1988 Bomber Bass/Ski boat w/ trailer 2400$, worth it?

[ezmobee]

Trailer and motor are worth $2k. If you like it (and there aren't better ones out there) I'd buy it and run it. If it turns out you really like it, perhaps you will feel like rebuilding it in the future. Or find an aluminum hull to hang that nice Johnson on.

 

[s.hadley81]

Being it seems as you really like the boat you might wanna go over to the restoration section and browse through some the posts about soft spots in floors. That will give an idea what you'll be in for down the road if you decide to buy the boat. A lot of guys start by just wanting to fix a soft spot and then wind up replacing all the wood. Good luck!

 

[Kwfowler23]

I think I'm going to look at it one more time. And low ball him see what happens if i still like it.

 

[Kwfowler23]

Update coming when i decide.

 

[WIMUSKY]

Good Luck!

 

[Scott Danforth]

Go to the restoration forum, 3rd sticky and read link 14

 

[Kwfowler23]

Go to the restoration forum, 3rd sticky and read link 14

Thank you! I'm liking this place.

 

[Kwfowler23]

Would ya look at that. One post and I'm an apprentice.

 

[roffey]

.. and just think how much you learned. Not sure if you know this but the more posts you have, the smarter you are. Its true, lol.

 

[Kwfowler23]

Welp, I dove in and bought it for 2k. Started tinkering and looking to get it water ready and have been working on it since Friday..


Hole in the back that looked as if it was missing a fitting - the live well drain that was missing the through hole fitting, it had broke off and they just siliconed it, Fixed.
​Had to remove the gas tank to clean out the bilge pump to get it working. (yes the decking has been redone).
Now I'm rewiring the trolling motor, Microswitch was stuck and dirty. wires were broken and falling apart, Having a little bit of trouble tracing the problem with the forward and reverse switch, the trolling motor itself is pretty old so there two three position toggle switches on the side of the foot pedal. one for forward nothing and reverse and the other for high med and low. anyone have any experience with wiring these?
Also, this motor has an oil injection system. Should I remove that and just mix in the tank or not? I know if it fails then it could ruin my motor. it seems to be working too good right now considering the amount of smoke as if it has too much oil in the mixture. Ive read both ways.

 

[Kwfowler23]

No Title

Looking at this photo, the micro switch is where my finger is. The switch at the upper right is the forward and reverse toggle, and the switch at the upper left is the slow medium fast toggle. The thick black wire is going to the trolling motor and the thinner black wire middle right is coming from the panel. Hope that makes sense.

 

[Kwfowler23]

Answered my own question about the trolling motor. There is no reverse.... I do believe it either toggles between battery #1 and battery #2. Considering I only have one battery right now that is proooobably why it don't work,

 

[s.hadley81]

Answered my own question about the trolling motor. There is no reverse.... I do believe it either toggles between battery #1 and battery #2. Considering I only have one battery right now that is proooobably why it don't work,

That switch is probably to switch it from 12v to 24v and if it's a bow mount your reverse would be spinning motor 180deg.
Now that you've bought the boat your best bet is probably to start new posts as you come across items you need help with. That way you'll get better answers by starting a new post in the correct section. With the oil injection I would post in the Johnson outboard section, there is guys I'm sure who have dealt with that(I'm more an I/o guy). Happy boating and good luck going forward.

 

[Kwfowler23]

You're right. THANKS!

 

[Scott Danforth]

Welp, I dove in and bought it for 2k. Started tinkering and looking to get it water ready and have been working on it since Friday..


(yes the decking has been redone).

Giant red flag. Good luck

 

[WIMUSKY]

No more red flags, just fix whatever comes up.......

 

[gm280]

Well all the debating is over now, and you have a boat project. So post pictures and ask away. Clean it out real good and evaluate what you have and what will need attention. You will learn as you go. We all did. :thumb:

 

[Kloctower]

Check compression or have it checked. Make sure motor runs good and does not overheat pumps water good and there's no signs of obvious problems like melted paint or anything like that. Cosmetic issues are an easy way to get the price down just make sure the boat itself doesn't leak. You can use a picture resizing app that is free from the App Store to resize your pictures and directly post them to the site. I could not view your picture link so I cannot give you my opinion yet on the boat but 2400 seems like a lot of money for a boat that age in my opinion. But that being said I haven't seen it so I don't know

 

[Kwfowler23]

No Title

Giant red flag. Good luck

Welp, took it out today on it's maiden voyage and came back after roughly 2 hours of fishing and she's dry as a bone. Didn't run it too fast considering the lake i was on was really low. Got some questions about the motor I'm going to create a new post in the johnson outboard forum.

 

[WIMUSKY]

Awesome! Glad you had a great day. Nice pic....