Boats

WCURoverd90

Active Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2008
Location
Lake Wylie, SC
Hope you guys can help me out. I know the sayings on buying boats - Bust Out Another Thousand, happiest day is buying it and selling it etc etc.

I am looking at a used boat. Have it narrowed down to a 2000 glastron bowrider or a 1999 regal bowrider. Both are 18 ft.

Im curious to know the things you all look for when buying a boat.

THanks in advance.
 
We got one a year and half ago. As long as you are mechanically inclined and can take care of it yourself they are not ridiculously expensive. Gas is bad, but we spend most of the time sitting and lounging around. Any hobby that includes a vehicle can get expensive if you let it.

We got a jetboat so I don't know what to tell you to look for in the type of boat that you are shopping. I hear of a lot of issues with the lower drive units on I/O boats, so make sure you check on those.
 
Jmauld said:
We got one a year and half ago. As long as you are mechanically inclined and can take care of it yourself they are not ridiculously expensive. Gas is bad, but we spend most of the time sitting and lounging around. Any hobby that includes a vehicle can get expensive if you let it.

We got a jetboat so I don't know what to tell you to look for in the type of boat that you are shopping. I hear of a lot of issues with the lower drive units on I/O boats, so make sure you check on those.
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Yes forgot to mention it is an I/O Motor.

Thanks
 
Check the floor for softspots
check the bilge for water/softspots
check the hull for cracks
Check the fitment of the hatches

Put it on the water and have it run
If you have owned/drove a boat do this yourself.
If you have not have the owner drive it.
Listen to the motor, it should run smooth and start smooth.
The boat should get on plane quickly and ride smooth.

Check the trailer
Do all the lights work (cheap but aggravating)
Are the tires good?
Does the trailer have brakes? Do they work?


My boat is expensive, but it puts a smile on my face everytime i take it out. If at the end you say the best day is the first and last day, you did something very wrong inbetween.

Every day I have my boat out is the best day!
 
BigBody79 said:
My boat is expensive, but it puts a smile on my face everytime i take it out. If at the end you say the best day is the first and last day, you did something very wrong inbetween.
Every day I have my boat out is the best day!
Click to expand...

I'm with him!!! I'm dying to get the boat out this year. Every time we go out I enjoy it more than the time before. I don't see how the first day could be seen as the best.

Also, in the years of boat that you are looking at there was a shift to using less wood. A lot of boats now come with fiberglass floors that will require less maitenance over time.
 
I agree with what BigBody79 recommended. In addition I'd do some research on the companies and try to find out if the floors/stringers are wood or fiberglass on those boats you're looking at. All fiberglass is the way to go on a newer boat. A floor job is neither cheap nor easy; especially if the stringers are rotten too.

Also, make sure you run the boat for 10-20 minutes in the water. I've seen several that would hold oil pressure for the first 5-10 minutes while the oil was cold and then the oil pressure would drop like a rock as soon as the oil warmed up. The water temp on the temp gauge will go up in the first few minutes, but the oil temp takes longer to come up and there will not be a gauge for it.

Make sure the outdrive trims up and down smoothly.

Put a new water pump impeller in it as soon as you purchase it if the owner does not know the last time it was changed. Then replace it every other year from this point on. Change the gear oil while you're at it.
 
Thanks guys. Had a buddy of mine with me on the test run. Drove it around the lake for about a 1/2 hour and everything checked out except the speedometer guage and the ignition selenoid. Having that changed out before picking it up. Thanks for all the insight. now its time to hit the water.
 
Funny story.... when I was 18 or so, my ex-wife (at that time girlfriend) and I got into buying vehicles at police auctions and reselling them. We made a nice chuck of money doing so, and occasionally would buy something to keep. We bought a 17' Larson outboard with a 125 Force motor and trailer for $1200 - sight unseen. We had no idea if it ran, if it floated, nothing. And, I had never even been on a boat before, so the thrill of owning " a boat" was worth the price in my eyes.

I ran out and got a trailer hitch for my 2.2 liter 89 Dodge Daytona and hauled it home. I filled it with fuel, snagged a battery for it and installed it and headed to the boat launch of our local lake. I backed it down the launch, tied it to the pier and pulled the car and trailer up the ramp and parked it. we hopped in the boat, figured out how to lower the motor down, hit the key and it cranked up first try. Nice. Then it stalled. Crap. Hit the key again and it fires again. I let it idle for a few to make sure all the fuel lines cleared out and we start heading out into the inlet out toward the lake. A few minutes later, we look down and the carpet is soggy. I find a switch on the dash for bilge pump and hit it and water shoots out the side. Cool. Problem solved, right? Wrong. We keep going and notice there is an inch of water over the carpet and the hull cover is floating. My ex-wife suggests we go faster to "outrun the water". Made sense to me. Unfotrunately, the Sheriff boat pulled up and pointed out the NO WAKE signs and we were making a HUGE wake. We tell him that our boat is sinking and we were trying to outrun the water.

He asks, "Did you put the plug in the back?"


"What plug?"

We turn around nd head back to the dock, now with water up do about 1/3 of the height of the battery. I am freaking out at this point as I tie it off to the pier and sprint up to the car to back it in and pull the boat out. It struggled a bit, but the car never even spun a tire getting up the boat ramp even with the back end full of water.

Since it was Sunday, the marina was closed, so a quick trip to the hardware store sourced a small plumbing plug for 1/20th the price of one from a marina. Used that boat a lot over the next couple years, pulling it with a Jeep Wrangler and a Jeep Grand Cherokee, but nothing launched it easier than that Daytona.

That boat ended up hers in the divorce, so I pulled it to her dad's work and left it unwinterized in an unheated factory in the winter in Michigan. Revenge is a dish best served cold.
 
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