Hey yall, I was looking at a 97' Baja Hammer for sale with mercruiser 350 mag. and around 300 hrs. My question is, it's at a marina I use regularly and the guy said it was a trade in from a local car dealership, so they don't really know the history other than it was used up north. I haven't actually gone to look at it yet, but was curious if this would be too risky to mess with not knowing the history?

Thanks,

JR

I would have a complete survey done on the boat by a professional before considering !

I think you'd be OK with a proper survey/mech check. By Up North do you live in MI?

Thanks for the responses, I figured a survey would be good, just wasn't sure if it would ok to have the actual marina inspect it or try to find somebody not affiliated with the shop. I actually down south, the boat came from somewhere in NY.

If its an EFI engine you can have a dealer scan the motor for engine hours.

If you can get a picture of the boat and a little more info someone on here might know who's it was and some history on it

A survey on a 21 foot boat to me is a little excessive.

Check it out, see what you think, scan the motor, test drive it... its not a 20-100k boat it would be priced in the teens. also at that size it most likly did not sit in the water so the hull should be fine as well.. just look it over like a normal bow rider.. and purchase appropriately.

So I spoke with the marina and they said they could run it on a hose but couldn't let me take it out on test drive as it is on consignment from a car dealer, sounds a little sketchy to me as I really would like to drive it first. Any thoughts?

BajaDawg: If a deal seems sketchy then it normally is!!!! A water test is not out of the question unless the boat has been winterized. If it has been winterized simply offer to pay to have it re-winterized after the water test. just my 2 cents.

I'd keep looking just from what you've shared. I understand not wanting to take tire kickers on free boat rides...I get that. But, WTF buys anything they can't test drive? If they are willing to "run it on the hose" then they aren't concerned with it being re-winterized. SHADY.

If you ARE just "looking around" don't be offended if a seller asks you for a good faith deposit prior to a "test drive". Selling a power boat has a history of broke ass "high rollers" wasting peoples time and fuel. Listening to it idle on the hose is a LONG way from a sucessful sea trial. As always, my opinion is worth what it cost ya. Good Luck.