Thinking about buying first offshore boat - Need guidance
 

Hello everyone,

I've come across a boat for sale and I'm not entirely sure about a couple of things when it comes to offshore type boats. I have had many boats, fish/ski but never offshore, thus my lack of knowledge of say I/O stern drive units.

It's a 1991 Galaxie 265 Lazer, 26.5' long v hull type. Single 454 (rebuild) stock, going to a Volvo Penta stern drive, which appears to be the original unit. The boat is in pretty good cosmetic shape except for some normal wear and tear, dock rash, faded upholstrey, etc...

My main concerns are as follows: the outdrive is original, and although the seller has reciepts of as recent as last year for servicing I'm nervous about it just being old and needing to be replaced soon (I certainly don't have 5k to put in a new out drive in the boat). The engine is re-built by the same boat shop that serviced the drive (his reciept totalled 7k for the rebuilt motor and outdrive service). Lastly, the trailer the boat is sitting on is not the right trailer for the boat, the chines are sitting directly on the bunks and has resulted in stress cracks of the gelcoat all the way down the chine (i only looked at one, but I assume it's the same on all 4 that are resting on bunks). I don't want these cracks to turn into hull failure down the road. If I buy the boat I can certainly move the bunks to rest on the hull between the chines as they are supposed to. They are very minor cracks and may not be a big deal, but nonetheless I wanted to get some feedback on it.

Any feedback on these issues, and if anyone knows anything about Galaxie boats (I'm assuming they have gone out of business a while back as they are nowhere to be found online) I'd sure appreciate some help in deciding if I want to buy this boat. Also an important thing to consider, I'm not going to be racing or going all out all the time in this thing, mainly just for family outings or the occasional poker run through the calif. delta.

Thanks very much...

My advice would be to stay away from unknown boat manufacturers. Any resale down the line will be terrible. Also the older Volvo drive won't help either.

1991 volvo is Omc TYPE PARTS ARE LIMITED!!!

Never heard of a Galaxie 265 lazer before??

I am goint to give you a very strong bit of advise, unless you have 5K to drop in a boat DON"T BUY A 17 YEAR OLD BOAT,

Look around find a clean used boat that their are many built like it, Like a BAJA, but their are many others.

First performance boat, you want a BRAVO 1 out drive, Mercury 454 or 502, all mechanics can work on these and parts are abundent.

WILL:D

Keep this in mind- a close-to-20 year-old boat that you pay 5 grand for and have to put another 5 into might be worth six. On the other hand, in the current market, 10 grand will buy you the better part of most fifteen thousand dollar boats.

Look at Bajas. They're great first performance boats. 10 grand will get you a nice 24-26 footer with a single big block. In a couple years, you can turn it into someone else's "first performance boat" and get most of your money back.

What you've found for issues so far, are probably 1/10th the total number the boat really has. If you want to sleep at night, walk away from this boat, and keep looking. This thing sounds like a disaster already. It's a buyers market, and with some work, you should be able to find a nice boat at a good price.

Michael

Good advice from some guys that know their chit! (Or at least fake it REALLY well! LOL) I'd listen to them. They've answered lots of questions for me over the years and haven't steered me wrong....yet. ;)

The fact the trailer may have compromised the hull in any way is terrifying to me...

What other corners has the chump that owns this boat cut?

I think you answered your own question.

6 yeas ago I was looking for a nice $8500 24' formula like boat. I soon found my self looking at $15,000 boats, Cuz I wanted some thing reliable (family) & good looking. I ended up buying Pristine 11 year old 23' PowerQuest 454 Bravo w 135 hours for 22K. Just sold it for 15 w 485 hours, still a sweet ride. Next owner will probably lose even less.

Two rules:
You get what you pay for & it's not like you can just get out and walk away when they fail.

Huge used market. look, look ,look. I know we are all on different budgets, but time is cheap, and some one wants to get rid of theirs.