Would You Buy A Boat Without A Water Test?

[Home Cookin']

Re: Would You Buy A Boat Without A Water Test?

there is no hard and fast rule. It depends on the buyer's knowledge, the seller's information and whether it is reliable, and the risk/benefit.

You also need to realize that "tests" can't find all the problems, sometimes even the one you are looking for.

I did not sea test or professionally survey a boat I recently bought even though it was a major purchase for me. Worked out fine; I knew the boat type, trusted the seller, and had a price that worst case, if I replaced the motor, I was OK financially.

It is better, generally, if you can test it; if not, it is better if you can have a few days to test for major problems. That is just not always available. Then you do your risk/benefit analysis.

There is no "never" as correct advice for all situations.

 

[Maclin]

Re: Would You Buy A Boat Without A Water Test?

You are right to be concerned about the center windshield not lining up now. Something happened, and could be one of the reasons it was traded in. And I would have to ask why does it have a "practically new" trailer?

Work a water test into the deal somehow. I like a spotless engine too, but the parts that would let it overheat or sink are not all that visible. And boats act completely different in the water than they do on the trailer, just sayin'...

 

[BRICH1260]

Re: Would You Buy A Boat Without A Water Test?

I bought my current boat from a private individual without a water test. It was a good deal and there were others wanting the same boat. I had a good feeling from the seller, looked it over closely and made the decision to act then and there. Everything has worked out so far.

An individual might not be as flexible as a dealer would be with the sea trial and water might not be accessable. I think that if I were buying from a dealer, I would want the water test and something in writing.

 

[dzignr_tastz]

Re: Would You Buy A Boat Without A Water Test?

Well water is 10 less than 10 miles away, so that's not really an issue. I honestly just think the sales guy (who I believe is "top dog" around there) just thinks it's beneath him to even waste his precious time with one when he could potentially be missing making commission off a $50-100k RV sale.

I definitely appreciate all the opinions, though (on both sides of the spectrum)... especially the objective ones that offer some logical supporting evidence (personal or otherwise). Keep them coming! Also, if anyone has any additional input on the walk-thru windshield issues, I'd love to hear those as well. Just really hate to miss a diamond in the rough with a few minor issues that are easily fixed.

 

[mpdive]

Re: Would You Buy A Boat Without A Water Test?

I agree with sschefer, or at least verify that you have a 3 day return policy. If the dealer just wants to unload it and they are not hiding anything, they should have no problem with that option.

If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, Stop parking your boat in my driveway Knightrider! (Looks Like my neighborhood and builder)

View attachment 110285

 

[possum2082]

Re: Would You Buy A Boat Without A Water Test?

i'm going to be a hypocrite here, b/c i bought mine without a water trial. however, i only spent 2500 on it and felt pretty good about the guy. she's an okay boat.

I DON'T TRUST DEALERS! ever.

my son (1.5) and i were driving home from the store and saw a 268 sundancer in a used car lot by our house. we stopped b/c mom wasn't going to be home for a bit and i'm currently looking at the 268 (along with the wellcraft 265) for our next boat.

i went in to the office and asked about it. the dealer apparently had to buy the boat in order to get a slip at caverun lake for his boat. now, he was just trying to dump it. i asked the salesman if we could check it out and he said definitely and that the ad was also on craigslist. he was asking 12 for an 88. i asked about the transom and he didn't know what that was and left us to check it out on our own.

we got on the deck and i opened up the engine hatch. about 2 feet of standing water! it was touching the bottom of the engine. i closed the lid and we peaked into the cabin. 6in of black standing water in the cabin!

we climbed down and went in to the office. the salesman was on the phone and i mouthed "you've got standing water in the engine compartment and cabin. he tells the person he'll have to call them back, thanks me and runs out with a service guy.

the ad was later dropped to 8k, however it was listed as the "deal of a lifetime" with no mention of anything else.

+1 for a contract that allows you to take it out.

 

[Maclin]

Re: Would You Buy A Boat Without A Water Test?

Once the salesman figures out he can get 8k for it if the water trial works but only 5k offered otherwise he may see the light. Then again they may already have sea-trialed it and found out stuff they do not want to divulge.

 

[JWFails]

Re: Would You Buy A Boat Without A Water Test?

I have a 2002 Stingray 190LS with a 4.3l and I love it. In reference to windshield, mine gets out of adjustment every now and again. I believe it's due to the screws coming loose after riding on a rough lake. Stingrays are designed (z plane hull, I think) to go faster but ride rough in chop. I just have to remember to tighten the screws after each trip or at least check them. I just apply slight pressure to top of my windshield and it slides right in. I have no cracking or anything on hull or gelcoat. I think the hull flexes when in rough water. I just bought sports tabs to help with porpoisesing. Hopefully this will help with screws getting loose as well.

 

[mpdive]

Re: Would You Buy A Boat Without A Water Test?

I thought I had a screw loose on my Stingray and my wife said it was behind the wheel. I'm still searching..........

 

[mnypitboat]

Re: Would You Buy A Boat Without A Water Test?

Sounds like a pretty good deal, and you can buy an engine under $2000. Yeah, typically if you find a boat at a dealer that does not sell boats, you can get a wacko deal. Some friends of ours bought a Mako center console with twin Yamaha 4 strokes from a harley dealer for $12500 without a test drive. Turned out they had to do a little work to get the engines running(been sitting for about 3 years), but it had less than 50 hours on the entire rig and and an aluminum trailer. They put another $1500 into it at a Yamaha dealer(of course they overpaid for whatever the dealer said "should" be done).

I have bought 3 boats without a test drive. 2 of them were sight unseen. I got burned on one. But still got my money back out of it, so all wasnt lost.

I think the rule of thumb is if you are paying all the money for a boat, get a test drive, if you are getting a great deal, take your chances. Just dont get mad when you have to put a few bucks into it later.

Incidently, my Tahoe was about 1/2" off at the consoles. It didnt move for 5 years and was perfectly fine. My Caravelle was almost 3/4" off and it was fine for 3 years. Even my 90 Chaparral was off around 3/8". They were off the other way, had pulled apart, but never moved on any of them from the day I got them til I sold them. I am no expert, just giving you my experiences.

 

[Borgey401]

Re: Would You Buy A Boat Without A Water Test?

Would you buy a vehicle without test driving it? Most likely not, this is the same exact situation IMO. Unless it's coming from a family member or a friend then a sea trial is a must.

 

[dzignr_tastz]

Re: Would You Buy A Boat Without A Water Test?

Actually, I very well may buy a car without test driving it (depending on the deal). Then again, I'm also a car guy, and there's not much I can't fix on one myself (including swapping an engine if need be). Boats, however, are an entirely new ball game for me, which is why I'm asking for opinions.

I very well might get to do a sea trial tomorrow morning, though. I had to pull a few "strings" and go up the chain of command to finally get it approved, but I guess if it happens and everything checks out I'll be a first time boat owner by lunchtime!

 

[gozierdt]

Re: Would You Buy A Boat Without A Water Test?

I bought the SeaRay in my sig without a sea trial. I've so far only discovered a couple of minor problems. One of these is that the windshield was lower on the starboard side, causing the windshield door section not to close. I found out that the starboard projection out from the gunnel had popped loose from the support structure- ie, the topside section holding the steering wheel and dash had at some point had a hard hit from behind (hard grounding on beach, hitting a log, etc) when the boat slowed suddenly and the skipper didn't. I was able to fix it easily by propping the dash up to level it with the port windshield section, then putting about 6 stainless screws into the structure that had originally supported the dash. SeaRay had only coated that joint with a layer of roving/glass, didn't take much to rupture it. Don't know if this is your problem, but I found mine by pushing the section of windshield that seemed out of place back into position, and seeing what moved relative to the rest of the boat structure. I also don't know if you are handy with glass, but even fixing this at a good boatyard would only have cost an hour or two of labor if you already had a pretty good diagnosis of the cause.

 

[109jb]

Re: Would You Buy A Boat Without A Water Test?

I bought my last two boats without a sea trial. Both from private owners. I have to say though that I knew my most recent boat needed a lot of work to begin with. To me it depends on the boat, the seller, and how lucky I feel that day.

 

[wgl333]

Re: Would You Buy A Boat Without A Water Test?

Bought my first boat in January this year from a seller in Northern NY. Had looked at several boats, including one from a dealer who pulled the boat inside to fire it up. The guy I bought from kept me on the phone for 1/2 hour on our first call. He described EVERYTHING that had been done by himself and original owner. Sent me about 20 pictures. When I went to look at the boat, he pulled out every piece of paper related to the boat from the date of purchase to the date he winterized it after last season. He was very proud of the boat and I could tell by the condition of the boat, his vehicles, his garage and his home that he was one meticulous guy. That gave me enough confidence to go against the grain so to speak and make a deal without a water test. And I haven't been disappointed for 1 second!

 

[jkust]

Re: Would You Buy A Boat Without A Water Test?

If you buy without a sea trial, you are more than likely going to rely on a certain level of trust of the seller. With a dealer, he not only doesn't know boats, he has no way of knowing the history. I suppose trust then can't be part of the equation at all. Now you have your ability to check things out and your scarcity of money to figure out in lieu of a trial. If say 3k is a drop in the bucket to you if there is a needed engine replacement, then by all means go buy it. My take on it in the bigger picture is that that boat is as run of the mill and plane jane as there is. I'd maybe take the chance and go throught the process for something that would normally be above my price point. Say a Four Winns if I am at a Bayliner price point. There's been a few boats on CL here locally this summer at small mom and pop car lots. Each one has been really overpriced.

 

[illbreakthat]

Re: Would You Buy A Boat Without A Water Test?

I just purchased my first boat 2 weeks ago without test riding it. Although the nearest water to me is over an hours drive from me so it would not be an easy task for a test spin. I bought it after talking to the owners without the test or testing anything other than I liked the look of the boat, it fit the weights that my vehicle could pull, it was in decent looking shape. I did take it for its first test run and I have found a couple of small problems with it but nothing to say its horrible or that it was a mistake to buy. But with what I know now from reading these forums I would have easily talked them down a bit such as the PTT isnt in awesome shape as it leaks and found out it is in need of either a rebuild or a complete replacement which will be a $1300 - $1600 hit but the boat is a lot of fun!

I would like to Thank all of the others on this forum for giving as much information for the masses as I am learning so much information everyday.

 

[Texasmark]

Re: Would You Buy A Boat Without A Water Test?

May have when I was young and stupid. Not today with all the thieves, crooks, con artists and just liars out there.

If you do, you deserve what you get and if you get something worth your money, you are indeed LUCKY.

Mark

 

[dzignr_tastz]

Re: Would You Buy A Boat Without A Water Test?

Well I did the deal! They let me and my buddy - the boat guy - take it out for a few hours (on rather choppy waters due to the wind from the hurricane on the coast) and everything seemed relatively solid and in proper order. We did find a few minor problems, but nothing that was a deal breaker for the price. The trim gauge doesn't work (which I guess is somewhat common), I'm going to have to replace the blower, and we could hear the bilge pump kick in at first but when we took on a just little water over the rear while testing forward to reverse it didn't seem to work at that point (or sure didn't do much for pumping out the little bit of water there was, at least). It was definitely watertight, though, and all the seals seemed good. The engine also idled a little rough (or maybe just low) at first, but I assume it had probably been sitting for a while, and the more we ran it the better it got. Maybe just old gas or the idle is slightly out of adjustment? Either way, it seemed to settle at about 500 RPMs at first, but when we bumped to 700-800 it really evened out, and seemed to settle a little higher later in the test run. So for you Stingray guys, what do your boats idle at?

Anyway - I'l going to troubleshoot the few issues I'm currently aware of, replace the faulty parts if necessary, do a good overall tune up on her (plugs, wires, distributor cap, oil, freshwater impeller, and maybe the belt as we heard a little squeal once or twice), and get out the buffer and shine up the gelcoat. I then hope I'll be good to go, at least for the rest of the season.

Thanks for ALL the advice and help guys!

 

[gtochris]

Re: Would You Buy A Boat Without A Water Test?

We bought our PWC and my boat without a test drive. For my boat it was out of the water and winterized, boat looked clean and price was good enough to justify the risk + I knew who put it away and they vouched for it's condition.

Regarding the windshield, mine is a little off too, I removed it last year and re-installed it and it's still off, I just have to push down a bit and it slides into place, no worries. When I run hard in rough conditions I generally close it just so it stayes rigid.