First boat purchase

[cstudep]

Hello, first off great site. I have been reading now for several days trying to get as much info as possible. We are looking to purchase our first boat. I have been looking at/interested in an open bow - 17-19 foot - something to ski/tube/wakeboard behind and also something me and my family (wife & 3 kids) can just cruise around in, float, etc... hence the reason I like the open bow. I have been scouring the local newspapers, craigslist, etc.. and have found a few found one that looked real nice (well taken care of) for about $3500 (in our price range) only to discover it has the dreaded 3.7L mercruiser. Found a few others in the same price range but just didn't get the feel they were well cared for by the looks of them and the lack of information from the owners. Then I found a very clean well cared for 1990 Larson all-american 190 - 19' 190HP 4.3 V6 - probably exactly what I was looking for only the guy wants $6000 for it. Everything I have found similar (although too far away from me to consider) seems to be cosiderably less expensive than that, especially lately. NADA lists it at around 3000 depending on what I select, but no matter what I do I can't get it to 6000. Is this thing horribly over priced or am I missing something here. I hate to offend the guy by offering half what he wants but it just seems to me he is asking way too much. Just trying to get some feedback on if my expectations are off for what my money can buy.

thanks

 

[RotaryRacer]

Re: First boat purchase

I agree that it seems overpriced. Larsons are nice boats....but they are not a premium/top of the line boat. The boat is now basically 20 yrs old and it has a V6 vs. a V8. I haven't even seen the boat but it sounds like a $4-5k boat to me. You would probably offend the seller if you offered him $3k. NADA is a great resource for many things. However, the older the boat the less realiable it is.

 

[cstudep]

Re: First boat purchase

Thanks for the reply, I do not rely solely on NADA for much of anything, but I have been checking it and comparing it to what used boats are selling for on ebay, locally etc... I was thinking 3500-4000 range which isn't quite half, but he was asking more than the 6000 because he says he has reduced the price already once. I could not find the same boat as sold on ebay but I did find several 94-95 models similar setup for 5000-6000 that have sold recently which is why I was thinking 3500-4000. I just wanted to verify that my "worth evaluating" technique was not way off or something.

Thanks again