Buying a used boat. What do you expect??
 

With another thread going about "bunk surveys", I thought I'd ask the question.
When buying a used Offshore boat, do you expect it to be immaculate? Showroom, the day it was born Condition??
It seems there are some people that expect this.
Maybe I'm not the normal person, but I went into it EXPECTING to have some things that needed attention. This is why I was looking for a single with a good reputable manufacturer. The owners of the boat before me didn't necessarily do things the way I would have, so I'm making my changes on a boat I can afford to make the changes to.
And let's face it, I've done upgrade type work in the past, and did a half-azzed job getting it done to make sure it works, with the intention of later going back and tightening up the install, and then getting sidetracked.
Am I the only one guilty of this?
These are USED hi-performance machines. If the seller is selling in good-faith, he'll let you know if something is wrong. If he gives it a clean bill of health, it doesn't mean that it isn't going to blow up next week. Who Know's??
Every boat I've ever been on had it's own "nuances" and if you own and run it, you learn what the boat likes or doesn't like.
Example, I had a boat that from a cold start, pump the throttle twice, and she'd start on the first tick, and go right into a nice even idle. Try to start her any other way, and you were in a fight.
As the previous owner, there are always things that you know you need to fix (a scratch here, tighten something over there) and you're not gonna go crazy fixing little things when it comes time to sell. The new buyer is the one that's gonna get in there and do it their way.
So, what do you expect when buying used?

I expect that stuff will need to be fixed.

It depends on what I am paying for it.

It seems like everyone is always trying to "steal" everything.

If thats the case, then the lower the price the more of a gamble you take.

In a perfect world there would be full disclosure but that is probably not happening.

When buying a used boat ,of course i know its used and dont expect it to be new but the way it is represented by the owner . You cant sell a bought as 100 hours when it has 500 or motors are fresh with 10 hours and pull a motor and drop the pan and the bearings have 300 hours and motors are plenty tired :p

If I expected it to be like new, I'd buy new.

What I expect is an honest seller that does not try to hide anything. I know its used and that stuff breaks. There are things that may happen that the seller has no idea of. You can often tell a lot by the appearance of the boat and just talking to the seller.
When I bought the Pantera, I sea trialed it, and all was good. It was stored for winter after I bought it. The second time out in the Spring,with less than 5 hrs run time, the drive upper blew apart. There is no way this could have been predicted by the prior owner. I never even thought about trying to get him to help pay for it.

Bottom line--It is used, as is, and without warranty, just like the contract says.

I expect it to be in the condition it was represented to be. I can deal with a boat that needs work, I HATE liars and thieves!!!!

Exactly! When ever I've sold a car, truck. or boat, and the buyer starts pointing out ticky tack chit, I always tell them I'm not trying to pass this off as new.:mad:

I always point out anything that I know may need fixed, or may need attention soon, but I can't see into the future. I gave up predicting the future, when I took this job.

That's why I'm not selling at the price of a new one.

I personally made the jump from your "Average" boat (Bayliner, Sea Ray, Ebbtide, etc.) under 20ft with at best a 4.3 litre to my first "performance boat". in the early spring of 2007.

I looked for value of my dollar vs. the overall condition of the boat. I looked at several used boats before I settled on my 92 Galaxy Lazer. I paid the man $13k in cash, hooked it up to my truck and drove 600 miles home with her. Used it every weekend through summer of 2007 without any issue. Pulled her out the Monday after Labor Day and sent her to Cathouse Performance Marine for total re-power and drive swap.

The bunk survey thread imho is allot of neglect on the part of both the surveyor and the buyer. I seem to recall the phrase that there is 2 sides to every story and typically the truth lies in the middle....To me it depends on the purchase price vs. what needs to be done to the boat right now before going to the water or what needs to happen after using it a few times. In the bunk survey situation I'm not totally convinced the buyer was completely familiar with the boat he was buying, or he possibly was somewhat of a novice boat buyer if there is such a thing? None the less he handed over his money and he bought what he bought. There isnt enough posted details (purchase price and so on) to determine if it was a bad deal or not, he only made claims against the surveyor. If he bought the Velocity for $10k I think he got a smoking deal, even with the problems noted.....if you follow what I mean... you buy a $40k boat for $20k you should expect some problems.....hopefully your seller will at least point you in the right direction of the problems he has experienced.

If your buying a boat that is far under it's "real value" you should expect problems. I have no problem paying top dollar for a top condition used boat. I think I paid top dollar for my Galaxy, and I think I got a top dollar used boat.....now I'm sinking more into the boat than I paid for it to re-power and re-drive it because I love the boat......I will keep it for a while or until someone comes along and offers me stupid money for it.

Bottom line is .....Good things aren't cheap & cheap things aren't good.
I'm in the used car business & the 1st thing I tell people is

I don't sell cheap cars !

Being the author of the bunk survey thread it would be nice to hear your opinion documented in the appropriate place, never the less.......what difference does it make what you pay for something if you are mislead in what you have bought. Why should you expect problems if you are buying something markedly under market value? I certainly am not a novice boater, new to performance boats. That being said I hired a surveyor to do his job, make me aware of what I was buying. To do for me what I knew I didn't have the ability to do, and he did me absolutley wrong---thanks for the chance to respond to your opinion