Boat Price
 

Hey, I'm looking for some help/advice. With boats selling for half their value these days it's tough to come up with a price. I'm toying with the idea of selling my 39'. It's a clean 1992 with 6's. Truthfully I've had a bit of bad luck and have just about reached my end. I would prefer to sell it how it sits. No motors or with the motors as they are. The motors are broken. They would be back together for approximately $10K-$15K. All parts, NOT broken, were new at build. Approximately 4 hours of run time before their untimely "death". It seems to me that just the number 6 drives are worth close to $40K.........so what's the boat worth?

$55-60k no power on a trailer, would have a complete boat for like $70-75k after rebuild. Seems like a good deal for a 39 w 6's, not many around either.

6s are no where near 40k, esp if they are wet. They are becoming a dime a dozen, if you search you will find them for way cheap I as all sut owners want to enjoy high values however i think the numbers are off a touch. I would ask Stotler Racing to put the motors back. He is a true craftsmen and will put you ahead in the numbers game...

Have any pics?

Sorry, can't seem to post any pictures. As far as putting it back together I can do that. Simply put I just lost interest after all that had gone wrong. The last 2 years have been a nightmare of screw ups. Put the motors in, take them out, put them in. Believe it or not 7 times. YES 7. This is supposed to be fun. It's been like being part of a Top Fuel team!

E-mail me I would be happy to send photos. [email protected]. Just have the message say something about the boat. I won't open any unknown e-mails..........lost my computer twice doing that.

Seven engines and two computers....someone buy this fella a beer.

Well, I didn't exactly say 7 engines. I guess I should have been more specific. I was counting how many times the engines came out and went back in. A pair being 2. So, when I first began 2 came out and I repowered. That's 2. Broke 3 transmissions. 3 out 3 in. That's 5. Now I hurt 2 engines. 2 out 2 in. That's 7. But actually it's more because I broke 2 again and they are out........not back in. So does 2 out count as 1 total making 8? I will take that beer if it's still available.

Hey, make sure that beer is cold. I drive by your front door every 5 or 6 weeks. I have customers in Mississauga, Toronto, and Ajax. So, you never know.

What happened that you had such bad luck?

Oh boy. Have you got time? I'll try and be brief. When it came time to repower I figured I should at least look at the transmissions before putting it back together. They were Huber 8 plates I think. So, we thought we should turn them into 11 plates to handle what ever power we make. Needless to say a mistake was made during that change. The first transmission broke right away. Since it already was the end of the season by the time I had got this deal together, we pulled both motors (pretty easy to get the second once the first is out!). Turns out I had a bit of a reversion problem and rusted the exhaust valves a bit. Pulled the top of the motors apart and again, lets just say an error was made here as well. Of course we did not know it yet. Next season comes, we go out and boom another transmission blows at the freakin dock. Do it a third time. This time we got to idle out of the harbor before the third transmission blew. Finally find out where the mistake was made. All is now right with the world except the motors are not pulling the RPM they should. I know I am being vague, but in fairness to all involved I don't want to rat anyone out. We do a couple of local poker runs never can get WOT and kaboom. One motor is definitely gone the other limps home. Another season gone. As it turned out the damage was really minimal. This time when the motors are out we decide to go for still more horsepower even though I never had it running to it's max with the original power. New heads and new cam this time around. Now we have an innovate hooked up and we are screwing with the air fuel ratio's . No more dumb mistakes. The engine is now asking for tons more fuel. So every week we run out of jets and air bleeds.........16 jets, 16 of 3 different air bleeds. I buy them like 5 sizes over and it wants 10. So, the fourth time out just when the ratio's are pretty good and we can finally go WOT. we are at 4000RPM about to have it and BOOM. The cams were trying to screw themselves out of the motor. Ate the front cover and all the shavings were running through the motor. Lost the crank, some rods, the cam gear, etc. The other motor was still running, but has the same thing happening to it. It has not been torn apart as yet. Since it was running I am hoping the damage isn't as bad as the first. NICE HUH!

I'm just off the QEW at Ford Drive, so PM or email me if you're in the area with some time to kill.

BenJen... I feel your pain....all too well...!
Speaking from experience.

I say....take 1 more try at it...& bring new people involved in the engine build.
that's where I am that's what I did after being involved with a "shoddy" build this past year.

I have to say I do not miss transmissions...at all.

I would sell those Sixes take the $$ & put imco scx's on there run the motors mellow & probably go faster. = no transmissions Less power loss between a six & the tranny you could drop 100 horse each & still be as fast more reliable.

Boy, I literally do run by your front door. My customer in Mississauga is right up the street of the QEW. You can see his building............JRP

Brian, we probably will move forward as what few answers I've heard here are even worse than expected (money wise). NO way to your Imco idea. Seriously, not trying to be a wise guy, but if the Imco's could handle the action all the boats with 850hp and up would have them. The transmissions are pretty bullit proof when their right.

Your are in Mass... get your trannies to Nopper!

Transmissions are fine now. The problem has been solved. And yes Pete is a great guy. Thanks

Were the engines done locally ?

Who's this? Are you a builder? I may know you! I'm not going to get into any of that in an open forum. I hope you can appreciate that.

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/3818896-post14.html

Link from the other "boat price" thread under General Discussion...beautiful pictures

just a guy in mass trying to keep tabs on machine shops not to use or deal with. right now i have one that i use and dont want to try or get involved with any others because of horror stories

Benjen, I'm dying to through in my 2cents if you don't mind. In terms of the boat... keep it you'll regret it for ever if you dump it for cheap . I differ in opinion with Bri as if you got sixes, even wet ones. they will last forever. When the trannies are right they will too with minimal maintainence. To me, if you run big power you need big drives to go boating reliably. Imco is great but when you break them you're out for a while, and they will break they all do.
Stick with it, its a cool boat! And don't cut corners they come back later. B

Yep, thanks. I already told Brian as nicely as I could there was no way I would get rid of the 6's. This was as much an exploritory thread as it was anything else. Honestly have not had one person say I would give you "X" or at least ask what price I may be thinking. Kind of surprising I must say. Considering we are talking about a 39' boat with 6's. I would have thought regardless of year and make that would have been tempting to a lot of people. When you come right down to it other than Outerlimits, there are not a lot of V bottom 6 boats out there.

What color is the boat?

There is a link on page 2 to pics in another thread.

Wow, gorgeous boat. You don't see too many 39s out there.

Thanks

Ben, I know you've been through a lot of aggravation but I'd
keep the boat. 1st, Nopper trannys a must, 2nd take 454 bowtie
blocks and bore to .040 over with new 427 steel cranks, this will
give you 440 cubes, roller rockers, roller cams, decent direct port
intakes, 850 carbs, 10.5 JE pistons. This should give you a good
600-650 HP. It won't have great torque out of the hole but once
you get going, the engines will start to sing with the shorter
stroke. Back in the early 60's, the 427's that ran in the Nascar
circuit both Fords and Chevys ran 7,000 rpm all day long. My
idea is that if you can twist some good rpms out of an engine
that will last, at least you can enjoy the boat without blowers,
big cubes and BIG money. You may not end up with the fastest
39' but at least it will stay together. George.

George, thanks. Judging from the response to this thread or lack of. I will be most likely be keeping the boat. As I said previously the error with the transmissions was found and they are fine. As for the power. Although I hear what you are saying, it would be like starting over, not to mention taking a major step backwards. The parts needed to repair my engines are a third of what it would cost to do what you are saying. My engines have brand new parts now. And although your point about 600 hp motors lasting longer than 1100 hp motors is certainly valid, it is a non issue for me. My idea of a perfect boating season is to go out a few times, run around a bit with no set plan. As well as doing the few poker runs we have around us. When all is said and done I do about 15 hours a season. I don't care how much horsepower I put in there it should last several seasons with that usage.

I hear you Ben. Maybe I'm on the side of practical and conservative with the thought of running many hours over the long haul. I guess if running the low amount of hours that you're
planning, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference at this point.
The amount of fuel these beasts consume does limit most of us
to the amount of time in the water. Good luck with what you do
and hope to see you at Walters sometime soon.

Nice..........we'll be around.

Ben did you buy this off Kenny?

Yes I did. My man Ken Mish.

Kenny was the second owner of my old 33' Outrageous. He must have bought your 39' after selling the 33'. Interesting
progression!

Yes, I believe he bought the 39' from somebody in Texas. I had a similiar prgression going from a 30' 400 hp Sutphen to the 39'.

Someone said Ken had bought the 39 from Curt Harbor who was in TX. Not sure if that is accurate. I know Curt had the 31 that had the same paint scheme as the 39 though.

As I recall Ken said the boat was in the Galveston TX. area. Is Curt in that area? As far as the paint scheme goes, all Sutphen's pretty much had/have the same general stripes. My 30' had the same stripe on the deck and the sides were the same with the exception of a "step" where the Sutphen decal was. The stripe under the windshield was added by Ken I believe.

I'm surprised no one has even ball parked a price for a '39 w 6's, regardless of power. There are '47 Outerlimits with no power and a whole thread was started about the price point. What if this was listed in the classifieds for $50k less power, thoughts? I am close to this situation and just trying to help Benjen out. Thank you.

There is a 39 in Detroit for sale on Craigslist with/without power and drives but no price shown. Doesn't say it has 6's but he is also selling a set. Might be Too Old's boat from the powerquest liquidation auction.

The problem is not the boat, but rather the economy. Herb owns a beautiful boat I have personally been on the unfortunate side of trying to keep up with him , that boat just flat out Runs, and my boat for a old resin bucket is no slouch. Sutphens are a great boat especially in the rough but it seems that only we that own them can really appreciate that.