Input please I am about to buy this searay 310

Islandbrah · Jan 13, 2010

I found an 81 sea ray 310 express with newly replaced mercruiser 454's with v drives. the engines have 14 hrs port and 16 stbd. The old man selling the boat is trying to raise capital for a foreclosure closing in 1 week. It can be had for 6500 and has proof of 15k in motor work receipts. no generator but the wiring is in tact. the A/C unit has been removed and the fridge as well. basically a real clean hull and motors bad interior (bout 700 bux diy) gel coat is clean. needs railing work ( broken base plate on 2 risers). I was hoping to flip the boat after cleaning up the interior as t-454's scare me in consumption. Looking for input as to if this sounds like a good deal. I tend to stick with cc fishing boats this will be my largest flip. just gun shy about the capital. The boat was recently pulled out and the bottom repainted.

Islandbrah · Jan 13, 2010

Re: Input please I am about to buy this searay 310

The engines start easily and the gauges all work. here are the rest of the pics

It sounds good mechanically just cosmetically it is poo to me. the missing gen, ac and tv, depth sounder, gps, are the down sides. I can scrounge some things but am more interested in cleaning and flipping. what do y'all think?

Bondo · Jan 13, 2010

Re: Input please I am about to buy this searay 310

Ayuh,... As with any 30 year old barge,...
I'd be concerned about the health of the underlying Wood Structures....

Gary H NC · Jan 13, 2010

Re: Input please I am about to buy this searay 310

Agree with Bond-o,
Also flipping older boats with this economy is not an easy task.
A marine survey would be a must on a boat that size.

Islandbrah · Jan 13, 2010

Re: Input please I am about to buy this searay 310

The hull is solid. I am really buying 2 motors in a good hull no frills not pretty. for 6500 bux maybe 6000 I thought maybe there is a 1-2k porfit in there if i cleaned up the interior. I am pretty resourceful when it comes to beautifying. I just dont know much about a boat of this operating size as my other boats are 25' and 18' both refits, so not my first boat, just wondering what other large boat people thought of this. fi you had 6k laying around and this presented itself would you tackle it?

Islandbrah · Jan 13, 2010

Re: Input please I am about to buy this searay 310

Thanks Bubba. I was sitting here doubting the purchase, not sure it I could pull enuff out of it to make it worth wile. If I was to keep it that would be a different story but then again to put 10 on top of 6 would cut my nose off to spite my face. I am in the SWFL area and boats although more plentiful tend to be a bit more pricey. There is also the possibility of just turning it as is and hope for a quick 500- 1000 on another site.

smokeonthewater · Jan 13, 2010

Re: Input please I am about to buy this searay 310

my thoughts are that if you were in the market for a big boat for yourself it could be an ok deal but to try and flip it..... What it's "worth" and what people will spend are two very different things..... 90% of folks who can afford the fuel, docking, storage, and other costs on a boat that big don't buy old boats without warranties..... the remaining 10% have lots of boats to choose from..... There is a 30' sea ray on a nice trailer a mile from my house that is in really nice condition and not missing anything. It has been for sale for at least 5 years.... It started at 14,000 and last I heard he is down to 8,500 but still it sits

Islandbrah · Jan 13, 2010

Re: Input please I am about to buy this searay 310

Very good points smoke. That's why I am apprehensive.

jaxnjil · Jan 13, 2010

Re: Input please I am about to buy this searay 310

-454's scare me in consumption/QUOTE]

not sure what you mean?

the motors and v-drive would be a big +

would be a good boat if you want to put some tlc for your self. wouldnt buy for investment to flip.
to many good newer boats you would have to compete with.

you could well end up putting your time and money into a hull you will have a hard time recovering your investment from

RotaryRacer · Jan 13, 2010

Re: Input please I am about to buy this searay 310

If you do continue to consider this, where are you going to keep the boat while you work on it? Where will you store it while you are tying to sell it? Do you have a slip? If not you need to consider storage/slip costs it determining if this is worthy of "flipping".

northernmerc · Jan 14, 2010

Re: Input please I am about to buy this searay 310

454s are good workhorses but they are thirsty. How much would a day long cruise cost with those engines? $500 or so??

Most people with enough money to feed fuel to those two gas guzzlers also likely have enough money to buy a newer and more fuel efficient boat.

rbh · Jan 14, 2010

Re: Input please I am about to buy this searay 310

Bubba1235 said:
Or, part it out. The engines and drives are worth the $6,500 easily.

Anyway you look at it , If you are not doing it for yourself you would be lucky to break even.

Islandbrah · Jan 14, 2010

Re: Input please I am about to buy this searay 310

Yeah guys I'm gonna pass. Decided the margin isn't high enough to tie up that kind of cash for a little return. Thanks for the input

haulnazz15 · Jan 14, 2010

Re: Input please I am about to buy this searay 310

I don't see that it would be that bad if you could get it for 6K. If the hull/transom checked out (not as big an issue with v-drives), it seems like 1K worth of interior would have that thing looking like new. A fridge would be an easy and reltively cheap find. A/C would be the killer as well as buying a new genny. If you just wanted to buy the boat to keep it, I'd be all over it, but as a quick flip it realy wouldn't give you much margin for profit.

You'd think a 31ft cruiser with two new powerplants and a new interior would pull 20K, but maybe just not in this market.

180Fisherman · Jan 15, 2010

Re: Input please I am about to buy this searay 310

Those engines don't look new to me. Rebuilt maybe. A rebuild is worth relatively little to me when looking to purchase unless I know really know and trust the people who did the work. BTW, if those engines were recently pulled why the hell didn't they clean up the engine compartment at least a little bit?

haulnazz15 · Jan 15, 2010

Re: Input please I am about to buy this searay 310

180Fisherman said:
Those engines don't look new to me. Rebuilt maybe. A rebuild is worth relatively little to me when looking to purchase unless I know really know and trust the people who did the work. BTW, if those engines were recently pulled why the hell didn't they clean up the engine compartment at least a little bit?

Well, if he has the receipts for 15K worth of rebuilding, it seems pretty likely that it probably has all new internals and has been gone through top to bottom. There is no difference between a new engine and a fully rebuilt engine to me, they are both done by humans who have at least a basic knowledge of putting an engine together. At least he has the receipts so he can ask them what all was done to the engines (parts used, etc).

Mechanics aren't paid to clean up the engine bay. A simple power-washing (or better yet steam-cleaning) would have that bay looking brand new.

Islandbrah · Jan 18, 2010

Re: Input please I am about to buy this searay 310

Well at 100 per hour I wouldn't pay someone else to clean it. I passed on the boat and decided to go for a waterfront home with a lift to play with my 25 cc and 18 flats instead. seems like a better investment in quality of life. thanks to all for the input. it is easy to get caught up in the vision and forget about the other parameters.

trendsetter240 · Jan 18, 2010

Re: Input please I am about to buy this searay 310

Islandbrah said:
Well at 100 per hour I wouldn't pay someone else to clean it. I passed on the boat and decided to go for a waterfront home with a lift to play with my 25 cc and 18 flats instead. seems like a better investment in quality of life. thanks to all for the input. it is easy to get caught up in the vision and forget about the other parameters.

Good choice. I also have a bit of the boat flipping bug. That there has too many variables and too much capital for me. Something like hidden rot in the stringers or a poor job on the engine rebuilds would have sunk you in no time.

Enjoy your new waterfront home!

Input please I am about to buy this searay 310

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