22 Islander

[starcraftkid]

I took a ride last week with a buddy who's been looking for a trailer and motor for his 22' Chieftain, he told me he found a 'junk' boat with a late model motor and year old trailer and wanted me to check it out.
When we got there I couldn't help but notice a rather clean 22' Islander sitting next to a garage uncovered.
I checked the engine compression for him and found all to be in order. The engine is a 2009 Yamaha 250 4 stroke. The trailer is a near new C channel frame Sea Lion Tandem bunk trailer. I started to dig around in the boat and was surprised at how clean the boat still was. The cabin is really decent, the deck is soft but only at the stern, and the seats are both shot.
He made a deal on the boat, he got it for $9,500 flat and we towed it back to his place. It was far more than I'd ever spent on a boat or car, but when you figure someone paid over $4400 for the trailer and $14,500 for the motor just last June, its a deal. Personally, I've never spent more than $1000 to buy a turn key boat, and most of my boats were either free or close to it but all were projects to some degree. The only boat I ever bought that was turn key and perfect, I got so cheap I just had to flip it for the big profit last spring.

I went over there today and found the motor on his Chieftain, and the trailer under it. The Islander is sitting on two logs propped up with bails of cardboard. When I asked what he planned to do with the boat, he said he's got no clue, he don't like the cabin style, and has no plans to use the boat. He mentioned even cutting it up for scrap. For right now he's got it way down back on his property sitting in the woods, uncovered and he don't care. He sees no value in it.
For me, it's too big, I like the boat but owning a 22' anything would mean buying a heavier tow vehicle, and with gas at $3.77/gal., that's not going to happen.
I don't want to feed the tow vehicle or a 22' boat.

What is a decent 22' Islander hull worth? The boat is late 70's, I think 78 or 79 or there about and he's got the title. I'd like to see it find a new home but after seeing reelfishin not being able to find a home for a complete boat and trailer, I doubt anyone would pony up even scrap value on an Islander?
When I mentioned him just selling it he felt the same way, he figured it's worth more as a chicken coop or even a shed to store things under if he flipped it over.

To me that's just wrong. The worst part is that the boat came from a lake in PA, it's a super clean freshwater run boat, it even looks good. He did have someone spot it from the road and stop and ask about it but they offered only $300, that only pissed him off. I think if it were mine, it would have to be worth at least $1,500 just because it's a clean hull that's not dented or corroded from saltwater. Plus, it's an outboard hull. The drawbacks of course would be that it needs an expensive trailer, clean tandem trailers for a 22' boat are few and far between used. There's a ton of 19-20 trailers out there but anything larger is rare in good shape. Also, it would need at least a 200hp motor, and I don't think there's room to mount two smaller outboards?
A pair of 115hp outboards would be nice if they would fit.

Something that really amazed me in the first place was that for one the seller dumped the boat cheap but he did say he was close to losing his house, but even more so, that the boat had been listed for sale for months and he had not one single other person reply to the ad or call. He had listed the boat, motor and trailer since Dec. for $10,000, plus two other ads for the motor alone at $5,500, and the trailer at $2,500, and the boat listed alone at $2500. None of his ads drew any response. The boat was loaded with a complete modern electronics set up, complete with radar, fish finders, GPS, chart plotter, VHF radio etc. All of the electronics were also new in 2010, They all got transferred over to the other boat. The simple fact that no one just bought the boat to resell the new components just boggles my mind.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 22 Islander

Your friend got a real STEAL there. Really amazing deal.

I think, as we've seen with reelfishin, he's not going to get anything bigger than a 3 digit number for an Islander with no motor or trailer.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 22 Islander

Bare 22' hull in my neck of the woods would go in the low 3 digits. $1500 buys one with a tandem axle trailer and driveline. Glad I live in the land of cheap boats

 

[starcraftkid]

Re: 22 Islander

I guess the cost of gas has made anything bigger than a 14' boat about worthless these days. I've got three 14' glass boats in the yard, I've had more than a dozen offers on them, all were higher than anything reelfishin seems to have had on his 18' Starchief. My guess is that the Islander will rot where it sits, I doubt if he'll get off it for less than $2K, but it's sort of a shame that a clean hull like that will just rot.
The same with rf's boat, that boat is in great condition and could be on the water with just a motor, but from the sound of it there's been no takers. If it were mine, I'd chop it up before I'd give it away.
For me, I basically went back to my 14' tinny for fishing, I can reach plenty of fish with that boat and it runs cheap. I don't boat for pleasure, my boat is a tool to put fish on the table. If there were no fish, I'd sell the boat.
Lately it seems that glass boats have more value than aluminum. A few years ago it was the reverse. I've had some pretty rough glass boats that I've bought for parts over the last year and everyone found a home, without it's motor or trailer, and all were sold not given away.
I took a load of scrap outboard parts to the junk yard last week, there was a dozen or more aluminum boats on the pile, some didn't look that bad, at least one looked darn near perfect but once it's there it gets ground up, and they most likely don't have a title for them anyhow.

Of course, if you were looking for a boat, the cheapest hull I've seen listed lately you'd have to dig deep in your pocket and pay real money for it.

I went to look at a gutted 16' Jupiter last week, the guy was asking $900. It was on a trailer, but the trailer was junk, it would have had to be moved onto another trailer to move the boat.
The seller had no title, just a scribbled bill of sale, the boat had no deck, no transom, and no windshield. It was advertised as needing some minor work. I told the guy I'd give him $200 tops and that I'd either have to move the boat onto another trailer or get a flatbed to move the thing.
He came right back and said that the trailer wasn't part of the deal, he wants $600 for the rotted trailer and both have to go together. He didn't say anything about that in the ad. The trailer was rotted so bad the springs were through the frame rails, the bunks had collapsed and the keel was on the frame. The hull was undamaged other than being stripped.
I walked away. I saw the same boat sitting yesterday in front of someone's garage being worked on about 12 miles away. I stopped and asked if it was indeed the same boat and he told me he got a super deal and paid only $1500 for the boat and trailer. He thought the boat and trailer were a steal. He was cutting the trailer apart and patching it up, and he had a load of plywood there for the inside of the boat. He was stripping off the many layers of paint when I stopped by.

To me it was a salvageable hull but not at anything close to that amount. My Starchief is about in the same condition as the one reelfishin has, mine is very usable but by far not restored, and I would probably never restore it, I just maintain and use it. If I make it pretty, I'd be too afraid to use it.
It seems that most people out there looking for a boat are looking for clean and fancy, and they want it for free.

I also seem to be getting far more uninformed buyers, I listed a well worn Mirrocraft boat a few months ago for $1200, it was the basic 16' bench seat hull, it didn't need anything but it wasn't pretty and had no trailer. I had one guy come out and start mulling over the boat, he looked at me and asked what all the patches were from? He was pointing the rivets on the bottom of the hull. When I told him that most all aluminum boats were built with rivets, he told me he wasn't interested since he was told that aluminum boats weren't any good for fishing. The boat sold the next day for $1000 to some old guy who loaded it in the back of a farm truck and drove away, never asking a single question. I went through 40 idiots before I found one guy with cash.
What was worse is that the ad said 'Aluminum Boat -16' Mirrocraft' in the title, so anyone that came out thinking it was fiberglass was an even bigger idiot.
After it sold, I had one guy come back that had told me my price was crazy after he drove down to the dealer and found out that the same boat new was $3750 on the lot. All of a sudden he wanted it but it was gone.
In my eyes, if a beat up 16' row boat brings $1000, then a 22' Chieftain has got to be worth double or more in the same or better condition. After all, what did the last one sell for new?

 

[starcraftkid]

Re: 22 Islander

I don't have to worry about what happens to the Starcraft Islander, he scrapped it, it was gone this afternoon when I drove by so I stopped to see what he did with it, he hauled it to the scrap yard and got $1293 for it, apparently it weighed in at 747 lbs.
I didn't realize they weighed that much gutted. My Starchief 18 is listed at 1000lbs in the brochure dryweight, I'd figure that the deck and cabin wall plus the seats and glass would be in the 350lb range. So I sort of figured the scrap weight of an 18' boat in reelfishin's case would be around 650lbs or so. If aluminum is in the $1.60 per pound range, that means the bare hull is worth at least $651. To me that means that any boat with a trailer like his has to be worth the value of the boat in scrap plus the trailer. I had to give $1350 for my trailer, it's older than his, and I searched for two years for a good used one. So his has to be worth $1000 with the new LED light kit, new winch, and new tires. The new parts alone are over $200. I find it hard to believe that there has been no takers on that boat.
Although I could never tow a 22' boat, I almost wish I had saved that Islander, it just seem wrong to junk a perfect hull, especially one that was so minty clean looking. The thing didn't need paint, it didn't have so much as a scratch on the hull. Apparently it got in his way and he crushed it up with the bulldozer and pushed it onto a flatbed and hauled it out yesterday morning.
The bad part is that I'm not sure I wouldn't do the same I couldn't sell something for a reasonable price. I know know that if I ever tire of my Starchief to just strip and scrap it so long as aluminum keeps climbing in value. In fact, a call to the local scrap yard told me that cars are bringing $12 per hundred so all the junk out in my wood may be headed to the scrap yard too soon.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 22 Islander

Always a sad day when a 22' OB Starcraft hull makes it way to scrap. Bummer dude.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 22 Islander

Always a sad day when a 22' OB Starcraft hull makes it way to scrap. Bummer dude.

Even sadder Jason that we couldn't even afford to give him SCRAP value for it

 

[MichaelP]

Re: 22 Islander

Sad. Just plain sad.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 22 Islander

Agreed and agreed.

 

[GLG fishing]

Re: 22 Islander

A moment of silence for the old girl.

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 22 Islander

*moment of silence*...

(if commoddity prices were not so high these boats would never see the scrap yard)

 

[barato2]

Re: 22 Islander

bummer, but it sure puts things in perspective for us bottom feeders.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: 22 Islander

Wow! I guess if it comes down to it, I suppose scrapping the Starchief might be the right answer.

I have a guy that offered me $900 for the trailer and I think he'd go another $100, if I got close to $500 in scrap, plus any bits of the boat I could eBay, I may do better than $1500 for my boat in the end. I suppose the two poly tanks would bring another hundred or so by them selves, the windshields, bow light, railing, and other small parts would also probably sell for good money. I did sell a used someone pitted original bow light off an old Larson that brought $63 last year. The dash, steering, etc will all sell too. I have little doubt that it'll bring money that way.
After thinking about it, I'll pull the ad and if it don't find a home the scrap yard just may be the way to go. Of course, with scrap back up right now, it may be wise to go that route now rather than chance prices dropping back on scrap. I called and the aluminum prices range from $1.47 to $1.63 locally when I asked what an old aluminum boat hull would bring if gutted. The Starchief is listed at 943lbs minus the motor, tanks, and controls, take away the deck, cabin wall, transom panel, seats, helm, and the steering cable I'd figure there to be at least 550lbs there probably more than that. I scrapped an I/O version of this two years ago which was already gutted that weighed in at 783, so I suppose this is close to the weight of mine. There's not a lot of weight difference between the 18 and 22, just some added sheet metal length and height. the main structure weight is very similar. If the boat comes close to $500 in scrap, the rest will no doubt push the total far over $1500.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 22 Islander

if I got close to $500 in scrap, plus any bits of the boat I could eBay, I may do better than $1500 for my boat in the end.

But we would never talk to you again. That has to be considered.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 22 Islander

Ugh.

 

[MichaelP]

Re: 22 Islander

Then there is the angry mob to answer to.
I wonder how many of these types were made, still in use unrestored, fully restored, abandoned/forgotten or crushed.

 

[starcraftkid]

Re: 22 Islander

When aluminum goes up like it did a few years ago, there was a rash of aluminum boats being scrapped, most were stolen. I got in the habit then of chaining my trailers to trees and locking my outboards up.
I can't half blame someone if they scrap a boat that won't sell, especially if it sells for more as scrap than as a boat. I'd probably have to consider it myself if I were looking to sell mine and couldn't find a buyer. Its simply a matter of it going to the highest bidder. Lately, trailers are worth more than boats, and boats over 16' just don't sell well. I've had a few super sales over the past few years but no one ever knocked on the door asking about my Starchief, but they beat down the door for my 16' SS, my 16' Jupiter, and my 14' Sea Scamp, all of which I sold for far more than I would have ever deemed them worth, especially in unrestored condition. None were ever listed for sale, all were knocks on the door asking if the boat outback was for sale. I sold my SS and my Jupiter for more than what reelfishin is selling his for, the 14' boat went for $1200, as a bare hull, all were sold last spring or summer. I also just sold a bare Jupiter hull, with no deck, no transom for $700, the guy came with a flatbed and hauled it away. I didn't even have the title. It had a transom that had been drilled a hundred times for various add ons, two holes in the bottom from stump strikes and several cracks, I was stripping it for scrap when someone had to have it. It sits down the road from here laying flat on the ground untouched and as found. I've got no clue what he intends to do with it.

If I lived closer to the water or had a larger truck, and a bigger yard, I'd have tried to buy that Islander but to be honest, I like the upright cabin boats better. That Islander never did it for me. Of course, it would have been the perfect hull to make into a 22' open boat with maybe a center console. But again, no room, no time, no money for another project. I have too many now.