Buying boat, looking for opinion..88 Maxum 125 Force outboard

[roscottjr]

I am looking to buy a 1988 Maxum 20 ft bowrider with 125hp Force outboard. Everything seems fine with the boat and engine. It has had the plywood floor properly replaced and new carpet installed. There are a few minor tears and cracking on the interior but nothing like I would expect on a boat of this age. I can get this boat for $2000 and just wanted to know what others thought about this boat and engine and how the price sounds. It also comes with the trailor which is also in great condition.

Robert

 

[Isaacm1986]

Re: Buying boat, looking for opinion..88 Maxum 125 Force outboard

Those force motors are the worst outboards known to man, just be ready to have to do maintenance on those things. all the ones i see for sale on my local craigslist are all for parts because none of them run. that would be my only thing if i were looking at buying it, i would find one with a different outboard or even an inboard.

just my opinion though.

 

[Showtime22]

Re: Buying boat, looking for opinion..88 Maxum 125 Force outboard

Seems fine...Have you test driven it? Maybe even had the owner give you compression test results or do it yourself... I just bought a tester for 30 bux at sears.

My first boat seemed fine in John Doentrun's driveway then when I hit the lake with my buds it wouldn't move. Sold it with out ever using it once...

 

[roscottjr]

Re: Buying boat, looking for opinion..88 Maxum 125 Force outboard

That is what Im looking for, other opinions. I have searched and read the threads on the Force outboards but best I can tell with this being an 88 model according to the post it was still a decent engine then. It also currently runs so thats a plus also. However, I havent totally made up my mind and have been looking at other boats as well. I as well as my family just really likes the interior on this particular boat. I did however, find the same boat with the 3.0 Mercruiser I/O engine. What is the speed like on this other one? I would have to work on the engine though as the seller says the oil is milky.

Robert

 

[Isaacm1986]

Re: Buying boat, looking for opinion..88 Maxum 125 Force outboard

I like iboards because they are way better on gas, but if the oil is milky it could be a head gasket going out or a crack in the block because it was not winterized right. I would deffinetly have a mechanic look at it before buy the boat with the inboard.

 

[roscottjr]

Re: Buying boat, looking for opinion..88 Maxum 125 Force outboard

The owner currently uses the boat. Yes I plan on takeing a compression tester as well as my stethoscope to listen to the gears in the lower unit. I will also be takeing a voltage/ohm meter as well as other tools for checking things out. I am a mechanic by trade and I know boats are a lot different but when it comes to buying a car I have never test drove the first one but knew every problem with the vehicle before I purchased. I may have spent 45 minutes checking things but some things dont show up in a test drive and everything shows up if you are specifically looking for it.

Like I said, I know boats are different than cars but I will be checking everything I can think of before purchase and I hope everything pans out to what I am thinking. If it all works out then I will be paying $2000 for a boat thats worth $2600. However, It will have the drawback of a Force engine but at least it is an earlier model before Merc started changing things.

Robert

Seems fine...Have you test driven it? Maybe even had the owner give you compression test results or do it yourself... I just bought a tester for 30 bux at sears.

My first boat seemed fine in John Doentrun's driveway then when I hit the lake with my buds it wouldn't move. Sold it with out ever using it once...

 

[Isaacm1986]

Re: Buying boat, looking for opinion..88 Maxum 125 Force outboard

Sounds like you know what you are up against then, go for it! It is a very nice looking boat and the plus side to outboards is a lot easier to maintain than an inboard.

Hope all goes well for you!

 

[jdlough]

Re: Buying boat, looking for opinion..88 Maxum 125 Force outboard

IF (big if) the deck was replaced correctly, I'd love an 88 Maxum. Nice lines, snazzy looking boat.

I personally would take a Force Outboard over any I/O.

Force OB's are very simple, basic motors - heavy, no 'modern' fancy energy-efficient stuff. IF there were parts available, I bet more people would like them. VERY easy to work on. Unfortunately, certain parts are a b*tch to find, and some mechanics won't deal with them, due to the lack of parts. If you do buy it, keep checking craigslist and buy a cheap spare 125 for parts.

Even still, go for an outboard. At the very worst case for an OB, you just get another one installed same day.

OB's have more deck room than an I/O.

At the very worst case for an I/O, you forget the blower one time, and explode your entire family, and make the 10 o'clock news.

Yeah, I know, hardly ever happens... But maintaining and winterizing an OB is MUCH easier than dealing with the I/O. And I/O's have their own set of problems that an OB owner doesn't even have to know about.

Plus, I just like glancing back and SEEING which way the motor is facing.


Jim

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Buying boat, looking for opinion..88 Maxum 125 Force outboard

I've always been an outboard guy. This thread just reminded me why http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=334146

But anyway, the price sounds right for that Force powered Maxum. If it's running and there's no rot, go for it.

 

[roscottjr]

Re: Buying boat, looking for opinion..88 Maxum 125 Force outboard

Well, I did go ahead and buy the boat. The Force 125 runs excellent. No unusual sounds from gearcase or anything. In fact, he also gave me the receipt where he just had the gearcase replaced last year thanks to a log.

Now for the not so good news. Contrary to what I was told, the floor was not properly replaced. The good part about this is we are not really happy with the lack of storage space on the boat so we are not too upset about haveing to tear the floor and everything out to replace it correctly. They just from what I can tell got out most of the rotted wood and put treated on top of the rest. Also, the seats are in a little worse condition than we noticed in the pics we seen. Here again, this is not a big deal because we noticed the way the seats are designed that we probably wont be able to use them when we change things around to have more storage.

Now here is my final thoughts on the boat. It needs work. Quite a bit of it I may add but we can take it to the lake right now if we wanted to. The hull has the expected scratches and such on it and I did notice a few Gelcoat chips but to be honest in my experience with my dads fiberglass shop, those chips look more like defects than damage. The hull does not leak.

Here is the best part. I originally got him down to $2000, however, my final cost was only $1500.

For the time being, the wife and I feel we got a great deal. The kids love the boat even with the seats not being in perfect shape, they said they can throw towels on the seats, lol. And later when we take care of the issues it has we will also be makeing the boat more user friendly with more usable storage space so it will actually feel more like a remodel job rather than a repair job.

1 last thing, I love the look and the design of the 88 Maxum, BUT, is it just me or does it seem like when the boat was originally built there was a lot of dead unusuable space in the boat? For instance, there is a shelf under both concoles but under this shelf looks like they simply closed the area off. Rather than have that extra storage it appears to be sealed off and unaccesable. Are all the 88 models like this or is this something an owner changed somewhere down the line? Also, the rear storage areas, 1 is a battery area so I can overlook that one but the other is open to the bilge area so if you put anything in there it will just find its way to the bilge. From what I can tell the took care of this by dropping a plastic pan under the jump seat but this also cut out a good bit of storage. Im going to take pics before I clean it up so we can document everything and will post pics of the changes we make later when we start that project.

Robert