Complete newbie...jumping right in.

[cburnscrx]

Re: Complete newbie...jumping right in.

Well, I finally got a text back from the owner...it sounds like it's his boat. Here's the text...

"...I will get interior pics then. I do not have any service records i did oil changes and maintenance myself. Only thing I had a boat mechanic do yearly was lower unit gear lube change. Boat runs great buy the rear seat tops fabric is torn"

 

[tazrig]

Re: Complete newbie...jumping right in.

Well, I finally got a text back from the owner...it sounds like it's his boat. Here's the text...

"...I will get interior pics then. I do not have any service records i did oil changes and maintenance myself. Only thing I had a boat mechanic do yearly was lower unit gear lube change. Boat runs great buy the rear seat tops fabric is torn"

It could be nothing but the owner said he did all the maintenance himself yet left the lower unit lube change to a mechanic. Thats one of the easiest jobs there is out of all of them. When you take a look at the boat, try to get a list from him of the specific things he did to the boat for maintenance and how often. (to see if he's really on the level) By the way what part of the country are you in. It didn't say in your profile and in some parts of the country there are good deals to be had for $3,500. I don't remember what thread this boat was from but the guy bought it for $3,000 (within the last few weeks) and a boat mechanic went over it, tested the engine and gave it 2 thumbs up. The boat was beautiful inside and out! The key is to keep looking until the right one comes along and not to settle.

 

[frantically relaxing]

Re: Complete newbie...jumping right in.

Well, I'm going to flip everyone's coin-- since I've owned a Bayliner, which had a 3.0, and our houseboat is running a pair of 2.5's (same engine only smaller), I have some insight...

first of all, the 3.0 isn't going to move a boat that size like lightning, but nobody seems to realize the low end grunt those things have. I've seen them in more than one 21'er. I've had over 1200 pounds worth of adults in our Bayliner 175 more than once, and it got on plane within 5 seconds, no problem. Top speed is where these little 4-bangers fall down. The pair in our houseboat, easiest engines on the planet to start (and I can prove it! ). And it seems about the only way to kill one is to freeze it...

THAT all said, I notice the boat in the ad is in a garage, and looks to be in pretty good shape-- find out how long it's spent in that garage-- that goes a LONG way towards giving it MUCH consideration.

As everyone says, check it out WELL, but don't sell it short just because it's a Bayliner with a 4-banger.

 

[UncleWillie]

Re: Complete newbie...jumping right in.

...By the way what part of the country are you in. It didn't say in your profile

... I don't really know many people around here, and I don't know anybody who knows anything about boats...

You know plenty of people right here that know plenty about boats and some might be happy to come over to help you spend your money if we knew where you were located.

Based on the AD, the boat is just West of Indianapolis.

Hint:
At the top of this page, Click on "My Profile".
Enter your general location on the "Location" line.
It will help in getting much more specific help.

 

[cburnscrx]

Re: Complete newbie...jumping right in.

You know plenty of people right here that know plenty about boats and some might be happy to come over to help you spend your money if we knew where you were located.

Based on the AD, the boat is just West of Indianapolis.

Hint:
At the top of this page, Click on "My Profile".
Enter your general location on the "Location" line.
It will help in getting much more specific help.

Location would probably be useful...i should have done that earlier

I am in Indianapolis, and the body of water I am looking to get out on is Geist Reservoir. I would love some help if anybody would be willing. If I am flying solo, I'll ask as many questions as I can, and will take a list when I go. I wish I knew more than I did, but we all had to learn sometime. I just hope this time it doesn't cost me a whole bunch of money.

And though nobody asked, I have a 96 GMC Suburban 4x4, so towing shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Grub54891]

Re: Complete newbie...jumping right in.

#1do not check for rot or soft spots in the winter,unless its been in heated storage for at least 4 days for it to heat/thaw out! I've seen a few that get sold in freezing conditions, it's hard to see rot if its already hard/frozen.
Just saying .....
Grub

 

[tazrig]

Re: Complete newbie...jumping right in.

#1do not check for rot or soft spots in the winter,unless its been in heated storage for at least 4 days for it to heat/thaw out! I've seen a few that get sold in freezing conditions, it's hard to see rot if its already hard/frozen.
Just saying .....
Grub

Good point. another thing to look for is called "double decking. That is where someone has a soft spot or two to hide lays down another piece of plywood over the bad one like the below picture.





Here someone put down another piece of wood over what was probably a soft spot and then just laid down the carpet over the new piece of plywood. See how the carpet looks raised up? Take lots of pics and post them here after you look at a boat. Many sets of eyes looking at the same thing are bound to see something if it's there, good or bad.

 

[Captain Caveman]

Re: Complete newbie...jumping right in.

As for the maintenance, I do most of it myself as well. Call me anal, but I keep a spreadsheet of all maintenance and repairs usually along with the receipts. The problem is that someone doing their own maintenance is scary in and of itself. The guy could be a moron but still doing his own maintenance. Second, he may say that he's doing it but really isn't....the receipts at least can prove that he was buying oil, buying filters, buying spark plugs, etc. The only way to tell if he's a maintenance moron is to quiz him, as someone else suggested.

Changing the lower unit oil is easier (slightly) than changing the engine oil. Ask him why he didn't do both at the same time. Ask him when/how often he flushed out the motor. Ask him what specific tool he used to get off the oil filters (if needed). Ask him if he kept the receipts - or recorded - the times that he took it in for the lower unit. Ask him what else the shop did. I doubt that they would stop at just LU oil. Ask him how many anodes are in the motor and when he last replaced him...that will probably stump him, unless he had the shop do it. There's all kinds of other maintenance. To know for sure what should be done, see if you can download the owners manual for that 3.0 motor. Someone who is casual or lazy about maintenance is nobody that you want to buy a boat from.

The points about the boat being stored indoors are valid too. Be careful that he might have just put the boat indoors recently, but it's been stored outdoors most of its life. He could have also had the boat detailed for selling, so cosmetically it looks great but it's garbage underneath. Hopefully somebody on the forums here pipes up and offers to go with you, assuming they live in or near Indianapolis.

 

[Downforce6]

Re: Complete newbie...jumping right in.

Just thought I'd chime in.

I bought my first boat last year. A 1992 Bayliner Capri 1750 with that 130HP I/O

Great Boat. I'm in luv with mine, course, I have little to compare it too. Run it all day? Like I said mine is a 17' so not sure what the difference in size will do (from the pic I'd bet that is a 18-19' boat but it's hard to tell and i'm fairly certain they made these in 20' so,maybe it is.), but mine will run ALL WEEKEND on a tank. Easily, albeit I do some cove surfing.

Mine is a GM 3.0L with a Mercrusier Alpha one drive, It's very easy to work on, the boat handles great, it planes easily. I live close to you, (MO) and I gave $3300 for it, it was in great shape tho, the interior looks brand new, must have been garaged its whole life.

I wont pretend to be a boat expert, I'm not. Just chimed in to say, I bought a very similar boat last year as my first and I am very happy with it. I also gave a very comparable price to what he is asking. Let us know how it goes!

 

[Downforce6]

Re: Complete newbie...jumping right in.

I thought I'd add this about the power of the 3.0L.

Again, my boat is a 17'er, so keep that for perspective. This boat has plenty of power for me, I have not yet got into tubing. My normal lake is the Mark Twain lake in MO, off the top of my head I think its about 18K acres with and avg depth of 30' . Not very big by most standards, The water is not normally that rough. I share the water with other bowriders, pontoons, bass boats and a few house boats. I generally actually seem to have one of the faster boats on the water here, I have no trouble with power and I expect a 20' bowrider with a comparable engine would be just fine here.

Less often, I have been to Lake of the Ozarks. A 54K acre lake with an avg depth of 70'. The water is a little rougher here, but not terrible. The biggest difference is here you have much larger boats to share the water with, Speed boats, cruisers, sky is the limit here. This is where you will find the 130HP to be under-powered in my opinion. It isn't so much the water, If I am the only boat on the lake, I have no trouble. But the wake of larger 150HP+, 25'+ boats is a handful. It is more work than pleasure. I consider my boat to be of absolute minimal size for this lake.

I guess my point, is too not only consider the size of your lake, but the boats you will share the water with. If you just want to cruise around in calmer water with comparable boats, you'll be fine. If you are going to tote around 6 adults, tubing, with boats that are larger and more powerful than yours. You will not be happy with that 3.0L

If you do some research, you will find the 3.0L and Merc Alpha one stern have solid reputations. Like I said I get phenom gas milage and the power is more than adequate for my normal lake conditions, but I would consider the other boats you would share water with, this is where I find power comes in handy, more so than just the size of the lake. (of course, larger lake generally = larger boats)

 

[cburnscrx]

Re: Complete newbie...jumping right in.

That's not a good sign if I have to check when the weather is warm. The high yesterday was 15 and the interior picture he sent me yesterday showed the boat covered but now outside. The plot thickens...

Just a cut and paste from Wiki about the size of the lake.

Geist Reservoir Dam is located at the lake's southern end. Fed by Fall Creek on the north, the lake overflow is directed into the creek again at the south. The earthen dam is 44 feet high, with a length of 1400 feet at its crest. The reservoir capacity is 60,000 acre-feet, although normal storage is 21,180 acre feet.[1]
The reservoir is mostly rather shallow (ten feet or less). The area has undergone rapid development, many high-valued homes now line the reservoir's waterfront and within some of the most affluent ZIP codes in Indianapolis.
Geist Reservoir is 1,900 acres (769 ha) and spans three counties in Indiana (Marion, Hamilton, and Hancock), four voting precincts, four school districts (Lawrence, Hamilton Southeastern, and Mt. Vernon), and features five different ZIP codes (46037, 46256, 46236, 46040, 46055).
[edit]

I'll mostly be cruising, looking at all the beautiful homes and socializing in cocktail cove. I am sure we'll do some tubing, but I think I'll fish more than I do that. I do however want to be able to tube without feeling that I'll get run over.

 

[cburnscrx]

Re: Complete newbie...jumping right in.

Just thought I'd chime in.

I bought my first boat last year. A 1992 Bayliner Capri 1750 with that 130HP I/O

Great Boat. I'm in luv with mine, course, I have little to compare it too. Run it all day? Like I said mine is a 17' so not sure what the difference in size will do (from the pic I'd bet that is a 18-19' boat but it's hard to tell and i'm fairly certain they made these in 20' so,maybe it is.), but mine will run ALL WEEKEND on a tank. Easily, albeit I do some cove surfing.

Mine is a GM 3.0L with a Mercrusier Alpha one drive, It's very easy to work on, the boat handles great, it planes easily. I live close to you, (MO) and I gave $3300 for it, it was in great shape tho, the interior looks brand new, must have been garaged its whole life.

I wont pretend to be a boat expert, I'm not. Just chimed in to say, I bought a very similar boat last year as my first and I am very happy with it. I also gave a very comparable price to what he is asking. Let us know how it goes!

Thanks so much for that input. That makes me feel a little better about going to look at this boat. It doesn't mean I won't check the boat over with a fine tooth comb and take lots of pictures for you guys, but at least it appears to have the chance to suit my needs.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Complete newbie...jumping right in.

Take a look at this thread for a few tips on what to look for in the way of red flags when buying a boat like you're looking for:

http://forums.iboats.com/boat-resto...-buying-my-fist-89-bayliner-capri-589965.html

 

[cburnscrx]

Re: Complete newbie...jumping right in.

As for the maintenance, I do most of it myself as well. Call me anal, but I keep a spreadsheet of all maintenance and repairs usually along with the receipts. The problem is that someone doing their own maintenance is scary in and of itself. The guy could be a moron but still doing his own maintenance. Second, he may say that he's doing it but really isn't....the receipts at least can prove that he was buying oil, buying filters, buying spark plugs, etc. The only way to tell if he's a maintenance moron is to quiz him, as someone else suggested.

Changing the lower unit oil is easier (slightly) than changing the engine oil. Ask him why he didn't do both at the same time. Ask him when/how often he flushed out the motor. Ask him what specific tool he used to get off the oil filters (if needed). Ask him if he kept the receipts - or recorded - the times that he took it in for the lower unit. Ask him what else the shop did. I doubt that they would stop at just LU oil. Ask him how many anodes are in the motor and when he last replaced him...that will probably stump him, unless he had the shop do it. There's all kinds of other maintenance. To know for sure what should be done, see if you can download the owners manual for that 3.0 motor. Someone who is casual or lazy about maintenance is nobody that you want to buy a boat from.

The points about the boat being stored indoors are valid too. Be careful that he might have just put the boat indoors recently, but it's been stored outdoors most of its life. He could have also had the boat detailed for selling, so cosmetically it looks great but it's garbage underneath. Hopefully somebody on the forums here pipes up and offers to go with you, assuming they live in or near Indianapolis.

Well, I already know the boat is now outside. He sent a picture of the two step/rear seat backs that will need recovered because there is a tear in them, however the other two seats I can see in the picture look original and fantastic. I tend to believe what he said about them being stepped on all the time getting in and out of the boat.

The maintenance is the part that scares me...I don't know enough about boats to know what he really did or should have been doing. Of course I know about oil changes and such, but that's about it with boats. I am good with cars, so I hope I can tell if the engine is a POS...but unlike a car, I can't hear it run or drive it right now.

 

[cburnscrx]

Re: Complete newbie...jumping right in.

As for the maintenance, I do most of it myself as well. Call me anal, but I keep a spreadsheet of all maintenance and repairs usually along with the receipts. The problem is that someone doing their own maintenance is scary in and of itself. The guy could be a moron but still doing his own maintenance. Second, he may say that he's doing it but really isn't....the receipts at least can prove that he was buying oil, buying filters, buying spark plugs, etc. The only way to tell if he's a maintenance moron is to quiz him, as someone else suggested.

Changing the lower unit oil is easier (slightly) than changing the engine oil. Ask him why he didn't do both at the same time. Ask him when/how often he flushed out the motor. Ask him what specific tool he used to get off the oil filters (if needed). Ask him if he kept the receipts - or recorded - the times that he took it in for the lower unit. Ask him what else the shop did. I doubt that they would stop at just LU oil. Ask him how many anodes are in the motor and when he last replaced him...that will probably stump him, unless he had the shop do it. There's all kinds of other maintenance. To know for sure what should be done, see if you can download the owners manual for that 3.0 motor. Someone who is casual or lazy about maintenance is nobody that you want to buy a boat from.

The points about the boat being stored indoors are valid too. Be careful that he might have just put the boat indoors recently, but it's been stored outdoors most of its life. He could have also had the boat detailed for selling, so cosmetically it looks great but it's garbage underneath. Hopefully somebody on the forums here pipes up and offers to go with you, assuming they live in or near Indianapolis.

I am printing this and taking it with me....lots of pics to follow.

 

[Downforce6]

Re: Complete newbie...jumping right in.

Geist Reservoir Dam is located at the lake's southern end. Fed by Fall Creek on the north, the lake overflow is directed into the creek again at the south. The earthen dam is 44 feet high, with a length of 1400 feet at its crest. The reservoir capacity is 60,000 acre-feet, although normal storage is 21,180 acre feet.[1]
The reservoir is mostly rather shallow (ten feet or less). The area has undergone rapid development, many high-valued homes now line the reservoir's waterfront and within some of the most affluent ZIP codes in Indianapolis.
Geist Reservoir is 1,900 acres (769 ha) and spans three counties in Indiana (Marion, Hamilton, and Hancock), four voting precincts, four school districts (Lawrence, Hamilton Southeastern, and Mt. Vernon), and features five different ZIP codes (46037, 46256, 46236, 46040, 46055).
[edit]

That's very comparable to Mark Twain, in general, you'll be fine with 130HP here. I cannot say I have ever piloted a 20' boat with 130HP. I would try to find out exactly what model this is, so you know what you're dealing with.

Also, about those rear seats, you can see by the design of those side windows, and I can tell you from exp, climbing over the rear seats is the easiest way to enter the boat, that is how we do it, so I'm sure thats exactly what happened to them.

It is not a deal breaker for that boat to be stored outside, as long as it's been properly winterized, well covered, and the bow has been raised so that water will drain, it just means you need to take a long look at it. Of course, garaging is clearly the better option. Just saying its not a complete deal breaker. Just take alot of pictures for the more exp guys to look over and look for anything that looks to be a cover-up. Service records would be a huge plus. You can also hire a marine surveyor to look at this boat. But I know when I bought mine, it didn't seem feasible to hire one for a $3500 boat, so I didn't and I got lucky and got a good boat, had I gotten screwed, I might think differently. Maybe he would agree to let a marina look over?

Normally, it is a no-no to buy a boat without a test ride, I know being Jan that isn't much of an option. and P.S. I bet he will come off that price a bit.

 

[Downforce6]

Re: Complete newbie...jumping right in.

My 92' 1750 Capri



Yeah, just an old boat, nothn special about it but like I said, I'm happy with it. I'm sure I'll be lookn to upgrade one day cause I'm def hooked! The 17' is quite small but it's usually only me the wife and 12 year old daughter, it's perfect for that. 6 adults would be very cramped in my boat, even tho it has the seating and rating capacity for it. (barely)

 

[Grub54891]

Re: Complete newbie...jumping right in.

Good point. another thing to look for is called "double decking. That is where someone has a soft spot or two to hide lays down another piece of plywood over the bad one like the below picture.
Yeah you end up with this: note I knew this when I bought it,super cheap.,beginning the process now to restore it.
Grub

 

[cburnscrx]

Re: Complete newbie...jumping right in.

My 92' 1750 Capri

Yeah, just an old boat, nothn special about it but like I said, I'm happy with it. I'm sure I'll be lookn to upgrade one day cause I'm def hooked! The 17' is quite small but it's usually only me the wife and 12 year old daughter, it's perfect for that. 6 adults would be very cramped in my boat, even tho it has the seating and rating capacity for it. (barely)

Actually I think it's a really good looking boat, and one I'd be happy to own. Hopefully I can get mine looking that nice someday. I don't know what it is...but I love blue and white boats.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Complete newbie...jumping right in.

You mentioned the seat being torn from stepping on it....

That is only PARTIALLY true.... the seat is torn because the vinyl is old and sun rotten and that seat is the one that gets stepped on.... the rest of the seats, tho maybe not torn will also be old and brittle.... not the end of the world but don't be surprised if they start cracking and splitting soon... definitely do not plop down on em in 15 degree weather.