Good luck on the road. Please bring a good quality digital camera to document the exciting journey you are going to undertake.

I have a 3 year old triple axle aluminum trailer that I have towed up to 600 miles in a weekend. It has 6 new tires, new springs, new bearings and I would still go over that trailer with a magnifying glass before embarking on a 950 mile ride. As far as putting money in the trailer, keep in mind it is a tool to get your boat around. Anything related to that boat will cost you money but it will always cost more when it is an emergency.

If you are just going down to check it out first, buy a plane ticket and fly down. It will be a lot cheaper than driving and if you decide you don't want it you will save a ton of money.

Another thing I just noticed looking at this picture again, is that the tires on the trailer aren't even the same size, at least not in this picture. And it looks like the fender has suffered from a blow-out or two already.

http://kijiji.ebayimg.com/i23/06/k/0...?set_id=1C4000

I don't know if you have your heart set on this boat or what, but I would think you can find something a lot closer, especially in the MD area than Florida. Any more pics of the boat?

I apologize, I never noticed that link with the picture of the boat/trailer. YOU WOULD BE INSANE TO DRIVE DOWN TO DRAG THAT BACK WITHOUT HAVING THE TRAILER SERVICED FIRST ALONG WITH 4 NEW TIRES IN ADDITION TO A PAIR OF SPARES. THAT IS A 50-50 TRAILER AS IN NO MORE THAN 50MPH OR 50 MILES TOTAL TRAVEL.

There's ton's of members here on OSO from Florida. Perhaps you can post a thread in GBD and have someone take a look. OR better yet contact Ed Cozzi to survey the boat. After seeing that pic definetly DO NOT pull that trailer 950 miles without having it serviced and new tires. Its not the getting stuck on the side of the road part its the causing an accident part I'd be worried about.

I have another boat in the area to look at if I don't go for this one.

I had already checked about flying. Flying to this boat would only save half the time of driving when you factor in connections and puddle jumpers, and it would cost about $300 more than driving, not including the taxi ride or rental car.

Besides, I'm thinking about stopping on the way down and playing a golf course I've always wanted to play.

I think the tire size must be an optical illusion caused by the wheel chock. I can't imagine any trailer not having matching wheels.


To make a long story short ... there are only two models of boat that fit what I want. Which is SOB, about 24 ft., with a deadrise that handles bay chop well, will do 60 without straining with a 300, isn't butt-ugly style-wise and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Those two being a mid-80's Checkmate Enforcer and a Progression 24. As of right now I'm only able to find five Enforcers throughout the country for sale on the Web. This particular one is not only the cheapest, but it also requires the least amount of work (at least going by the pictures) of what I want it to be.

But I'm also willing to walk away if in person I determine there are any conditions that would make the final cost unreasonable. There are none closer than 300 miles away. And the cheapest Progressions I've seen are $14,000 more than this boat.

I have a friend that brought his 26' Checkmate from the lakes in NY State to here in Long Island Sound, after a couple of months of running around things started busting left and right. He went out and bought a PowerPlay the next season. Maybe I missed where you do your boating but my point is if it's in the Chesapeake you'd do better with some other boats. Checkmate is a great lake boat, but in the day to day chop of the bigger waters I've seen their limits being stretched first hand. I've been on both and the Progression is a more stout boat without question.

Cool man, sounds like you've done your research and know what you want. I only wish I would have known about OSO before I bought my boat a couple years ago, it would have expanded my search 10 fold...



Now that is NO optical illusion, you can look all the way around that rim and see that rear tire is way smaller than the front one. There is also some wierd photoshopping going on at the bottom of the pic as the driveway doesn't line up and you can see a line in the grass. There are alot of people that do a lot of dumb sh1t to boats and trailers, especially older ones.

I like Checkmates, always have and grew up about 10 miles from the factory. But my brother has also spent about 2 years replacing all the rotted wood in an old Checkmate (I gave up on the boat years ago), make sure you look things over good on it, especially the floor and bulkheads. Not to say other manufacturers didn't have poor build quality, my boat will be getting stripped and re-rigged this winter for sure.

You may also want to check out the Checkmate forum, www.checkmate-boats.com

Thanks, I've been reading that site for a while. Especially the restoration forum. So I know what I might be getting into.

I've read a lot of restoration articles and enough accounts of surveyors not finding structural damage over the last few months, and just finished the book Runabout Restoration just to make sure I wanted to take a chance on an old boat. For something I'm going to use 20-30 days per year I just can't justify spending the $$$ on a newer boat. Restoration is cheap ... $$$-wise.

I'm not looking for a project, but I'm fairly handy with tools, so if I screw up and stumble into one it wouldn't be the end of the world. And I have a ton of vacation time that I need to take or lose anyway.

I've lived on the Bay and on a boat most of my life. I'll only be out in the Bay to run from one tributary to another, from the Bay Bridge up to the Inner Harbor, so the chop is usually not too bad. I'm used to running wide-open in Bay chop in a 20-footer, so this is a step up for me.

There are quite a few mid-20's Checkmates running around in front of my house that seem to do OK in the weekend mixing bowl. Certainly much better than the 13' Checkmate I drove a few times when I was a teenager:o.

PowerPlay's and Progressions are great boats, but big bucks. And like I mentioned in a previous post, even though I can afford it, for the number of times I'll use it I just can't justify it.

Good luck man! Let us know how the trip goes!