pricing help

[gazelle]

Hey folks

I was wondering if you guys could help me with trying to price a boat.

Do not hate me too bad but my wife and I recently bought a glass boat and we will be selling our starcraft 21ft chieftain. It has a 1998 force 90 hp outboard.

this boat was given to us by my wifes father so I have no idea what a boat this old goes for and I can not seem to find pricing info for a boat this old.

Anyone here have a similar boat? If so what did you pay for it if you bought it recently?

Over all it is in good shape for a boat this old. It will need a new transom in the near future since the current one is rotting from the top down. Rain has gotten under the end cap on the port side and infiltrated the transom wood there. It has about 4 inches of rot at the top on one side. We have used it despite this for the past 5 years. We just did not tow anyone or anything. only other issues is there is a wire gremlin for the running lights. Sometimes they work other times they do not. I found if i jiggled the top light they would work. Basically I think it is a function of light wiring being 30+ years old.


anyway now that you know the condition, what is something like this worth? We can not have two boats in the yard this winter so I need to get rid of it.

 

[North Beach]

Re: pricing help

Well I'll jump in first. I have the same hull, just topside and power option is configured differently. No cuddy and an IB/OB Mercruiser. Generally, with the need for a transom replacment, and the age of the boat, an experienced Starcraft owner would probably go somewhere in the 1K range. Chances are it needs new flotation and flooring also. The newer outboard may make that figure go a little higher but the boat is a little underpowered in my opinion. Maybe you would want to try and sell the OB and controls seperately from the boat. You might make a smidgeon more.

There's one for sale in Lynchburg right now for 1K even.

Just my 2 cents!

Is that SML, or somewhere else?

 

[gazelle]

Re: pricing help

thanks

the floor is is pretty good shape, one piece I replace last year because it was a little soft.

The picture is on Claytor

Kind of stinks on the price since we just dropped 800 on new canvas. i guess that is the way it goes.

interesting though considering 30 year jon boat with a 10 hp goes for 1k to 1.5k

I am not questioning your estimate, just simply commenting on how much jon boats go for.

 

[coolbikeguy]

Re: pricing help

i think the jons sell so good because they are so easy to use. small motors, small boat, small trailer .... makes it nice to store when not in use. alot of people dont have the room on their property to store a boat the size of yours. i agree with NB on price and motor ... that 90 sure is small on a boat that size. with that said ... if i didnt already have an ss project started id be interested. .... hey EZ how about your buddy ???

 

[North Beach]

Re: pricing help

Gazelle,

You're right about the jonboat thing. I've got one here with a 6hp and some forward controls in it if I sold it for a grand I'd lose money.

The thing with these bigger starcrafts is they're head turners and folks have a tendency to want them to look good so there's a ton of cash you can dump into em. The comments about the floor are just from experience. 1/2 inch marine plywood tends to get a little brittle and the binders start letting go after 30 to 40 years. Heck, when we removed the vinyl from my motor box the bottom of it was even starting to rot from all the water that collects on the floor.

And you might see a little more with that nice canvas on it. i was just basing the price on what I've seen lately. I scour ebay and CL daily looking at Starcrafts. Saw a 26 footer a few days ago that needed a motor and outdrive for 400 bucks. Will a trailer come with this boat? I wouldn't mind looking at it for the next project if I could somehow talk the admiral into it but, I've already passed up a few just trying to be sensible. Got 4 boats here now.

Spent a little time at the Clator Lake Motel back in the 70's when I painted the I77 bridges at the shot tower

 

[ezmobee]

Re: pricing help

Yeah the problem is going to be the motor. It's underpowered and a Force. I would personally rather have a larger Johnson/Evinrude from the 70's than a smaller, newer Force. Very cool boat and I'd still list it for $2500 for a little bit to see if I could get some bites but you'll probably have to take $1500 or so.

 

[Les Robb]

Re: pricing help

Well one absolute, you can always lower your price as mentioned but you can't increase it once it is accepted.

Good luck and you might consider hanging on till next May or June when people are itching to get back on the water.

 

[gazelle]

Re: pricing help

Yes is does have a trailer. It has a tandem axle Tee-Nee(sp) trailer.

Is the motor too small or is it economical on the wallet? Haha I sound like a used car salesman.

Yes the boat can handle a larger motor but it would do 25 mph on the GPS. For us that is all we needed. i also agree that Force is a tough name to sell. It is one of the final years that they made force motors. this motor was made by mercury after they bought the line, according to the force motor forum the later year motors were a drastic improvement over the earlier ones and not a bad overall motor but I guess Mercury just could not overcome the stigma associated with the name. Case and point, ezmobee pointed out he would rather have a rude that is 20 years older than this motor instead of the force.

 

[gazelle]

Re: pricing help

Based on what you guys are saying I may just donate the boat, take the write off, help my favorite charity and salvage a few of the accessories. The fish finder is 1 year old and should fetch 150 on ebay, and I was thinking of taking the remote spotlingt off and putting it on the new boat to save me $300 bucks.

so by donating I have already saved $450 and I have not even taken the write off yet

 

[ezmobee]

Re: pricing help

I have a friend who may be interested in it for around $1000-$1500. He's in the Baltimore area though so I'd have to see if he has the interest in going to get it. Send me a PM with your email address and maybe we can exchange some further pics and information.

 

[Rickairmedic]

Re: pricing help

I would add if you decide to donate it save the Canvas there are a few members here with the same boat that might be willing to buy the canvas from you for their boats Bret comes to mind as his boat is the right colors to work with it .



Rick