Hey,
Thought I might be able to turn to you for some boat advice. As you know, I'm trying to get mine sold. Here is the situation. I thought you might be able to give some insight and advice.

I bought this boat near the end of the summer last year with the intention of using it as a kinda play-toy for a while and then selling ip and getting my money back for it. You know the info about the boat. The owner was originally asking $6,500, which we know is outrageous for that type of boat. When I saw his ad though, he has reduced it to $4,500. After taking the boat out, he took $4K in a cashiers check for it. It has just had 2K of electrical work done at that time, so I'm figurin' I'm getting a good deal and when I go to sell it I'd at least get my $4K back.

I've spent some money here and there on it last year, buying saftey equipment and other such odds and ends. It's always had some idle problems, but it seams like it has gotten progressivly worse. When I took it out of storage this year, I found that the Trim, tilt had seized, so I took it in to have them do a once-over on the engine at a new marina (cause the management of the old marina sucked). Keep in mind that I live in columbia, MD (check a map) and don't really have a quick way to get to the water, so it's convenient for me to keep it at a Marina. So anyway, they check it out and it turns out they had to replace the trim/tilt and since the original isn't made anymore, they had to replace it with a Merc kit, which was like $1,200. They also rebuilt the carb. and the grand total for everything was over $2500!

Even after all that I STILL have idle problems. I next replaced the fuel lines cause the service manger said he saw bubbles in my fuel filter, which ment air in the lines. I STILL have problems! Anyway, this sounds like a common problem with the Force motors. Some people have suggested that it might be the stator which may not be putting out enough current at low idle. I might have that checked next.

All that aside, I've found that I haven't had the chance to get on it as much as I'd like. I've got the marina paid for through the end of december at which time I have to tow my boat home, or I owe another $1400 for the next year in marina fees. I haven't had much luck selling it so far, but it is also kinda the end of the season, and I would *assume* there are less people on the market right now, but I don't know.

My question is this: What do you think this boat is worth? I can just bite the bullet now and sell it at a lower price ($3.5K?), or I can take it home after my Marina lease expires and try to sell it in the spring. The problem with that is that it will not be very convenient for me to take someone on a test drive if I don't keep it at a marina, which might make it harder to sell if someone can't "take it for a spin". I could possibly try and sell it in the spring via e-bay, but I don't have any handle on how many people will be looking for boats like this on e-bay durring that time of year or how much they would be willing to spend.

So. What do I do?

Thanks,
-Dan