What to look for in a rental or boat club used boat?

[Kevin.Dye]

I'm looking at a 2015 boat with over 500 hours on it. This will be my first inboard/outboard and has a Volvo Penta 270 V8 in it. We are taking it out on the water this week for a test run. What should I look for and what maintenance might I consider before purchasing? Any red flags? 3rd party compression test?

 

[Misterbulbous]

No offense, but I say look for something else. Those 500 hours have probably been accumulated by more than 250 different people with limited boating experience and a lot of unknown "oops" moments. Is it a considerable deal?

 

[Silverbullet555]

The door on the way out. Rental boats are worse than rental cars.

 

[Bt Doctur]

dont spend more that 5K, way too many hours and most likely abused hours too. How many times has the drive hit bottom or anything else. Complete mechanical survey, ECM print out of the motor history, Complete service history.
compression , leakdown, cylinder balance
And there`s a bridge I`d like to sell to you............................................... .....

 

[Kevin.Dye]

Thanks for the responses. The boat is a 2015 Bryant which was over $65k new. They are asking $29,900. Would that change your attitude about it knowing the brand?

 

[Scott Danforth]

No, brand on a used boat means nothing......it is back seat to condition

Have the hull looked at with a FLIR camera. I bet you will find evidence of many fiberglass repairs. Prop has most likely been replaced about 25 times and repaired about 50 times

Doubt if any PM was done over its 4 year stint as a rental. Most likely when something was busted, it would have been removed and swapped to get money back.

Have everything surveyed

Then offer a serious low ball offer as $10k. The boat really has been depreciated significantly as a rental whip.

Your at risk for a new motor/drive from abuse and lack of maintenance as well as a hull that most likely has been run aground more than a dozen times.

 

[Silverbullet555]

Thanks for the responses. The boat is a 2015 Bryant which was over $65k new. They are asking $29,900. Would that change your attitude about it knowing the brand?

Nope. First, boats depreciate like a rock even when privately owned and used lightly. May not have sold for 65k new. Rental boats are often under powered and are almost always driven by rookies that don't know what they are doing and don't care.

Add to that the fact that the rental company is only trying to get a couple years out of it and then lets it go means maintenance is fine to keep it running and not keep it for longevity.

if you can get it for a song, 10k, then maybe it's worth it if not, spend your 30k on a better option.

 

[Kevin.Dye]

Thanks for the input everyone. This boat has a VP 270 V8 engine. I took it out Wednesday and it runs fine, doesn't vibrate or anything. It was used as a top tier option at the boat club and our lake is sandy. It's not like there's a bunch of stumps to run it into. The prop looks fine. The outdrive looks like it's been left in the water some and the bottom fin is bent a little from contact probably with a boat ramp or concrete while forklifting the boat around. It's not chipped or anything. I bent that on my bass boat in my driveway lol. The bellows are still flexible and aren't leaking or anything.

I get what y'all are saying, but y'all aren't telling me what to look for to know if it's going to bite me in the ass. I really don't see people running the boat aground on this lake. It's more of a sandy recreational lake. It runs smooth, doesn't make any weird sounds or vibrate. Temps were all good on the motor. No rips or anything in the seats and all of the electronics work except for the swim deck radio controller. The paint is original. It has a slight waterline in it and no scratches on the bottom from being beached. I don't see any patches of new paint indicating hull repairs.

I'm getting the service docs now and I'll get the engine checked out before I buy it. What else is there to do? For this money I could get a 10 year old Chaparral ssi equivalent boat or this one that's only 3 years old.

 

[Maclin]

Seems like you did the due diligence list. Some questions I have now that the ex-rental heebie jeebies have waned some after your test drive...:

• Are you buying from the Boat Club, or an agent.
• Are there any offers of 30 day we-owe-you informal warranty items.
• What model is it.
• Wake/Surf options?
• Does it come with any canvas. What shape is that in.
• Does it have the matching Boatmate trailer. BIG plus in my view...

Any used boat is a roll of the dice. Ok, heck, ANY boat purchase is a roll of the dice. There are a couple of threads for new boat lemons current here on iBoats now. The boat you found has the 300 hours on it in 3 years, was probably not a lemon. Boat Clubs are structured differently than a boat rental outfit. There is a better chance that the boaters had at least some stake in how the boat was treated. That is just my opinion.

I have an older year 2002 model with 275 hrs, they are built very well with top tier materials, this is a constant theme with Bryant even through a management change in 2012 and subsequent acquisition by Correct Craft in 2017. I have had some MerCruiser problems, same as any used or even new boats. Part of Ownership. Also had to do some trailer mods as mine did not come with the matching Boatmate trailer.

 

[Kevin.Dye]

Hey Maclin.

It's on consignment at a dealer from the boat club.
I don't know what you mean, there's no we owe you stuff going on.
It's a 2015 Bryant Speranza.
No ballasts or surf tabs, just the wake tower.
Bimini is in perfect shape, we put it up Wednesday.
Trailer is original as far as I know. I'll look closer this week when I see it again.