Where to find a $3000-4000 dollar boat? And What to look for/what to avoid?

[Justakid]

Hello,

I'm new to the boating world and looking to purchase a speedboat in the $3000-4000 range. I've spent hours on craigslist but I really don't know what I should be looking for in terms of engines, brands etc. I live in Victoria,BC but am willing to travel to anywhere in Washington State to pick up a boat. I found this boat which I like but I emailed the seller and he said it has a 2.3L ford 135Hp engine with cobra outdrive. I did some research and it appears that engine/outdrive should be avoided. I also heard that Bayliners in particular are prone to rot. Another opinion on this boat would be great:http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/boa/3076644360.html.

Any other expertise anyone is willing to share in this seemingly complicated process would be greatly appreciated!

 

[smoedog]

Re: Where to find a $3000-4000 dollar boat? And What to look for/what to avoid?

I was in the same "boat" when I was looking at my first boat. I want to spend no more than 4k for a generic bowrider. I didn't want to finance anything just in case the family didn't like boating or what not.

I ended up getting a 17ft 92 glastron bowrider for 3200. Im glad I paid cash just due to the fact all the small issues i've had, i didn't have to be pissed that i was making payments on a boat I couldn't use.

Im no boating expert, but with my personal experience, with this price range plan on whatever you purchase to be a throw away boat. Its gonna be a boat that you learn on, learn the mechanics of boats, the operations of boats and the fun of them.

Like I said, im no expert, I've had my first boat since march. I had a small budget, meaning and older boat with lots of bugs, but all in all, no matter how annoyed I get at it when it breaks, once i fix and splash it again, its all worth it.

So I would say look for a boat with a solid motor and hull and have fun, make sure its what you want to do, keep it for a year or two, then upgrade.

/steps off drunken soapbox

 

[taggy]

Re: Where to find a $3000-4000 dollar boat? And What to look for/what to avoid?

What to avoid? Bayliner. I know, I've had two!

 

[Augoose]

Re: Where to find a $3000-4000 dollar boat? And What to look for/what to avoid?

A black boat in the sun? No thanks......
Not enought details in the listing to make a decision and the "wanted to fully restore it" but the paint was as far as he got leads me to believe it needs a new deck, stringers, and maybe a transom. Lastly IMO, that's a lot of dough for that little of boat.

 

[spdracr39]

Re: Where to find a $3000-4000 dollar boat? And What to look for/what to avoid?

If 4000 is all you have look at boats in the 3000 range and save the difference for repairs and gear to make it seaworthy and safe. A boat is a pay me now or pay me later investment. Cheap price and large investment in time and parts or more money up front and usually ( not always) less down time and maintenance expense. There are no trouble free rot free brands if a boat has not been cared for properly. DO NOT buy a boat that the outdrive or power plant is no longer being made.

And wow imagine the burns you will receive from black paint after being in the sun all day.

 

[ajgraz]

Re: Where to find a $3000-4000 dollar boat? And What to look for/what to avoid?

Agreed with spdracr39, except I'd say spend more like $1500 to $2000 and save the rest of the $4000 for repairs and gear. Or up your budget. It is very rare to find a "turn-key" used boat that doesn't need something (or a lot of little somethings).

Another question: how will you be using this boat? (Fishing, cruising, watersports?) Where? (lakes, bays, ocean?) How many people?

 

[RotaryRacer]

Re: Where to find a $3000-4000 dollar boat? And What to look for/what to avoid?

he said it has a 2.3L ford 135Hp engine with cobra outdrive. I did some research and it appears that engine/outdrive should be avoided. I !

The OMC 2.3 Liter Ford mated with a Cobra drive, is relatively rare and essentially obsolete. They weren't bad motors or bad drives. In fact for a low powered, inexpensive option they gave pretty good performance and were pretty reliable.

The problem is the 2.3 Liter was only used by OMC. In addition even OMC only used it for about 3-4 years. I think the last year it was used was 1990. So parts availability is pretty sparse.

The OMC Cobra outdrive has been out of production for about 16-17 years now. Also OMC as whole has been out of business for 12 years.

Most common maintenance parts are available, but sometimes you have to search and often you have to order it and wait.

As a whole boats built by Bayliner in that time frame were very cheaply built and many if not all have rot issues.

Look for a boat with a 3.0 liter and a Mercruiser outdrive and you are pretty much good to go. Everyone (OMC, Mercruiser, Volvo) has used/uses the Chevy derived 3.0 liter for decades. Parts are easy, cheap and common.

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Where to find a $3000-4000 dollar boat? And What to look for/what to avoid?

First thing is to make sure the paper work is in order, no hafe *** stories about o the other guy has it or crap like that or I can get it for you. second, any soft spots means its rotted out and your looking at 100 plus hours of labor and 1000.00 of material, if your told o I replaced it ask about the stringers and transom odds are the floor was capped over and not replaced. bounce up and down on the motor or drive and watch the transom , any flex is bad over a inch. third make sure the motor and or drive is still made and parts can be bought, because you will be hunting parts.

 

[vince21]

Re: Where to find a $3000-4000 dollar boat? And What to look for/what to avoid?

I have had a few boats with the 4.3l v6 thats have treated me great. for a smaller boat their performance is amazing. great for skiing tubing etc. and not too bad on gas which is also a HUGE plus.

I spent 3400 in an ebay auction on my 1984 bayliner. however.. I live in colorado and had to send my buddy all the way to michigan to pick it up because I couldnt find a boat I likes in Colorado. and yes it has been probably... $2000-3500 and a whole winter (however, at least half is unneessary). in making it how i like it. (hence the saying, BOAT B-ust O-ut A-nother T-ousand). but dont let this scare you. it has turned out to be the best boat ive ever owned and i plan to keep it a long time.

I have had 4 bayliners and they have all treated me great. but ive never kept one longer than 6 years. 3 of the 4 boats have had 4.3's and when propped right would outrun my buddy's V8 powerboats. So avoid the 3.0 and that black boat alltogether but the 4.3 from my experience is a very desireable engine and i would definitely have several more. Avoid anything ford.

I have gotten on craigslist and ebay in the seattle area and havent found anthing that has caught my eye in your range. I found a very nice $5900 but of course thats too much. If you are strictly set on finding a bowrider, your selection will be cut. there are several cuddys that I have seen in your range. you might consider a cuddy.

 

[vince21]

Re: Where to find a $3000-4000 dollar boat? And What to look for/what to avoid?

Im sorry I didnt mean to say avoid the 3.0 the 3.0, 4.3. and 5.0 are all great engines. but avoid ford and any outboards.

 

[vince21]

Re: Where to find a $3000-4000 dollar boat? And What to look for/what to avoid?

so i got on craigslist and found these. I dont know how close to seattle you are. but you may contact owner and take a look at these boats....
http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/bod/3119890931.html
http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/boa/3115319193.html
http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/boa/3113907787.html
http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/boa/3111252336.htmlhttp://seattle.craigslist.org/oly/boa/3108783790.html


not sure what boats you might consider so I threw a little bit of everything in there for you. thesse are all in washington and under $4000 hope it helps!

 

[HopinImFloatin]

Re: Where to find a $3000-4000 dollar boat? And What to look for/what to avoid?

+1 for the v-6 option. its very surprising how much more power there is for water toys but fuel economy is great. I can run all day on 20$ or less. I bought my boat for 2200$ but ended up spending another 2k on deck/stringers and such. THEN found the crack in the block:facepalm:. Ill run it till it dies. Like someone else said, the first one will be a great learner, cheaper the better, just inspect it WELL. Oh, and avoid OMC if possible, hard to find some parts and especially trained mechanics to work on them, outdrives mostly.

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Where to find a $3000-4000 dollar boat? And What to look for/what to avoid?

Im sorry I didnt mean to say avoid the 3.0 the 3.0, 4.3. and 5.0 are all great engines. but avoid ford and any outboards.

I don't think I'd leave Ford out of the equation for V8's. The 302/351W are as time-tested as any of the GM stuff. While there are a select few items that are NLA, almost anything you would consider replaceable is available at the same prices you pay for the GM stuff.

 

[TerryMSU]

Re: Where to find a $3000-4000 dollar boat? And What to look for/what to avoid?

Im sorry I didnt mean to say avoid the 3.0 the 3.0, 4.3. and 5.0 are all great engines. but avoid ford and any outboards.

Disagree on the outboard statement. With no more info that you have about what he wants to do, no outboards is a strong statement. Avoid Chrysler outboards for the same reason as avoiding the OMC I/Os. For Outboards, you need to be sure what you are buying is in good condition, but the same can be said about inboard power plants. The one nice thing about outboards is that a change from say Chrysler to Johnson or Mercury is do-able with a minimum of modifications to the boat (unlike a change from one I/O manufacturer to another). Still a lot of money to change but it is primarily the motor cost, not the cost of modifications to the boat.

TerryMSU

 

[Aquaman-PSD]

Re: Where to find a $3000-4000 dollar boat? And What to look for/what to avoid?

Im sorry I didnt mean to say avoid the 3.0 the 3.0, 4.3. and 5.0 are all great engines. but avoid ford and any outboards.

I'm curious as to your reasoning here? I/O have thier purpose but for someone new to the game OB are much eaiser/cheap to work on than I/O. Now if you plan on skiing/tubing ect. then you'll probably want to streer away from outboards. Also keep in mind that I/O don't have the same power efficiency as OB (i.e. hp to speed). If you are looking for top end speed and plan on doing the engine work yourself then the OB is the way to go. Quiet, comfortable, slow, and easy steering for water sports go with an I/O. They both have their own set of uses but certainly don't put them out of the equasion completely....

 

[Justakid]

Re: Where to find a $3000-4000 dollar boat? And What to look for/what to avoid?

Thanks so much everyone for all your great Suggestions. It didn't even cross my mind that a black boat would get to hot in the sun,lol.

One of the boats that Vince suggested I really like, found here:http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/boa/3111252336.html

My concern is that since it is also a Ford it will likely have the practically obsolete OMC outdrive. Other than that, I think the price is pretty fair and I think I'll be giving the guy a call sometime soon. I'm thinking of getting a surveyor to come along with me to check everything out.

Anyways, thanks again for all the great responses!

 

[Steve Mahler]

Re: Where to find a $3000-4000 dollar boat? And What to look for/what to avoid?

The reason that price is so good is that the oil pan repair (odd that it would be JUST that, but maybe) is an expensive one. Very likely engine needs to be lifted out.

 

[SilverSS07]

Re: Where to find a $3000-4000 dollar boat? And What to look for/what to avoid?

302/351 Ford's are great engines but since it says Cobra it means it's an OMC outdrive. Also I'm not sure but you may have to pull the engine and drive to get to the oil pan. I would check on that before making an offer. Replacing the oil pan is very simple but getting to it usually isn't fun and if you weren't doing it yourself could probably get expensive quick.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Where to find a $3000-4000 dollar boat? And What to look for/what to avoid?

Im sorry I didnt mean to say avoid the 3.0 the 3.0, 4.3. and 5.0 are all great engines. but avoid ford and any outboards.

I think he has it backwards; everyone knows to avoid any I/O especially in cheap old boats and stick exclusively with outboards.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Where to find a $3000-4000 dollar boat? And What to look for/what to avoid?

For what you're looking for and the price range you have you'll just be buying someone elses problems.

Those type boats in that price range are project boats and need to be gone through completely and restored or you'll spend more time in the shop and dry dock than on the water... not to mention being stranded on the water and at the mercy of other boaters.