 Rinker 232 I bought for $19,000. I hope to enjoy it for many more years.
If you want to enjoy boating then buy a boat that works and go out and enjoy it. Slaving away in a garage with dust and dirt fixing a boat doesn't sound like what you want to be doing.

 

[Scott06]

when you say a test run what do you mean ? Onthe water or on the muffs? I sold my 91 Sea Ray 170 4 years ago for $3400 and everything worked including trailer. Is this still a pile of parts ? If so best bet is to complete it so buyer can use it Pain free

 

[bchaney]

Sad story, sorry things didn't go as planned. With some thought and planning the situation could've been avoided but I'm sure you know that now. If you decide to try a 4th time you can post your plans here so that you can get feedback before spending any time or money. There are a lot of experienced people here who can help you.

 

[Leardriver]

There is nothing more expensive than a cheap boat or airplane.
You didn't really buy a boat, you bought a project. Live and learn.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

Old boats, a perfect example of throwing good money after bad. My buddy restores old classic muscle cars. Not one of them will ever make him a profit after spending all that hard earned cash and time to restore them. There are exceptions like Shelby Cobras and Mustangs, even then one can loose money. He has around 50 grand in a 65' Malibu and if he can get 30 he is doing well. Same goes for boats. I am in agreement as far as if the transom was bad the rest of the stringers etc. is bad too. You will be lucky to sell a 45 year old glass boat for the price of the old trailer. Unless you have a farm where you can bury the thing in the back 40 it is going to cost big bucks to cut it up into little pieces to go to the landfill site.

 

[kpg7121]

You may be better off just parting it out to recoup some of your money. I don't know what's hanging off the back of your Cobia but a good running ob shoud be worth a few bucks along with whatever else you can sell. Nobody is going to give you $3k for a boat that old needing the work you described.

My boat is an '87 Starcraft with a rotten transom & I decided to part it out cuz no way am I going to replace it, I dont want a project of that magnitude at 62 yrs old. I can do the work but id rather devote my time to something else other then glass work. So far I've gotten $1200. out of it which includes selling the engine, a 3.0. When I'm done selling what i can the boat goes to the scrapyard, but after 25 years of owning it the memories will always be here. Sorry you got burned.

 

[jkust]

Bummer to hear. That's old boats and projects. Time and money. It's just a fact of life. Don't walk away completely.

 

[Scott Danforth]

So I have a 74 cobia bowrider currently. I did a transom rebuild on it but i cannot afford to finish my project. I'm trying to sell it for around 3,000 but people are basically just laughing at me. The worst part of this is I bought it for 2,000 when the transom was trash, and then I spent around 2,000 on material rebuilding. I did all the fiberglassing but it still needs to be sanded down painted and gel coated. The motor is also mounted back onto the boat. I did a test run to make sure my work was right and it is a perfect solid transom. It's a huge disappointment to let this boat go, and even more that I'm basically being told its worthless. This is boat number 3 I've tried to get going, I've lost a lot of time and money. And I haven't even gotten so much as 1 hour of enjoyment out of any boat I have owned. Boats have left a bad taste in my mouth, and I have lost all hope of ever owning and enjoying a boat. It's been nothing but almost 4 years of neverending work, with no payoff whatsoever.

unfortunately any fiberglass boat under about $8k this time of year or $5k in winter will be a project.

as others stated, at $2000, assume its rebuild time.

another thing to note: the average bow rider is designed to have a life expectancy of 15 years. your boat is coming up on 46 years of age. you may be on the second restoration.

I would pull the motor back off, clean up the transom and fair it, then roll on some gel or paint and use the boat.

 

[JASinIL2006]

That's rough, Shwinkyyy. Too bad you've come so far only to lose your drive to finish it. Unfortunately, the difference between a completely restored '74 and a restoration-in-progress is immense in most buyers eyes. They won't care what you invested in the project. They just see an unfinished 45 year-old boat for a large sum of money. I would think the only things that might help to sell would be to be very liberal in offering water trials (assuming the boat is put together enough to run), to make a list of what needs to be done to finish the boat (hopefully it's not long), and consider dropping your price. At this point, you're goal should be to minimize your loss, not to break even. Parting out the boat would probably work, too, but that would probably be more work than just finishing the dang thing.

 

[sphelps]

Boat restoration is not for everyone .. If you finish what’s left or just make it usable the only thing you’ll get back out of it would be maybe some good times fishing or cruising around.. If you had asked us when you were considering the purchase we could have saved you some heart or head ache .... If you didn’t finish the other 2 boats did you think # 3 would be the charm ?

 

[alan ber]

I have too chime in ,
I have sitting along side my home 5 years my 21 ft walk around , cuddy cabin - sea Ray Fisherman , Owing 20 plus years ,
Came with a 4 cylinder Mercruiser , Those engines have bad rap but for my needs pushed boat fine , Best of all cheap on fuel burn
Reside in Fla, Used the boat weekly salt & fresh
On a good day boat not worth more then 3 -4 grand with trailer , Had my share of rip off driveway repair guys , My favorite justification , how do you pay thousands at a dealer repair on a boat only worth few grand ,
Easy for me too work on , ability too trailer all over state , walk around made it comfortable too fish , Sits free at home , ability too walk out of my home and work on boat , which I found enjoyable , ( sometimes )
Never fails at boat ramp , HEY NICE BOAT < NEVER KNEW SEA RAY MADE A WALK AROUND ,
Originally called Fisherman ,changing name to Laguna ,Same hull, different power packages , all IO;s under Laguna logo I see from time too time sellers selling early 90ies , Lagunas , same hull , with cuddy , only saw one with alpha IO , others had OBs , same exact hull
Original engine was done , I was done with it , Not sure what I was going too do , Enclose whole, buy bracket , purchase OB ??? Thousands of dollars on a old boat , BIT CRAZY ,
Moving forward I purchased a 30 ft Regal Commodore with twin gas guzzler 4,3 engines , Kept at a marina
Owing a bigger boat I really missed that smaller boat , Cant compare but I can why many want too down size ,
I have never worked so hard on a boat , Cant find anybody too preform work or even work on gas engines, I have spent so much on repairs, engines, generators, A/C units , add in marina fees , MY HEAD SPINS
At a fishing event I met a 80 year old gear head , talking about boats and my NG engine , He said he was saving for a project that never happened , He sold me a almost new 3,7 Mercruiser , with only 18 hours on meter , Felt it was the best way too go , few hundred bucks got a almost new engine and I can get my fisherman back on the water ,
Pulled old engine and discovered transom NG , Had no idea transom was in the condition it was ,
Stripped engine room down too gimbal , steering , entire engine room empty , cut the skin of glass off and holy cow wood was crumbling in my fingers , Opened a Pandora box , Stringers are ng , foam wet , wood around gas tank is bad ,
I stripped entire boat , too part it out or if I found another hull in good condition I have the parts too swap , Now I cant bring myself too take too land fill , Looking at hull looks sweet , once inside another story , Cut it up , I CANT DO IT ,
If you could find a shop too restore? cost could be 10 grand , then install engine , alpha 1 is old , Could be into a 4 thousand dollar boat 20 grand , SMART ,
Running few adds too sell trailer with free boat , Trailer is VG , 2 axle with brakes , NO takers
Landfill , cost 50 bucks since no fuel tank or engine , Will keep trailer ,
Most older used are 35 plus , years old , cheap , are like mine I am keeping my eyes open for a early 2000 , OB
with composite hull , Again if I did not own that bigger boat it would be lot easier ,

I know that last drive too dump will be hard , but once done a load off my mind ,