New Here, Need HELP!

[LowSpeedChase]

I am in the process of buying a 1990 VIP Vision 19' with a 4.3 in it.

The boat is in pretty good condition but I have run into some SERIOUS issues.

I say I am in the process because I have paid 2 of the $3,000 that we agreed upon. 2,000 was cash and the other 1,000 was a check. The boat and trailer have been signed over to me and insured and everything.

Here's the problem. I took the boat to the launch for a trial run and it about sank in less than 10 minutes. I ran the bilge for about 20 min until it was about empty. Cut the bilge off and water came rushing back in very fast. I stopped payment on the additional $1000 check and took it to the marina to be checked out. Keep in mind that the seller promised it was lake ready and that it was on the water the weekend before with 8 people in it. There was never a bill of sale written up that said sold as is or anything.

I have a slip from the marina saying that the boat is unsafe to operate because the transom is rotten but the guy is threatening to sue for the 1000 dollars saying it was a "bad check" and anything over 599 in North Carolina is a felony. I dont consider it a bad check and the seller is not willing to take the boat back or come down on the price.

Yes i bought a boat with a rotten transom even though i thought i inspected it pretty thoroughly.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. I know there is a lot of info out there about lemon laws and whatnot but wondered if anyone had run into a similar situation or has any advice.

Thanks in advance and i've already learned a ton from this site in the short time i've been here!

 

[tejastoolman]

Re: New Here, Need HELP!

yikes, that seller totally filled you full of shizzle! Hopefully there is not a buyer beware law for used boats like here in tx... if he said it was lake ready that means absolutely 0 leaks! Basically lied to you trying to dump off his lemon junker. Call the cops so they will have a report of what he tried to do to ya. man that sucks, hard earned cash all for some sucker to take for granted bs

good condition is not clean paint, fresh Armour all'd vinyl & working stereo I've learned

 

[JAFO1]

Re: New Here, Need HELP!

Probably, best advise is to get an attorney. What I think, and what I'd do probably don't match up to what the law says.

 

[greenbush future]

Re: New Here, Need HELP!

The misleading ?water ready? statement will be one of the more important items when this is sorted out. I agree about the police report, and documenting everything that has happened to date. It is almost foolish to buy a boat without a sea test, but I?m sure you understand this now, as opposed to then. This entire situation could have been avoided, but now that you are knee deep, you may well end up getting less than what you bargained for initially. You need to speak with an attorney and not the seller, sure hope this ends up better than it sounds. For what it?s worth, the transom can be repaired.

 

[Luhrs28]

Re: New Here, Need HELP!

The problem with these situations is always that it will cost you way more than $1,000 to hire an attorney. Possibly even more than $3K by the time you're done.

Also you never know what a judge is going to say about it. He/she could take the view that any 1990 boat bought from a private individual is assumed to be sold as-is.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: New Here, Need HELP!

As your attorney, I advise you to start drinking heavily!

the first boat I bought leaked like a sieve and the motor would only work in reverse. The guy wouldn't give me my money back so I just had to bite the bullet.

I think you've just learned boat buying lesson #1, it's not going to help you now... but will in the future should you ever decide to buy another used boat.

 

[doberacker]

Re: New Here, Need HELP!

I've been in something similar, and an attorney will cost MORE than the grand you owe. Unfortunately you should pay him the money, fix the transom, as it can be repaired without spending to much. A jury/judge will just say that the damage occured while YOU used it, and not at the time of sale? It's not fair...... Let Kharma get them, I would pay them and learn from it.... Sorry you had it happen to you.. Been there before. Almost exact situation! Trust me, after my lawyer got paid, I would have saved money just paying them.... Best of luck..... Bummer.......

 

[lazyfish]

Re: New Here, Need HELP!

Right now I do think you need pay the guy the 1000 you owe him and not get a felony charge by some chance,then if you deem nessecary contact a lawyer.Just my thoughts

 

[Outback Jack]

Re: New Here, Need HELP!

This seems to happen alot, in my situation I went over the boat as good as I could but I could not check under the solid deck. After a year of boating and finding this forum I read about maintenance as I am new to boating. After going over everything again I find my boat is damp underneath the deck. Lucky everything I could check at the time was solid. I felt the same way as you, I know it was a period of time but felt I should go after the owner. But I grabbed the bull by the horns and jumped into a resto instead. Good luck on the situation, but like everyone says it will probably cost you more and maybe the outcome not go in your favor. Good Luck, if the guy has any respect for fellow boaters he would come clean and sort this out instead of just letting it ride. I bet he would not want to be burned like this.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: New Here, Need HELP!

Hello LSC and welcome to Iboats ..

I dont think your going to take that kind of water on just from a "bad" transom.

Yes the trans might be rotted .. but that kinda of water coming in is usually a broken/cracked through hull fitting or a bad drive bellows or something like that .. not a rotted out transom.

Did you find where exactly the water is coming in ?

I'm no lawyer .. but I would pay the guy ( no bill of sale with a statement of durability or reliability might be bad for you ) and then sue him if you found out that the he was misleading..

I would find out where the water is coming from. You do know that when your buying a boat of this age the drive is going to have to be re-booted and sealed.. possible trans job..possible stringer/deck etc .. right ?

If you dont know what to look for then you should hire or ask for the latest survey job done on the boat.

Sorry about your bad boat experience .. could be just a cracked hose and nothing more and mole hill is now a mountain.

Good luck

YD.

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: New Here, Need HELP!

Hello LSC and welcome to Iboats ..

I dont think your going to take that kind of water on just from a "bad" transom.

Yes the trans might be rotted .. but that kinda of water coming in is usually a broken/cracked through hull fitting or a bad drive bellows or something like that .. not a rotted out transom.

Did you find where exactly the water is coming in ?

I'm no lawyer .. but I would pay the guy ( no bill of sale with a statement of durability or reliability might be bad for you ) and then sue him if you found out that the he was misleading..

I would find out where the water is coming from. You do know that when your buying a boat of this age the drive is going to have to be re-booted and sealed.. possible trans job..possible stringer/deck etc .. right ?

If you dont know what to look for then you should hire or ask for the latest survey job done on the boat.

Sorry about your bad boat experience .. could be just a cracked hose and nothing more and mole hill is now a mountain.

Good luck

YD.

Yep, yep, yep....we've never heard exactly where the water is coming in.....need to know this for sure...

 

[LowSpeedChase]

Re: New Here, Need HELP!

Thanks guys for all the responses.

I certainly made a bad decision purchasing this boat that's pretty obvious. I've been on boats all my life and so has my father who looked at the boat with me. This is a true testament that you MUST test drive the boat before you purchase! Although i've been on boats my whole life, i've never had an I/O and have also had no experience purchasing used boats. The thing seemed like it was solid.

Looking back i should have asked him to fill the boat up with water to see if it did leak at least.

To answer some of the questions, i have not torn the out drive off to check the bellows or anything like that. I want to wait until this is all sorted out. When we put it back on the trailer, it was leaking out the bottom of the outdrive pretty bad. When looking a little harder it seems that the outdrive has been caulked all but on the bottom, another sign that it has been leaking that i should have noticed.

The floor has been replaced but seems to be loose and almost floating. I guess this is probably a good sign that the stringers are bad?

If I do end keeping the boat, the plan is to pull the outdrive, engine, and floor and probably take to the marina that checked it out for them to replace everything that is rotten.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: New Here, Need HELP!

I bet in addition to all this, it's an OMC sterndrive eh?

 

[LowSpeedChase]

Re: New Here, Need HELP!

Yes sir. i guess i should have researched a little more. no good?

 

[ezmobee]

Re: New Here, Need HELP!

Yes sir. i guess i should have researched a little more. no good?

Obsolete. OMC has been out of business for over a decade and parts and service are getting harder to find. Nothing wrong with OMC quality or performance-wise but the parts thing is an issue. VIP's weren't particularly well made boats either but after 20 years, any fiberglass boat with a wooden sub-structure has the potential for rot.

 

[Friscoboater]

Re: New Here, Need HELP!

You did not write a hot check, you stopped payment because of goods misrepresented or not delivered. BIG difference.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: New Here, Need HELP!

You did not write a hot check, you stopped payment because of goods misrepresented or not delivered. BIG difference.

Yeah I was thinking the same thing. Dude doesn't have a leg to stand on. And case history has shown that you can say "as-is" all he wants, but he'll still lose.

 

[LowSpeedChase]

Re: New Here, Need HELP!

Thanks guys, and this makes me feel better about the situation although i might not have a very good boat(yet).

I'm waiting for the lawyer to call me back as he's been out of the office and his secretary is sick of hearing my voice.

Do i need to be worried about any more water-logging or anything other than the transom and the stringers? I just want to have as good of an idea as to what im dealing with before i start dishing out money for attorney fees/repairs.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: New Here, Need HELP!

Your floatation foam may be waterlogged.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: New Here, Need HELP!

Do i need to be worried about any more water-logging or anything other than the transom and the stringers? I just want to have as good of an idea as to what im dealing with before i start dishing out money for attorney fees/repairs.

If the interior is in really nice condition and deck is really solid, there's a chance it's just the transom that's rotted. If the interior looks weathered and/or there's some soft spots on the deck, you're probably in for a complete rebuild. The problem is, with that obsolete powerplant, it might not be worth it to fix it.

They just didn't build these boats to last 20 years. If they're babied and always stored inside or covered really well, they can remain solid but that's probably less common.

Check out Friscobuilder's SeaRay thread above which is pretty much the "rotted boat fixer upper bible".