desirable outboard or older hull?

Shopping for a walkaround style salmon fishing boat for the PNW. After a lot of looking, 2 boats interest me:
- 1999 Trophy 2002, 1999 150 hp Optimax 250 hrs, Honda 8 hp kicker
- 1992 Olympic 21 NW hardtop, 1992 Yamaha 150 hp 650 hrs, Yam 8 hp 2 str kicker

Both boats come with trailer, GPS, VHF, fishfinder and appear to be well maintained, not repo's. Both priced at $16.5K. Haven't yet seen either in the flesh.

I like the older but better made Olympic hull and its Armstrong bracket mount and full hardtop w/Alaskan bulkhead, but the older engine is a concern, and the marina where the boat will be kept and maintained is a Merc dealer, not Yamaha. (I live 6 hrs away).

The Trophy is newer and has a Merc Optimax with low hrs, and a 4 stroke troll motor. It has standup canvas rather than hardtop which is less functional on the rainy BC coast.

Opinions, please.

Re: desirable outboard or older hull?

My answer would be to buy the NW hull. With outboards you can always swap out the motor down the road. It?s much easier than swapping out the hull at a later date.

It also depends on what price you can get the boat for. A motor of that vintage is certainly pushing zero dollar value. In fact, I would tell the owner it has no value and base my offer on hull value alone.

In reality, the 650 hours on the Yami is nothing. The average user puts 75-100 hours a year so you could easily expect another 5-7 years out of the motor if its good shape.

How long do you plan to keep the boat? Will that buy you enough time to save up for a new motor?

IMHO: Both boats are price way too high. The motor on the NW has zero value. Is the hull worth $16K...no where close.

The Trophy wasn't much more than that new. What's 10 years of wear and tear worth?

Re: desirable outboard or older hull?

Some fair comments there. From some internet searches it seems to me that prices are generally higher on the west coast, so that might account for your perception of overpricing. I have to sift through hundreds of posts on Craigslist Seattle or Portland to find one boat I'm interested in. These units don't change hands all that much, they're still in demand. It's worse again - and more expensive - on the Canadian side where I live.

Anyone else?