Looking to buy used / Boat hours mean anything?
 

I am looking to buy a used bayliner 3055 for around 55K.. prob a year
2000 model. For the money and features, this seems to be a good boat to
get.

My question is when looking at the used listings I see some with 100
hours, some with 400 hours, etc.. should I even care about the hours
listed for the engines? If it passes mechanical and everything is
working, what relevance does this have?

For example should a 100 hour boat cost more?

Thanks for the info :)
Jeff MacDuff

Engine hours mean no more, and no less than "low miles" on an
automobile.

There's a chance that a boat that has 300-400 hours on it now will
eventually outlast a boat that has only 100 hours or so......

I'd be skepitcal of a 5 or 6 year old boat with only 100 hours on it,
unless you live in a climate with a *very* short season. A boat used
only 20 hours a year is probably a very low priority item in somebody's
life, and less likely to be maintained in some important ways that have
little to do with the engine. (Has the same oil been rotting in the
crankcase since 2000?)
I'd look just as thoroughly at a 5 year old engine with 100 hours as at
a 5 year old engine with 400-500 hours (more normal usage). There's
also a chance that the hour meter was disconnected (or replaced) since
the boat was new and you could be dealing with more hours than you
think. Unlike odometer tampering, it isn't a federal crime to swap out
hour meters, etc, on a boat.

Most gas engine boats will see 1000 hours of service, with even minimal
maintenance (which is what most of them seem to get) and excluding some
random, catastrophic event. A good portion will still be running
without a rebuild at 1500 hours, and some very lucky boaters with
stringent maintenance practices will realize 2000 hours or more before
rebuild or replacement is required.

It isn't entirely accurate, but maybe useful for illustration, to view
1000 hours, 1500 hours, and 2000 hours much like 100,000 mi, 150,000
mi, and 200,000 miles on the family auto engine.

In actuality, you boat engine sees the same service that an auto engine
would experience running about 70 mph, uphill, at all times.

that helps allot actually.. I live in the seatle so the season is a
good 5 or 6 months guess.

the 400 hour boat was completly serviced in 2004 with new zinc's and
bottom paint.. not sure about the engine though so I need to find out.

What about the pricing? I see allot of 2000 bayliner 3055's listed
online ( with various addons ) between 62 and 70.. but I dont have a
good idea of what they actually sell for. Nada has a price of between
62 and 65 but in the seattle area there seems to be a slight increase
over that just given the market.

In that size boat it is definetly a buyers market. It is more of a matter
of what are you willing to pay. Start really low and see where he will come
down to. Just remember there are not a lot of poeple out there looking for
a $50,000 + used boat that they immediately have to pay dock fees for. If
they are wanting to sell - they are probably not using it and don't want to
keep paying the dock fee. I would think you can pick it up for no more than
$55k.



--
Tony
my boats and cars at http://t.thomas.home.mchsi.com
wrote in message
ps.com...
that helps allot actually.. I live in the seatle so the season is a
good 5 or 6 months guess.

the 400 hour boat was completly serviced in 2004 with new zinc's and
bottom paint.. not sure about the engine though so I need to find out.

What about the pricing? I see allot of 2000 bayliner 3055's listed
online ( with various addons ) between 62 and 70.. but I dont have a
good idea of what they actually sell for. Nada has a price of between
62 and 65 but in the seattle area there seems to be a slight increase
over that just given the market.

I think there's a 2000 Bayliner, like you're considering, up at Everett
Yacht Sales and it's listed for $49,900.

This is the time of year when boat prices start to soften up on
brokerage boats in the NW.

The best months for sales are March, April, and May- and about now the
sellers begin to get a little nervous about whether their boat is going
to sell at all, this year.

Even though sales in the Seattle area have been *fantastic* for most
brokers this year, it is still a buyer's market and always will be. The
decision-making seller is the owner of the boat, not the broker, and if
he were seeing a flood of offers the boat wouldn't continue to be for
sale. It doesn't matter whether the broker is selling 4-5 boats a week,
the seller is judging the entire market by the fact that *his* boat
remains unsold.

Have an independent mechanic check out the engine of anything you buy,
and you should have a surveyor go through the hull and systems very
carefully as well. Email me off the NG, and I will give you some names
of reliable people you could contact for these purposes in
Seattle.

That's good to know... the particular boat I am looking at is kind of
nice cause it also comes with a good dingy/motor, all the electronics,
etc... basiccly a plug and play boat. I have been looking through allot
of online websites in the NW for the boats but havent found any 3055
listed low, I am surprised 55K should be the target.. that makes me
very happy actually :)

Any good websites / dealers around here would be appreciated. The guys
at olympic boat center rub me the wrong way.

Your comment about not using and want to sell is 100% on the money. The
person selling upgraded to a 49foot bayliner and say's being a admiral
isnt very much fun.

Any good websites / dealers around here would be appreciated. The guys
at olympic boat center rub me the wrong way.


************

Experience dictates that I should refrain from recommending a specific
dealer. :-)

You must have been to the Yachtworld site by now, correct? Use the
"advanced search" function, type in the parameters you're using,
specify "Washington" under the state, and you'll get a good list of
boats available in the area. I checked the site before commenting that
one of them is listed at just under $50k.

You will see that not all dealers are using Yachtworld. It used to be a
given that they would nearly all be there, but a 30-40% price increase
earlier this year has resulted in some of them bailing out.

I see the ciera 2855 when I search on the site, but I dont see a ciera
3055 which is the model I want? Perhaps I have gone insane and cant use
the uber complicated search button?

Thanks for the info on yacht world, ya I been looking there.. but the
prices seemd a bit high.


wrote:
Any good websites / dealers around here would be appreciated. The
guys
at olympic boat center rub me the wrong way.


************

Experience dictates that I should refrain from recommending a
specific
dealer. :-)

You must have been to the Yachtworld site by now, correct? Use the
"advanced search" function, type in the parameters you're using,
specify "Washington" under the state, and you'll get a good list of
boats available in the area. I checked the site before commenting
that
one of them is listed at just under $50k.

You will see that not all dealers are using Yachtworld. It used to be
a
given that they would nearly all be there, but a 30-40% price
increase
earlier this year has resulted in some of them bailing out.

I gave you a bum steer. The guy in Everett listed his boat by its LOA,
rather than the nominal length. Unusual practice, and I should have
caught it myself. Sorry.

The prices on Yachtworld are the asking prices of all the private
sellers represented by the brokers who participate in the service.
There is no single source for the pricing, so with a wide enough view
it will accurately reflect the "asking" (as in fondest dreams) pricing
of the market in general.

Most price guides don't reflect the boat market very well- explaining
why you can find a 30-40% variation sometimes between one guidebook and
the next. An accurate book, (if one existed), *would* report lower
prices than those seen in a general industry site (such as Yachtworld)
because the same people pay the asking price for a used boat that will
pay the window sticker price down at Joe's Used Car lot......(almost
nobody).