New to the site and Looking at buying our first boat...Looking for advice!

[t&ashep]

my wife and I have located a 1990 wellcraft eclipse for roughly $3500 it has a 5.0 v8 merc with under 100 hours on it. Original motor. I have gone over the boat looking for anything that looks questionable and the boat looks beautiful. The owner redid the floor and replaced the interior. As I have continued to research the topic I am concerned of possible issues with the stringer and transom that the average person would not be able to identify. but below the deck looks bone dry. The boat was out last weekend. We are going to take it for a ride this saturday. Any suggestions on how to best identify any of these issues.

I love to fish and my wife wouldn't give in to a walkaround sportfishing boat so I think this compromise will work! I think I can add some down riggers and rod holders to troll for walleye and salmon.

Appreciate the help.

 

[26aftcab454]

Re: New to the site and Looking at buying our first boat...Looking for advice!

old wellcrafts are stout built boats. bring a flat blade screwdriver and poke around the stringers, bilge & transom. see if there are any soft mushy spots.
If everything is good then go for it and enjoy!

 

[foodfisher]

Re: New to the site and Looking at buying our first boat...Looking for advice!

Running rust around thru hull/transom bolts, brownish stains at the lower portions of glassed in woodwork, soft spots fore and aft and anywhere in between. Don't be embarrased, take a flashlight with you and stick your head in all nooks and crannies, storage areas, under dash, bottom side of deck, (did the po replace or cover damage?) Run the motor thru all stages, Extended idle thru WOT. Since the boat is potentially yours, might as well learn all you can while you can.

 

[Knightgang]

Re: New to the site and Looking at buying our first boat...Looking for advice!

Great advice^^^^^^^

 

[Silvertip]

Re: New to the site and Looking at buying our first boat...Looking for advice!

19 year old boat, 100 hours = 5.2 hours/year. Hmmmmm. Floor and interior replaced -- hmmmmm. Replacement of the floor would lead me to pay a lot of attention to the stringers.

 

[salty87]

Re: New to the site and Looking at buying our first boat...Looking for advice!

^ i agree, 100 hours is too little imo. he didn't have to do any transom work?

does he have service records? you can expect things like the belts and bellows to be brittle. they may only have 100 hrs on them but they've got almost 20 years too.