On Aug 25, 8:34 pm, "JimH" ask wrote:
Have you done so? If so, I would like your feedback.

It seems that there are some nice used boat deals on line, including on Ebay
Motors and other internet listing sources. The problem in most cases is
that these boats are located several hundred miles from me.

Buying locally is easy as you can do an initial inspection of the boat to
see if it is worth pursuing. That is not practical when considering boats
being sold several hundred miles from you.

The easy solution seems to be making the sale contingent upon a complete
structural and mechanical survey by a recommended "buyers surveyor", but
that can get to be expensive if prospective boats continue to fail the
surveys. As we all know sellers often overstate the condition of their
boats when putting them up for sale.

How did you handle your 'sight unseen' internet boat purchase? What did you
do right? What did you do wrong? Would you do it again?

Never ever buy a boat sight unseen (unless you just have way too much
green in your pocket)
I have driven as far as 250 miles just to view and test drive a boat.
I wouldn't buy a car without test driving it, I sure as heck wouldn't
buy a boat without a test drive.
BTW what type of boat are we talking about? (runabout,cruiser)
A friend of mine bought a used bow rider after inspecting it, but
never test drove it.
He paid $4000 for the boat.
The 1st time he put it in the water it sank (rotted Transom)