Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl? UPDATE?

[jdlough]

Yo,

So, after searching 5 states, I see this, on Craigslist, from a guy right up the street:

EDIT: Craigslist add expired. Basically it was describing a 1997 SeaSwirl DuelConsol with a 150HP Johnson OB. Bimini, trolling motor, galv trailer, Fiberglass decks, GPS/Fishfinder, livewell, extras.....

I did the initial email, asking basics, he said,

"There are no tears in the vinyl. There are some mildew stains in places. In general the vinyl is fair to good shape. The deck is solid. There are two seats in the stern there is a back to back seat next to the captain’s chair. This seat also folds down flat. Then there is seating in the bow. There is a live well. Also I hade a water fuel filter installed when I bought it. Also AM/FM CD player. I have a cover that I use for Winter in great shape. I winterize the motor my self every year and change oil in lower unit. Impeller has been changed once. I used the boat only once last year. I am selling because I bought a Fifth Wheel trailer and wife and I are camping a lot. Also I bought a kayak that I fish out of and that’s the only way I want to fish now. Oh and also I have equipment to run a trout line also that’s a lot of fun."

I offered $5k (nicely - explaining my kid's boat budget), via email, sight-unseen, (tho I will check all the usual's - [deck, spark, compression, lower oil]. I figure maybe it could be the interrum boat, while I wait for that perfect "my deckboat". (And the teenagers end up with a nicer boat - meanwhile it's MY boat)

His original $6.5k asking is roughly in line with NADA, but it seems NADA is all over the place, especially as concerns OB boats. (And the local economy historically sucks)There are just not many (non CC) OB boats out in MD.

Rambling, I know, but any thoughts?

My thoughts right now are, if the FIBERGLASS deck is solid, BUY IT.

Thanks again, and as soon as I actually buy something, I'll upload tons of pics and be your best friend and all that.

Jim

 

[Mark_VTfisherman]

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl?

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl?

Maybe I am all wet, but I think you would do really well for that at $5K if everything checks out.

 

[rentprop1]

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl?

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl?

some people are rough around the edges and wouldn't sell it to you even if you came up with full price cause you low balled him with out even seeing it first

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl?

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl?

Jim, I have a '98 21' SeaSwirl bowrider with a Johnny 150HP motor. I find the quality of the boat is excellent, and the hull is solid.

If the motor on that boat is sound, I think you will have just the kind of boat the kids should have. 150HP is more than enough. You might liberate that motor for your deckboat, and give the kids a 115HP motor.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl?

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl?

I'd buy that one in a heartbeat.

 

[RotaryRacer]

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl?

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl?

Do it.

All of your reasoning is sound. That looks like a perfect boat to start off with.

 

[salmonee]

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl?

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl?

That is a deal! I looked at a 99 with the Johnson 120 on consignment and they wanted 10k. I'd be all over that if it was close by.

 

[rrhodes]

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl?

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl?

Sounds like a good deal. Even if he meets you in the middle on price. (Providing the sea trial checks out)

 

[jdlough]

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl? UPDATE?

Long post again, but here 'tis...

Well I may have bought this boat. I don't know yet. I got first dibs....

I saw it Saturday. Was mostly happy, except a couple of minor things. (Missing stern seat cushion. Minor seat mold stains. The pilot seat pillar was too tall - You'd have to duck your head under the mini-bimini cover to see thru the windshield.) No biggie - Some 'passenger' sits on that seat and I replace the pilot pillar or don't use the mini-bimini. This was offset by nice surprises - hydraulic steering, power winch, nice covers, extra fishing seats, all his boat stuff, etc.

Saturday, he couldn't get the motor to run more than 30 seconds. It has about 30 gallons of gas in it from two years ago. He used Stabil. (How long is Stabil good for?) He only used the boat one time last year. Winterized (fogged, etc) since then. Said he had it running for a couple of minutes on the hose that morning.

I said I'd buy it if he got it running and passed the usual motor tests. Sunday, he called. He said he cleaned the fuel filter screen (couldn't find a replacement on short notice), dumped out the water/gas filter, filled the water/gas filter with new gas, and now it runs fine on his hose.

I show up with my car mechanic (who knows boats, but doesn't work on outboards) He checked compression (all OK - about 100 on a VERY short crank test - about 3 revs each cylinder [owner nervous about cranking a motor out of the water - a good sign], and within 3 of each other) Good spark. Lower oil perfect. (I might have thought TOO good, but he changes every fall and has a lower oil changing pump gadget and all that)

(btw, the same mechanic now has my towing truck. F150 with a blown engine due to son-in-law who apparently can't fathom a temp gauge or idiot light)

So, my mechanic departs, all is good, checkbook is itchy, all he has to do is start it.

It won't start. (Maybe flooded from the compression check?) He's all embarrassed, and meanwhile taking 3 calls from someone who maybe wants to get in a bidding war. He says I get first dibs - that I paid for a motor check and agreed on a price if it passed. Man of his word-type guy.

Generally, It's not smart to buy a boat that won't even start.

I want this boat and I trust this guy. He's getting outta boating to kayak-fish and go camping. I saw his $2k Hobie fishing kayak (way cool) and $100k+ trailer/camper/portable house. This is not a yard-ornament-trash boat. His yard looks like a golf course. His garage is organized like he works for NASA. We know some of the same local people, etc.

So, I give him a check for $6,000 to buy the boat on condition that he can get it running.

We'll see. I'm thinking of taking it even if it won't start. Gunk-cleaning/tank draining/carb rebuild cleaning can't cost TOO much, right? It seems to be a fuel thing - so maybe a fuel pump? Anything else that might be expensive to consider? (Compression, spark, lower oil good)

What do you guys think?

One flaw in the ointment (as Tony Soprano would say) is that I no longer have a truck to tow it to an outboard mechanic to do a simple carb clean/rebuild or whatever)

Thanks,
Jim

 

[redone4x4]

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl? UPDATE?

i bought a truck that way once...it needed a starter and ran fine after that. I wrote the check then went back 2 days later when he got to change it. Turned out to be one of my favorite trucks...

I think its a good thing that he didnt have it all running and warmed up before you got there. I hate it when people do that. He was honest enough to let you see it just how it was, sounds like a good deal if you ask me. Good idea to let him work the bugs out and make a deal. hope it works out!

 

[rrhodes]

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl? UPDATE?

That is a nice looking boat.

 

[zach103]

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl? UPDATE?

i would totally buy it.. i would get rid of the trolling motor but thats just me.. like redone said its pretty cool that he's being honest with you on all that... and im a fan of the johnson/evinrude motors.. pretty easy to find the parts

 

[jdlough]

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl? UPDATE?

In retrospect, I do feel kind of a dork for the $5k low ball.

But, from my side, in the past few months I've looked at many Craigslist-over-rated boats advertised for $8k, that I wouldn't offer $5k for. So, my idea was to avoid wasting my time - to see if he would accept a much lower offer if his boat was worth much lower than he advertised it to be.

Obvious now, but I see that was a stupid idea. If his boat is worth much less than he implied that it was worth, then I don't want it anyway.

Rethinkng this, I only want a boat from an owner who WOULD be offended by a low-ball offer. I want a boat from a guy who believes his boat's not going to a dork. So, if an owner would accept a low-ball offer, I probably wouldn't want it at any price anyway.

So, to anybody I've low-ball-offered in the past, SORRY.

(Can I buy your nice OB-powered deckboat now? My kids would love it. And my Boykin Spaniel, too. I'll wax it every day [the boat, not the dog].)

Not kidding. I've been looking 7 months now. I want a NICE boat at a fair price. I'm even looking at bowriders when I really want a deckboat. I'd even appreciate knowing what's wrong with it AFTER my check clears and I have fair title.

(BTW, we are both waiting for his OB mechanic to look at the boat. Odds are that it's nothing major. Regardless, we both consider that it is sold to me, unless he can't get it running. Then I suppose it is up to me to accept it or not.)

Jim

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl? UPDATE?

Being the compression tested good and you know it has old fuel bring it home.
Thats a heck of nice boat.
Drain the fuel,have the carbs done and good to go.
Sounds like the seller is a stand up guy that has taken care of it.

Thats one sweet 150 Johnson motor too...

 

[jdlough]

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl? UPDATE?

So, apparently his traveling marine mechanic couldn't make it or something, so he towed the boat to a marine shop to check it out and fix. I do feel better that it's at an actual shop instead of getting a house-call. I'm hoping that this actually is good news - that I get a nice motor tune-up out of the deal.

RE: the trolling motor. I'm a noob at fishing too, so I don't know how much I'd use it for trolling (but, who knows?). My thought is that it could be a nice 'emergency' motor - good enough to limp home on, if the big motor fails.

And yes, the trailer is just a bit worn-looking. But I'll have a boat lift at my pier, and the boat will live on the lift, so maybe I'll never have to actually learn how to back this thing up.

I know I should have checked for the model, but I didn't. Does anyone know from my pics anything about this model of Johnson 150HP OB? My mech says it's carb'd, not fuel-injected. The prop is NOT stainless, but looked in OK shape. I'm guessing it likes to suck gas. There's no marina gas nearby, so I'll be hauling it down the pier to the boat. I'll probably buy one of those 20 gal portable refill tank on wheel things.


Fingers still crossed (but if you're selling an OB powered deckboat, let me know!),
Jim

 

[jdlough]

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl? UPDATE?

So, It looks like I bought this boat!

He sent it to a marina shop, to fix the non-starting problem. The marina had a couple of boats ahead of it - when he got to it, it started fine. He could find no problems. Rechecked compression, spark, lower oil, fuel pump, everything they could check. All good. He suspected that flooding from the compression check of a motor that hasn't been run for a year might have been the problem. So, he replace the fuel filter, gas/water filter, cleaned some unspecified bits, added 'something' to the gas, and declared it ok.

I called the marina to confirm. He said they replaced the fuel filter, cleaned some other bits, but could find nothing else to do. I asked about the 2 year old gas with 2 year old stabil. He said that this was the first he heard of any old gas. (I got the standard anti-ethanol rant we all know) He, of course, said this could be a factor and recommended draining, but said the motor was running strong. I said I was buying this basically on his recommendation, and planned to use his shop for this and another boat. He said, No problem, he'd love to find something to fix, but that it is strong. The impeller was changed last year, all the checks checked out, he looked over the rest of the boat, (hydraulic steering, etc) and it was good to go.

Here's the clincher: He asked if the owner choked it when he tried to start it.
(I'm new with any OB over 8HP, so) I asked "How do you choke it?" He explained something like just up the throttle a bit, then PUSH IN the key while turning. I DON"T remember the owner pushing in the key, or mentioning choking. The mech and I suspect that the owner may not know about choking or never choked it before, since it never needed it. After 2 year old gas, a bit of choking helped.

So, weather permitting, I'll have the boat here tomorrow. The former owner is bringing it down, launching it at the local ramp, zipping around with me to show me the ropes, then putting it on my new lift.

Completely new subject: My 94' F150 tow vehicle died. (Son-in-law gauge reading problems) I'm trying to find a new or recently used F150 replacement. Went to at least 8 dealers. NONE would budge more that $500 from their asking price. I thought with the global economy collapse and swine flue and all, there would be SOME room to dicker.

Pics tomorrow, weather permitting.

Jim

 

[This_lil_fishy]

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl? UPDATE?

Don't feel bad, it took me 8 MONTHS! to find the right boat for us. When you find the 'perfect' boat you'll know it.

Edit: As for trucks, yes the economy is hurting, and so are the retailers. However if you look at the original sticker prices on these trucks you'll see that they are substantially lower then they were last year. Unless of course the dealers in your area are doing just fine, and don't need to make special offers.

Ian

 

[MikDee]

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl?

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl?

I'd buy that one in a heartbeat.

I'd buy it in a Flash!,,, That's less then a heartbeat!

I know that Seaswirls are good boats, each of my cousins have a 22' Cuddy, but that boat is so nice looking it leaves me breathless! It's beautiful, & you got a great deal, I think! Good Luck with it

 

[jdlough]

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl? UPDATE?

AArrrGGHHHH!

He brought the boat. We launched it at the ramp.

It wouldn't start. Again.

So, he's taking it back to the marina repair shop.

My latest guess is maybe a touchy emergency stop switch.

Back to the waiting,

Jim

 

[MikDee]

Re: Yadda, Yadda, Should I buy Seaswirl? UPDATE?

The trick is, on a cold 2cycle engine, once the fuel bulb primer is pumped to firm, it's choke on until it kicks, then choke off till it starts. Usually, you never need the choke again for that day.