I agree with Jim H on this one. Remember, "the 2 happiest days in a
boatowner's life...are the day you buy it and the day you sell it."
There are plenty of used boats out there and they normally do not go
that quick, unless someone's plain giving it away and then you'd have
to ask why it was selling for so cheap. You can't let yourself get
emotional when buying a boat...stay rational.

I've bought 2 boats on the net...one from a dealer and another one
through a private party, but I used a broker. If you think you've
found a good boat, you could try putting down a small deposit/earnest
money.

If you're buying from a private party...you've got some risk with with
putting down a deposit check, so perhaps you could agree with the
seller to post date a check or speak with a bank about setting up an
escrow account. If you set up an escrow account, you could draw up an
offer to purchase where the deposit and offer to purchase are
contingent upon a satisfactory marine inspection. If the seller is
reasonable, honest and believes that his boat is in good condition, he
might not even have an issue holding the boat for a few days, even
without a deposit, because you may very well be the only interested
party. The only caveat to this, is that you would need to move quick
with an inspection/survey, as cash is king and most sellers will take
the first offer that brings cash!

If you're buying through a dealer...use a credit card for a deposit and
draw up an offer to purchase, contingent upon a satisfactory
inspection/survey. AGAIN, use a credit card!!! I did this a few years
ago and I'm glad I did. I put $500 down on am 8K boat and scheduled a
survey. The surveyor found high moisture readings in the stringers
(ROT) and suggested that I walk away from the boat, which I did. When
I asked the dealer to refund the deposit, they started whining about
owing them money to re-shrink wrap and re-winterize the boat. I told
them to go pound sand, adding that we wouldn't be having this
conversation and that I would be buying the boat if the stringers
weren't rotten. The dealer disagreed and wanted to keep most of my
$500. I cancelled the charge on my CC and the credit card company
stuck by me in the dispute.

Get a Survey from a Certified Marine Surveror (SAMS/NMSA) to inspect
the structure of the boat, stringers, transom and hull. Some of these
surveyors wont do compression or water tests, as they focus on the
structure of the vessel, only. Do some searching on the net for an
independent surveyor and get references. Do not take a referral from a
dealer, the surveyor could be in his back pocket. Surveys are normally
charged, by the foot, but with a smaller boat, they will probably
charge a flat fee. Should be $250-300 and it's worth the peace of
mind.

If you're going to drive and pick up the boat, you could also make your
offer contigent upon your own final inspection at pick up. I wish I
had done this on the last boat I purchased private party on the net,
because I think the surveyor was an idiot. I didn't do this, because
the boat was 1200 miles away and I was going to have it delivered as it
was just too far away. While the boat is in good condition and I don't
regret buying it, within 5 minutes after having the boat delivered to
my house, I noticed a lot of little things that the surveyor missed
like...(a whine in the blower motor (bad bearing), a bilge pump that
was also crap and some interior courtesy lights that were inop. The
first time on the water, I also noticed a leaking water hose which lead
to also discovering that the water pump was also going and also
discovering that the manifold gaskets were leaking, etc, etc. Had I
known about these things, I would have asked for money off of the boat.
It wound up costing me well over $1000 to repair everything, because I
got fed up and had my mechanic start replacing all belts, hoses,
ignition, spark plugs, wires, etc. I figure it was cheap insurance to
not get stranded on the water. By the way, the Surveyor told me these
things were out of scope for his survey...what a tool!

"Boats are a hole in the water that you throw money in!!!"

Good Luck!

Terry Dalton wrote:
Just looking for a price range (low to high) for this model of boat. Any
help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
TD