This is the kind of thing that burns me about dealers selling used boats and cars that are put "on the lot" without any kind of operational/safety check. When you go to purchase these things, you rightfully expect them to be fully functional and safe. If they are not ready to go, the reasons for this should be disclosed up front BEFORE the sale. If anything, it would illustrate that the dealer has taken the time to evaluate the product before they put it on the lot.

In your case, if the dealer had properly evaluated the boat prior to putting it up for sale, the leak would have been discovered and either fixed, or at minimum - disclosed to you prior to sale.

I just bought a used 2006 Toyota Sienna AWD minvan. It had some minor cosmetic things to fix, but it 'seemed' ready to go. The dealer advertised it as a "Toyota Certified Vehicle" and promoted the fact that it had been through a 164 point check. When we were serious about purchasing the car, we looked more closely and took it for a test drive. We found severely worn out brakes, Worn tires (to the markers), drivers side door hinge cracked, oil leak, and alignment issues (causing the severe tire wear). When I called out the dealer for falsely claiming that the vehicle had been pre-certified, he admitted that it had been overlooked, and had not actually been certified yet. I am fully confident that if I didn't find these issues, the dealer would have sold the vehicle to me, and wouldn't have done the certified vehicle check. In the end, all was resolved (in 2 weeks) and I took delivery - when it was done to my satisfaction.

Moral of the story: don't sign on the dotted line until you have the product you want in hand.

You never mention the year of the boat or trailer. It must have been a great deal for you to continue to follow thru with the deal after all the delays and problems. You also never mention the price that you paid for the deal. It seems like the dealer went the distance trying to correct the problems. I assume that they took the boat on trade and thought they knew the condition of the boat better than it actually was. When buying a used boat I think that you should expect to find some problems that cound be hidden even from the previous owner. It doesn't seem like you did a very thorough inspection and testing of the boats condition to send your father out with it before doing so. Not to fault your trust in others, but if you want something done right you need to do it yourself. I hope you get it all sorted out and have a chance to enjoy your boat this season. The dealer giving you the warantee on the engine might come in handy and was a nice gesture. Good Luck.

This may be the only thread on OSO that mentions a trolling motor.

... and what is a Kenner Tunnel ?

Wow it’s amazing to me how many useless replies are on this thread. It seems as if a few people are trying to raise their post count at the expense of others.

After a year in the Pacific and two in Afghanistan I assumed I was “grown up”, if you look closely you might notice I use my real name on my profile as I have nothing to hide from anyone.


A 23 V Tunnel Kenner is a 23’ 10” v-bottom boat with a pocket tunnel that runs about six feet forward from the transom, it’s extremely useful in shallow water. The boat is equipped with a hydraulic jack plate and has a 95 gallon fuel tank which gives it the ability to run at cruise for conservative ten hours. (Approx 350 miles) The boat is a 2005 model with a single 225 optimax engine, I paid about 26,000 dollars for it and it can achieve a plane in 18” of water. It does extremely well in rough water for its size and is a self bailing design. In this area fishing boats hold their value better than pleasure boats.

There is quite a bit of shallow water where I do most of my lake and offshore boating (Matagorda) therefore it isn’t very practical for me to own a large twin inboard offshore boat, although they are my favorite.

As for South Austin Marine they did not thoroughly check the boat and motor out as they assured me they had done and that caused a great deal grief and wasted a month of the boating season, they did however replace the swivel pin, swivels bushings, motor mounts, live well pumps, fuel pumps, trailer tires, wheel, wheel bearing, sonar, horn, circuit breakers, fuse panel, lower unit, and trailer bunk. This was all done after the sale of the boat a no charge to me other than having to tow the boat all over the place; they really did the best they could to make the boat right, I just wish they had done this stuff before I picked the boat up the first time.

We never received a loaner boat as BOATNTRKR described. This is an informative thread I would think that people would want to be informed about a situation like mine so that they might be more prepared. South Austin managers and owners were involved in this issue every step of the way.

I believe that the previous owner hid a lot of things from them as was suggested in a previous post. In the end South Austin fixed the boat and did their best to make the boat right so I would like to leave this on a positive note and say thank you to them.


Once again thank you for all the kind words, support and advice.



John Vaught
Azle, TX

See you on the water.