Hey guys, I am thinking about starting to save for a bass boat. The thing is I have a pretty low budget, like 5k tops. I want a boat I will be happy with for a long time, and also one I can take on larger lakes in the area. However I have no experience owning a boat so I am concerned that if I buy used I couldn't fix up any issues on the boat myself. I am very mechanically inclined though and could probably make minor repairs. I am also concerned if I buy used I will buy a boat with tons of problems that will cost me a ton to get fixed. So what do you guys think: am I making buying used sound too complicated or should I get a new john boat with outboard and TM and learn about boats that way?

 

Also, what is some general advice to buying used?

 

Thanks,

 

Brian

Used: first be very patient & you should be able to find a quaility boat @ that price point. Have the motor checked by a mechanic. Look far one of the top of the line boats. Since you have no experience I would stay with a 115 hp or below. Fiberglass or aluminum does not matter.

What ever you buy take it out in rough water, anyone can run in calm water.

New comes with a comes with warrantee, used doesn't, unless it's fairly new and has a transferable warrantee.  For $5,000 a basic jon, small motor and trailer are about all you are going to get and it's gonna loose about 25% of it's value the first month.

 

A $5,000 used boat is going to be rather old or fairly small. There are a lot of good used boats that would provide you good service but always expect to spend some on initial repairs, but you have to be very careful in you inspection process.    It's so late in the season, if you wait until right after Christmas, when all the bills and taxes are hitting peoples wallets, there are some good deals to be had  It's just going to be willing to deal and walkaway from some that you might like but they are not willing to get right on the price.   

 

I haven't bought a new boat since the early 70's.  My 99 Javelin 20DC with a 225 Evinrude,  was a $17,000 boat when I bought in 2005 for $5,200 at auction, because some major pieces (all the injectors) to the motor were in a storage box.  I spent $1,200 getting the injectors and SECM rebuilt and still running the crap out of it now.  That's the advantage of being able to do your own repairs, So I don't hesitate to buy used.  However, I feel for anyone that's not boat smart when they go looking.  It's just so easy to get burned. 

You can get a decent aluminum bass boat for $5k or less.  Just make sure the person you buy it from is willing to let you take it to a lake to test drive it and check it out, and even maybe let you take it to a marine mechanic to check out the compression and the overall state of the engine/boat.

 

Just to show that you can get a decent boat, especially this time of year towards the end of the fishing season when people don't want to store them over the winter, there's a nice looking 97 Skeeter on our local CL that is going for $3500.  That's pretty much a steal though IMO.