Re: What's it worth? 14' aluminum boat
Well, I gave $1300 for the boat. Its in mint shape hull wise, the seats, pedestals, deck, even bench seats are brand new. The trailer is mint, but painted.
The new to me Starcraft has a Mercury 110, it ran right off as found, but I gave it a new impeller, cleaned the carb and rebuilt the fuel pump just in case. It runs perfect, has 144 psi on both cylinders. It looks brand new, not even a scratch in the paint.
I turned down $800 for the motor already. It starts first pull and runs strong. I may try a three blade prop though. Its fast but slow to get moving with my 350lbs at the tiller.
I priced and looked at three dozen boats in a 100 mile radius of here, everything in this price range, or even more needed or had major issues with the hull, missing seats, missing rivets, dents, bad transoms, bad repaint jobs and/or patches in the hull, or were smaller.
I actually found more 16' boats cheaper than most 14' boats, but 14 and 15' boats seem to bring a premium here, most likely because of the 9.9hp limit on most lakes here, and the ban on gas motors in non tidal waters. A 16' boat costs double to register in NJ, and a 9.9 won't plane out most 16' boats. I looked at a 15' Grumman that was similar to this Starcraft but with no middle bench and an open floor, it had newer Evinrude motor that ran great but it wouldn't move on the water, Maybe 5 or 6 mph tops. It felt heavy compared to the Starcraft. I moved the Starcraft to my trailer by hand, alone, I just put some carpet down under the stern, tossed a rope over a tree limb and hung the bow in the air while I swapped trailers. The boat weighs very little even with the interior.
In reality, I'll most likely run a 20hp on this unless in the lake here.
I'll probably sell my old Sears 14' on the Gator trailer the Starcraft came on and keep my Load Rite trailer since I often launch in brackish or saltwater here. The Gator trailer is nice but just not galvanized.
I have an offer of $1000 for the Gator trailer and my boat minus the motor that came with it, an old Sears 7.5hp air cooled motor.
The motor is a good match since its so light and easy to carry. Its a good boat to take in places where you don't have a ramp or need to lift the boat over a guard rail to get in the water. I won't be able to do that with the Starcraft. The Starcraft though will go in the bay on nice days where as I'd never chance it with the Sears boat.
The flat floor in the Starcraft is nice too. I took it out Sunday and its super stable, the deck is 3" off the bottom of the boat and it flattens the floor out spanning between the inside lip of each spray rail with a single middle stringer. Who ever did the floor did a super job. The plywood is epoxy coated and they reinforced the front bench seat. It also came with a new matching front seat that was never installed, a 32 lb thrust trolling motor, a #27 sized deep cycle battery, bow and stern lights, a battery box with light switches, Eagle portable fish finder, fishing net, several rod and reels, and two brand new wooden oars, oar locks, three anchors, (5lb mushroom, 3lb galvanized, and a 10lb galvanized anchor), 100' of 1/2" rope, 100' of 5/8" rope, three rubber fenders, four life vests, a new fire extinguisher, and a bag of new rod holders.
The boat is clean enough that I don't even want to drill and mount the rod holders, I'll probably just buy clamp on type holders for it. The fire extinguisher is new, but heavy, its a required item along with the life vests. The life vests are also new, only one is large enough to fit me. The fish finder works decent but I'll probably make a more permanent mount for the transducer.
The boat has no scratches, not even a rub mark, its never been beached, never been dented. Its also been stored inside since new.
The way I saw it, if I bought one that needed a lot of work, I'd probably end up gutting it and doing it like this one anyhow. I figured just the cost of the wood and time and that's half the price of what I paid. The guy even gave me all the pics of it being built.
I sold the newer trolling motor it came with on CL for $150, I'm just not a fan of Motor Guide. I'll run my transom mount Minn Kota Riptide instead. I sold two of the rods and reels that came with the boat for $100, I also sold the biggest, over sized anchor for $25.
The way I see it the Gator trailer would be great for a guy with a vintage boat and wants the look or anyone who don't do saltwater. Its in super nice shape and I'm sure it'll sell quick. The only part I'll miss is how low it sits, making launch and retrieval super easy. My trailer is about 2" higher with fixed bunks. The bunks on the Gator trailer pivot and pickup the boat faster. It'll retrieve the boat without sinking the tires in the water.
After having this boat out a few times, now that its mine, I wouldn't sell it for anywhere near as little as I paid.
Its twice as solid feeling as a new boat, and I paid less than 1/4 of what a new boat would have cost me without a motor or trailer or any type. I also didn't see any 14' boats new with a 64" beam width and most weren't even nearly as deep at this one.
