The owner was asking $12,000 so you put in an offer of $14,000 on a 12 year
old boat? This is at a time (mid summer) when it is a buyers market.

Hmmm.

You also mix in a new trailer purchase from a marina with that offer, an
offer $2,000 above their asking price on a 12 year old boat.

Make perfect sense............eh?

To salvage this deal...........did you at least make the offer contingent
upon structural and mechanical surveys of the boat and a compression test of
the engine?

You did not read my post correctly. I offered $14k MINUS the cost of a
trailer. I asked the marina if they could get me a trailer for say 2500
then the offer price on the boat would be $11.5k. I didn't think it
would be a big deal for the boat owner to go down another $500! Like
you said summer is halfway over. The marina did not seem like they or
the owner wanted to budge. Sounds silly, don't think theres a huge
market for an overpriced 1994 boat at the end of the summer.