RotaryRacer
Lieutenant
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2004
- Messages
- 1,361
I have been looking for a good boat at a reasonable price all summer. I posted this a while back.
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=340867
I have been looking religiously for the last couple of months for a boat...any boat really. I haven't found any that were what I am looking for.
So, now I am back to a boat that I previously discarded as being in too bad of condition. The owner has agreed to sell me the boat for a price that is much closer to a reasonable price for the condition the boat is in. The boat I am back to is the topic of this post:
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=340867
It is a 2000 Four Winns 180 Horizon with a 175HP Evinrude Ficht Ram motor, also a 2000 model year.
The boat is dirty and has a few gouges in the gel coat. The interior has one area of the upholstery that looks like something rubbed against hard and almost wore a hole through it. Other than that it is a decent boat and for the price we have discussed it is probably a pretty good deal.
Here are a few pictures of the boat (thanks windsors03cobra)
I already made one 4 hour one way drive to look at the boat. I actually did that to put my mind at ease back when I thought the boat was way over priced. I had to see it myself.
Now that the owner has agreed to a much better price, I have been making plans to go thoroughly inspect, test, pay for and pick up this boat on Thursday.
Today I got a message from the owner stating that when the boat was used a couple of weeks ago it idled rough and was only reaching 40 mph. He stated that it used to go a little over 50. He stated that this is the first time the boat has been used in a couple of years. He said that the old gas was drained. It was run for a couple of hours and the problem persisted.
My first thought is that it sounds like issues typical of a FICHT motor. It could be 100 different things probably. It could be as simple as getting new plugs in the motor and indexing them correctly. It could be that a fuel injector is in need of replacement or rebuilding. It could also be that one cylinders has low compression.
I had planned to check the plugs and make sure they were indexed before I tested the boat. I also plan to check the compression. Whether or not there is a bad injector or any other part I won't be able to determine in a short pre-purchase test.
So the question on my mind is whether or not it is worth the 4 hr one way drive to test and diagnose a motor that I may not end up buying?
I have considered getting the boat to a local shop and letting them check it out. I have contacted the local dealer that the boat has been serviced at previously. I could take that approach. However, the problem with that is that I need to go over the boat thoroughly myself before I would even consider buying. The owner is too "busy" to make arrangments and the way we arrived at the price we have agreed to is by me saying that they won't have to put any more work into selling this boat.
Let me hear your thoughts. Would you buy a boat that looks like it was neglected but overall looks to be in ok condition with a FICHT motor? Keep in mind the motor is a 2000 which is should be after all of the teathing issues that OMC had with FICHT.
Thanks for your ear.
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=340867
I have been looking religiously for the last couple of months for a boat...any boat really. I haven't found any that were what I am looking for.
So, now I am back to a boat that I previously discarded as being in too bad of condition. The owner has agreed to sell me the boat for a price that is much closer to a reasonable price for the condition the boat is in. The boat I am back to is the topic of this post:
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=340867
It is a 2000 Four Winns 180 Horizon with a 175HP Evinrude Ficht Ram motor, also a 2000 model year.
The boat is dirty and has a few gouges in the gel coat. The interior has one area of the upholstery that looks like something rubbed against hard and almost wore a hole through it. Other than that it is a decent boat and for the price we have discussed it is probably a pretty good deal.
Here are a few pictures of the boat (thanks windsors03cobra)
I already made one 4 hour one way drive to look at the boat. I actually did that to put my mind at ease back when I thought the boat was way over priced. I had to see it myself.
Now that the owner has agreed to a much better price, I have been making plans to go thoroughly inspect, test, pay for and pick up this boat on Thursday.
Today I got a message from the owner stating that when the boat was used a couple of weeks ago it idled rough and was only reaching 40 mph. He stated that it used to go a little over 50. He stated that this is the first time the boat has been used in a couple of years. He said that the old gas was drained. It was run for a couple of hours and the problem persisted.
My first thought is that it sounds like issues typical of a FICHT motor. It could be 100 different things probably. It could be as simple as getting new plugs in the motor and indexing them correctly. It could be that a fuel injector is in need of replacement or rebuilding. It could also be that one cylinders has low compression.
I had planned to check the plugs and make sure they were indexed before I tested the boat. I also plan to check the compression. Whether or not there is a bad injector or any other part I won't be able to determine in a short pre-purchase test.
So the question on my mind is whether or not it is worth the 4 hr one way drive to test and diagnose a motor that I may not end up buying?
I have considered getting the boat to a local shop and letting them check it out. I have contacted the local dealer that the boat has been serviced at previously. I could take that approach. However, the problem with that is that I need to go over the boat thoroughly myself before I would even consider buying. The owner is too "busy" to make arrangments and the way we arrived at the price we have agreed to is by me saying that they won't have to put any more work into selling this boat.
Let me hear your thoughts. Would you buy a boat that looks like it was neglected but overall looks to be in ok condition with a FICHT motor? Keep in mind the motor is a 2000 which is should be after all of the teathing issues that OMC had with FICHT.
Thanks for your ear.
