Used boat help

[Lipripper]

I'm going out on a limb here but I'll bet there are a lot of you guys here that own fiberglass boats. I am currently looking at an older Fiberform. Not real sure of the year as I haven't seen the title yet. The current owner says that he thought it was about a 1975 model. My question is: What thing(s) should I be looking for that would tell me not to buy this boat? It's 22 foot with a Volvo engine that has been rebuilt. It supposedly has only 10 hours on the motor. Help please I don't want to throw away hard earned money!!!

[boater]

poke around under the engine cover with an ice pic and make sure the stringers are still good, also pull a screw out of the transducer or speedo pickup at the rear of the boat and see if the transon is soaked with water, check for soft spots when you walk on the floor, you might want to take it to a shop and have the outdrive checked out, have them pressure check it to. shift and throttle cables should move with hardly any force, there are other things to check also these are just a few. just my useless 2 cents worth.

[Pilar]

Be careful lipripper, if the power plant is an original you may have to buy parts for it in the near future. Absolutely make sure you know what year, make and model the outdrive and motor are. Then take that info and see if common parts are still available. Check your OMC dealer for stuff like points, condenser, dist. cap. Also exhaust manifolds, seal kits for the outdrive, trim pump parts and props. You can also check Oregon Outboard Salvage.

You may not plan to work on the old boat but be ready to. Boats that are right around the vintage you're considering can be hard to repair due to NLA. You'll learn to dread that acronym. No Longer Available. That's what you hear when you go to the dealer to buy a doo hickey or whatever the old girl needs this time.

Also good tips from boater. Rotten floor/transom is right in there as a reason to ditch the boat and find a new owner. Also look for stress cracks in the glass at places like the edges of the transom, at the ends of the windshield and the middle foot or so of the boats belly from end to end. Gel coat damage is also easily found. When severe enough it can leak and waterlog the flotation foam making the boat really heavy.

Like a dog a boat reveals alot about it's owner. You can tell if it was cared for or not. Look beyond the steam cleaned engine and new wax job for obvious problems. Ask why its getting sold and how much it got used.

You could even hire a marine surveyor to evaluate the boat. This costs about $100 typically but is well worth the money.

Caveat emptor ... Let the buyer beware!

[ 10-07-2001: Message edited by: Pilar ]

[Snake9t9]

Second on the marine surveyor and the title to the boat should reflect the year. Also most fiberglass boats have a number cast into the gelcoat at the right side of the transom. The last two #'s should reflect year of manufacture.

[wiser]

Checking for rotten floor, transom and/or stringers is a must. I would also do a compression test on the engine (inboard or outboard)of any boat I was considering buying.

Lipripper, I too didn't want to waste my money when I bought my last boat. I wish I would have had the good advice given to you. Listen to these guys-they're making sense (hhmmmm,unusual-jk). All I would add is to get it on the water for a test drive. Would you buy a car w/o one? Would you buy a house without going inside? Git my drift? I'm looking for a boat now. I'm finding that alot of poeple don't want to take it out. I wonder why.

Happy Hunting! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[FSH4EVR]

I have two Fiberforms. A 1967 20 ft and a 1977 26 ft. I like em but the guys are right. Stick an ice pick in the engine stringers. How much money are you talking about? My stringers are gone but I have fished out of mine for 4 years and had a blast in it. Check the engine oil for water. Also loosen the screw at the bottom of the out drive and check the fluid for contamination. It depends on If you are willin to work on em yourself and you get a good deal inititally. If you have to pay someone $65 an hour you will find they dont work all that fast.
BOAT is short for.... Break Out Another Thousand . Good Luck

[Floater]

Good info above. I had a 67/68 fiberform Spokane 21' model for awhile. It had a GM straight 6 hooked to a Kiekhefer (Mercruiser) model '0' (I think) lower unit. I too was told that the engine was fairly new and was used last season. The price was right so it ended up in my driveway. The short version is that the engine was froze and the transom was rotting out and the gimbal bearing was froze.
I was going to rebuild the transom and put a Volvo setup in it but the cost was looking to high.
The boat is not in my driveway.