Buying boat - looking for suggestions

As stated, my wife and I have started looking at boats. We live close to a lake where my grandparents have a little lot with a pier and a boat lift, which is about to be empty, so we'll be able to keep it at the lake in the summer. There's always been some sort of boat in my family, so I'm used to the driving and loading them part of it, but since I've never had anything besides my John boat with electric trolling motor, so I'm lost when it comes to what is good and what is junk. We've been without a ski boat for a year or two, and the slalom is just gathering dust, so we want something that is multi use.

Onto the needs of this thing, number one is reliable, so any tips on what to look for when I go check them out would be great. We don't want a speed boat by any means, but enough motor to pull a slalom out of the water without too much dragging would be awesome. With that said, I've been looking at mostly 6cyl stuff, trying to stay away from big v8s. On top of reliability and decent power/fuel efficiency a half decent interior would be great. We don't want to spend all our time repairing instead of on the water.

If you're still reading through my rambling then I'll get to the good stuff, figured I'd post some links of boats I've found and try to get some feedback from you guys. Let me know if a brand is junk, or a motor has known issues, that sort of thing. I appreciate any help that you can give.

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/boa/5744200057.html

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/boa/5743271025.html

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/boa/5766374654.html

http://charlotte.craigslist.org/boa/5747265997.html

 

Most of your search is going to dictated by your budget. Obviously it looks like you would like to stay around the 5-6k range? I just sold my 18ft regal with a 4.3 volvo penta for 8k with trailer. The boat was perfect little started boat and perfect for skiing, tubing, wake boarding etc. The motor had plenty of power and was great. Never had a problem. You want to look at the amount of hours the motor has on it, if available. I am partial to the Volvo penta's as opposed to the merc's. The volvo's seem to last longer from most of the mechanics I talked to. When I sold mine it probably had around 700 hours on it and compression was still great. If you can hook up a compression gauge to the motor I highly suggest doing this. 17ft. boat might be a little tight. I had an regal 1800lsr and with my 13yo son and a couple of his friends it was tight moving around getting life jackets on etc. I replaced my regal with a 2013 Tidewater 2000 (20ft) carolina bay. I love this boat tons of room to walk around huge deck on the bow (for doing backflips of course) and places to sit and hang on the back. I also use it to pull skiers and tubers. It has plenty of room to fish and for rods. It has a yami 150 4stroke. so depending on your needs you may want to consider things like storage, seating, and maybe a swim platform. swim platforms are great cause it gives you hang out room and places for skiers to get ready to get in the water. Anyway I know tons of info but once you get a boat you will know what you want/don't want in your next boat. I'm a big fan of Regal and Monterey and Sea Ray. But they tend to be a little pricey. but on the flip side I bought my regal for 8k had it for 2 years and sold it for 8k. look around.winter is a great time to buy a boat also cause they drop in price dramatically. If you can drive a little ways, you can usually find good deals in Fl.

 

http://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/bod/5751438440.html
not sure if you can drive to Ft. Myers but this is a decent deal on a v6 sea ray
http://fortmyers.craigslist.org/lee/boa/5756237383.html

 

Like above post Volvo penta, they got it right and they are serviceable if need be. Deck boat sounds like what you need.

 

Planning to go look at the first boat I posted above on Monday. Like you said most of what I'm looking at is predicated by price.

Talked to a guy about a regal 176, I believe that model is right, little cheaper, but only run twice a year and it has the 3L merc. I'm more interested in the first boat which seems like they ran regularly, has the 4.3L merc and based off of pictures seems to be in good condition.

Since this is my first big boat purchase, I don't know if it's any different than car buying in terms of haggling. If I decided to make an offer, they're asking 5500, I figured I'd offer 4600 or 4700 as my first offer. Reasonable?

 

yeah i would try for the v6 and if you have to spend a few more bucs to get it, get it. worth it in my opinion. however, to get a v6 in a 17ft boat might take some looking. thats a big motor for a 17ft boat. But yeah all prices are nego. The guy I bought my tidewater from was asking 33. I got it for 24k cash. dude always low ball then work on it if it's something you like. Oh and look at the bilge area. if it's covered in oil or anything run!!! run your hands around the bottom of the block to make sure there are no oil leaks. also, for the carburated motors ask when the carburator was replaced.

 

Got it. So probably offer lower than that starting off with.

Should they have rebuilt the carb, or actually replaced it? My motorcycle is the only carborated engine I've owned, so I've got stuff to learn.

What else should I keep an eye out for? I know water in engine oil, or in prop oil.(is there typically a dipstick of sorts for this or just drain and fill plug?). That and inspecting condition of belts/hoses/wires). That's about all I know

 

rebuilt carbs are fine. but yeah you have to remember your inboard/outboard motor is basically a water cooled car engine. mercruiser is made by ford and volvo is a chevy. my motor used to say vortec on it. so you kinda wanna look for the same things you would on a car motor. you may also want to find out when the last service was done and when the impellar was last changed. the impellar moves water through the motor to keep it cool. the flanges on the impellar can flatten out if not changed and the motor will over heat possibly throwing a rod. i changed my impellar every year weather it needed it or not with the oil. so just a couple of more things for ya haha. anyway good luck

 

Gotcha. Sounds good. They've said it was regularly serviced and winterized by a mechanic and they have records, so we'll see. Calling this afternoon with a few more questions for him before I commit to driving two hours to look at this thing.

 

Impeller preemptively changed at the beginning of this season. After talking to this guy I'm getting excited. Hoping it looks as good as its described.

Going to look at it on Monday afternoon. I'll keep this up to date, thanks for the help with what to look at when testing this boat.

 

Good luck. Yeah the impeller should last a couple of years depending on use/abuse etc..... Anyway good luck and like I said if you can test the compression on the cylinders go for it. If not then it's ok. But deffinetly take it for a test drive. Check for oil marks on the bilge area (oil leaks/ previous oil leaks) feel all around. Ask if he has been using non ethanol gas. etc... good luck and yes keep us informed. Looking foward to pics.

 

not a bad deal at all
https://raleigh.craigslist.org/boa/5768290607.html

 

if you can get him down to your price I would look at this
http://danville.craigslist.org/boa/5714142955.html

 

How bout this?

https://seattle.craigslist.org/kit/boa/5770666283.html

Please?

 

Dude I can't believe that pup is still for sale such a beauty

 

Thanks. Takes a special breed to submit themselves to the torture, er, love, it takes to have an old CC.

 

lol yep I rekon so.

 

Went today to test drive that first boat, the maxum. Looked just as good in person as described, and performed as expected, so we bought it. I think we got a good deal especially since he threw in a ton of stuff, spare propeller, hydrofoil, eight life jackets, bumpers, two anchors, boat cover, bunch of water toys and about four ski ropes, set of ear muffs, and the tank so we can winterize it, two spare trailer tires. I'm sure I've forgotten something, but we felt good with the deal.

Planning to go out tomorrow and run it a while before I need to take a nap before work.

 

Congrats

 

Sounds good. Congrats and glad you found something!