Re: Commander boats
Looked at the commander today. It is an 1988 model and 18' long with a 4.3 Mercruiser drive system. It is a commander 180 Manufactured in Symrna, TN. The seats are all ripped, the floor has several soft spots, engine has water in the oil, and the transom did not pass the rubber hammer test. He said that water gets into the engine through the carburetor when it rains even with a canvas over it. He claimed he had cleaned up two ago and it ran okay. Has not be cranked in two years. He admitted that he knew very little about boats and relied on other people to tell him what to do.
The good part is that it has a good outdrive and a nice (except for tires) painted channel iron factory built trailer. The engine looks almost new but the water in the oil concerns me. I am dubious about his saying that the water entered through the carburetor with ths spark arrestor in place (the hold down stud was missing so there was a 1/4 " hole there over the carb).
The best part is that he started off at $550 for the boat and trailer and when I started pointing out the soft spots and other problems he came down to $250. I believe that he would take less to get it out of his way. I am really looking for an outboard boat with a bad or no motor to put the one that I have on but could I make any money with this rig?
