redneckgearhead
Cadet
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2017
- Messages
- 18
I was looking at boats a couple years ago just waiting for the right one to come along, then the wife and I decided a career in real estate was in her cards so the boat plan got put on hold. Fast forward 20 months, the wife is selling houses like gangbusters and life is good. Then she says "Hey you still want a boat?" my response was "Well, YEA!" She then proceeds to tell me that Kay's brother has a bass boat for sale. I call the gentleman and he talks for 15 minutes then says "Oh yea about the boat...." then proceeds to tell me that it's a 1979 Glastron HPV165 with a 140 hp Johnson, runs great, Minn kota TM, graph he knows nothing about, (he never figured out how to use it). Says he bought the boat last year from the original owner who only drove it to church on sundays....lol. Says the only reason he is selling is he is almost 70 and hates the casting decks as he tripped getting up on the front and almost fell overboard and he can't swim. He claims the boat is in mint condition he put on new tires on the trailer last year to replace the original ones. Kay swears anything her brother owns is immaculately taken care of, we shall see. I have spent hours over the past few days reading and watching youtube videos on inspecting boats and have read the checklist more than once. I wish I could take the boat out for a test drive but the lakes are still weeks maybe a month out from being open (20" inches of ice reported in places). I am going to compression test the motor and verify it's year and size as that boat is only rated for 120hp, I am thinking that maybe someone swapped the cowling onto a 115 hp Johnson, I've read that is a possibility. I am Taking muffs to run the motor and a spare battery just in case. I always carry a really bright flashlight and am taking a bore scope to try and get a real good look at this boat before buying as I don't want a project. I've been told boats take up enough time and money when they're in great shape. But for 1500$ it wont kill us if we have to put some money in it, but It needs to be structurally sound. I am a maintenance mechanic by trade and have worked on tons of stuff, so the mechanics/electrical of the boat doesn't intimidate me as much as a rotten transom and stringers will..... Just had to tell someone lol, wish me luck.
