1993 Sea Ray 180 with soft spots

[Shippy96]

I am currently looking at purchasing my first boat and have come across a 93 Sea Ray with a 4.3 in it. The boat has always been garage kept with only around 80 hours total in the last 10 years (according to the seller). The boat interior is in pristine condition with the boat running very well. The huge problem is that he said there are some soft spots in the in the center of the boat.
From the forums I've read it makes soft spots sound like a death sentence as they usually rot from the bottom up. I am no carpenter by any means but I am very good working with my hands and do have a friend who is good at wood working and has replaced a boat floor before.
He wants 3500 for the boat but knowing it has soft spots what would a "good" price be if I actually ended up purchasing it?


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[Scott Danforth]

Keep in mind, you may spend up to $4000 to restore the hull. I wouldnt pay more than $500-$1000 for the boat if it has soft spots in the floor.

Personally i would keep looking

 

[ajgraz]

Life’ll suck if your first boat is a project.

This being your first boat, mind if we ask, what are your intended uses? How many people? Lake, bay, ocean?

How much boating experience do you have?

(wanna make sure you’re looking for the right kind of boat)

 

[Sprig]

First boat, with loft spots”? Since it’s your first boat you must be a newbie. Unless you want to spend lots of money and invest lots of time in repair , run from that boat, look for another.

 

[Chris1956]

I agree with the others. There are lots of boats out there. That boat would be worth less than $2K, IMO.

To repair that you will need to pull up the carpet, use a skill saw to cut out the bad sections and cut new 1/2" plywood to fill in the cut outs and then fiberglass cloth and resin to waterproof. Of course, that is based upon no stringer or other rot.

 

[JimS123]

"Garage kept" means nothing if the PO left water in the hull every day. "Rode hard and put away wet" applies to boats more than horses.

A soft spot boat better be free, and only if you want to work instead of going boating.

 

[Blind Date]

The motor & drive are easily worth $3500. And i suspect the seller knows that.

 

[MTboatguy]

The Motor and Drive might very well be worth $3500, but sitting a hull that has rot makes it worth very little, I would not buy it and if I did, I would not pay over $500 for it, if you want to go boating this year and even possibly next year, I would say walk on by and keep looking, there are a lot of good boats out there that you won't have to do a stringer, transom and floor job.

It would have to be a very special boat for me to want to buy one that needs a gut job and rebuild now a days, my season is to short around here, I want something that is water ready.

 

[Blind Date]

The Motor and Drive might very well be worth $3500, but sitting a hull that has rot makes it worth very little,

Not really. That boat will bottom out at a little less than what the motor, drive and trailer are worth in parts. At least here in MN. People are always looking for that stuff so it's not hard to sell and it brings good money because new stuff is terribly expensive.

And a little rot doesn't necessarily mean the boat it has to be gutted and rebuilt. Doesn't mean it is unsafe either. It could have another good 10 years of use in it before it gets to that point.

Hard to say over the internet without actually seeing the boat, but $3500 sounds like a good price. Knock him down $500 bucks and your laughing. Even if you spent $4K to have someone rebuild it you'd still only have $7K into what would be a really nice boat. Not a lot a lot of money when you look at what new stuff costs.

 

[Scott Danforth]

. Even if you spent $4K to have someone rebuild it you'd still only have $7K into what would be a really nice boat. Not a lot a lot of money when you look at what new stuff costs.

$4k is if you rebuild it yourself. without rot its still only a $4000 boat, even in MN or WI. 25 year old motor and drive are worth $1500 at best however surrounded by a rotten hull subtracts from the value. too many nice boats out there to waste time on ones with rotten hulls.

 

[jbcurt00]

And a little rot doesn't necessarily mean the boat it has to be gutted and rebuilt. Doesn't mean it is unsafe either. It could have another good 10 years of use in it before it gets to that point.

Hard to say over the internet without actually seeing the boat

There is no way to know whether the boat IS szafe either, not over the internet w or w/out some pix.

The odds are not in the sellers favor though, and would you recommend erring on the side of caution and avoiding a boat w some small soft spots or recommend a buy and see for a 1st boat and for someone who isnt looking for a project?

How can an interior be described as 'pristine'and have multiple soft spots?

Soft spots should be considered as a major problem until proven otherwise, esp for new boat owners AND those not looking for a low cost project boat.

I doubt the seller would be willing to do some destructive testing to prove the boat is mostly sound and safe to get his asking price. IMO, makes it a low priced combo. To get the trailer and motor you'd have to dispose of the boat. That detracts from the value of the trailer and motor. In some places hull disposal isn't free or cheap.

Pull the motor, accesories and etc and clean the empty trailer, then yep, might be a 3K combo, sans rotten boat. But not here in WV. Mn is a different market. But the value in Mn or here in WV doesnt matter. Only matters what the market is like where the OP is located.

 

[hvymtl939]

$4k is if you rebuild it yourself. without rot its still only a $4000 boat, even in MN or WI. 25 year old motor and drive are worth $1500 at best however surrounded by a rotten hull subtracts from the value. too many nice boats out there to waste time on ones with rotten hulls.

Where are you finding all these no rot boats for 4k?!?

 

[Scott Danforth]

you have to be patient. search craigslist, classifieds and estate notices and be willing to drive 300 miles, however many in storage units or not advertised. you have to be willing to knock on doors, you have to have cash available, you have to be on the look-out and you can not be too eager. helps to look in late fall as well, especially when 90% of the upper mid-west wants to go hunting.

I picked up my searay from St Louis because it was 65% of the cost of the same boat in WI/MI/MN because it was too small for lake of the ozarks

my buddy picked up a 27' carver from a widow in Sturgeon Bay one March that had only 208 hours on it for $3500. he put about 200 hours on it in four years and sold it for $8k just a few years ago.

helped another buddy that picked up a Welcraft last year with a bad 5.7 for $2k because the owner was not mechanically inclined and the marina quoted him $18k for a new motor. $900 later the boat was on the water with a salvage yard 5.7 and new exhaust.

 

[jkust]

Even if the boat is free and the seller gave you all of the materials and tools, it is still too expensive. Even if you only value your time at say $150 per hour to be on the low side given how valuable 'free time' is, it's going to cost you thousands of dollars worth of your time and opportunity cost. I might allow him to drop it off at my house and pay me $10,000 but that is even too low. I think you get where I'm coming from.

 

[NYBo]

Welcome to iBoats! :welcome:

It is possible that the soft spots are right around the ski locker, but I would look long and hard at the rest of the structure. But even if it just around the ski locker, it's still way overpriced, IMO.

 

[H20Rat]

Not to discourage you, but your carpenter friend will no longer be your friend if you involve him in this project! There isn't much woodwork involved in fixing at a boat, it is fiberglass work. And I wouldn't wish glassing on my worst enemy.

 

[444]

For a 20 year old boat with a soft floor I wouldn't go over 1500.

 

[Scotvl]

Keep looking I know its hard when you want to get out on the water but your patience will pay off.
it took me 6 months looking before I pulled the trigger on ours and a few months and around a thousand of miles for test drives for my in laws, good luck.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

I will reiterate if indeed this is your 1st boat, pass, there are plenty of old boats out there in your budget, finding a good one however is a task. Having said that working with the guys at Little Buddy's shop working on boats for the last 5 years not all mushy floors means a total floor tear out and rebuild. I have seen a 80" era glass StarCraft where the plywood above the stringers had rotten from the top down. Water must have been getting through the Capt. chair base and caught it early. Only saw it once but it I guess anything is possible. I don't think the owner would allow you to drill a core sample out of the floor where she's soft, I wouldn't. Another thing is I have seen boats where there are no soft spots but the thing has rotten from the bottom up. The owner brought it in thinking he had engine issues because she was so sluggish and couldn't get on plane. Lucky there is a stone quarry close by where we can weigh the boats if it is suspect, that's what we did with that one, came in 500lbs heavy. Someone pulls as fast one and tears out the carpet, replaces the plywood and lays down new carpet on a rotten water logged hull. There are so many things that can be wrong with 20 plus year old boats it's daunting to find a good one. New carpet on a floor on an old boat is something to question.

Hope this helps, good luck shopping, keep shopping Captain,

Johnny D

 

[Old Ironmaker]

Keep looking I know its hard when you want to get out on the water but your patience will pay off.
it took me 6 months looking before I pulled the trigger on ours and a few months and around a thousand of miles for test drives for my in laws, good luck.

It only took me 43 years to find my 1st it's all mine boat.