Clearly there’s a fairly dramatic price difference between purchasing a new & used anything – especially boats & vehicles.  Used boat sales is Big Business, including bass boats – has been for a while and will continue to be that way. 

Purchasing pre-owned anything comes with a certain level of risk.  The tradeoff is often reflected in the sale price, which can be viewed as “very reasonable” especially when compared to new or newer.

So take for example a 15 year old, pre owned bass boat – brand does not matter.  This is a fairly common purchase buy many, even on this site alone, there are pages of threads discussing potential & made purchases. Some vessels in fact are much older.

A rig like this has lived through 15 springs, 15 summers, 15 falls & 15 winters.  During that time it may have been trailered.  Sometimes it may have been trailered on a nice smooth highway, somethings it may have been bounced down a pot-hole invested two-track at 40 mph.  Sometimes trailer maintenance may have been performed, and perhaps a few years in there, there was none.

During that time it was used to fish out of.  Sometimes the motor may have been allowed to warm up sufficiently prior to hammering the throttle down to wide open, sometimes it may have been jack up to speed ice cold.

Sometimes the motor got quality gas along with the proper fuel treatment & top shelve oil, sometimes it might not.

If the rig was stored in the off-season, sometimes it was winterized properly, but perhaps a few years there the previous owner(s) had more pressing matters going on in his/her life and really didn’t get around to doing it right. (Whatever that means).

During those 15 years of running the boat sometimes the operator ran the boat on a flat calm lake, it was nice.  And perhaps other times the operator had friends out in it and we were jumping every wave we could find, launching the entire craft out of the water – repeatedly. Awesome !

Some of this is not exactly desirable nor does it contribute to the rigs longevity.  Truth is as a pre-owned vessel purchaser, we’ll never really know what the true history of any pre-owner boat, motor & trailer might be. We’ll heard the “story” about the boat, (and they are always good – have you ever heard a bad one?) and many times selective hearing kicks in, meaning we hear what we want to hear.  But what are the chances that at least some of the above situations (if not more) occurred ? 50 / 50,  25 / 75, 100 % - it’s really anybody’s guess.

But that’s the deal.   The next owner laying out the cash is accepting the reality of what might or might not have been the life so far of this craft. And perhaps out of that was the birth of the acronym B.O.A.T. –break out another thousand, meaning repair bills are sometimes costly.

It’s been my experience to see that if & when troubles arise, many new pre-owned boat purchasers suddenly and without any prior knowledge or experience, become on the spot repairman.  Often attempting all sorts of mechanical, electrical and or structural repairs that they honestly have no business attempting; often complicating what may have at least in the beginning, been a fairly easy fix, for a skilled person.  It’s not unusual to see these same do it yourselfers asking for help from strangers who may or may not have even less knowledge & experience than they do.  Interesting. Many times it works out, sometimes it does not.  Knowing ones limitations can save money in the long run.  

 Then there’s the Humans who actually do possess the experience, skill, tools & resources to effectively & successfully perform any & all boat, motor & trailer maintenance / repair.  They may be in the best position to get the most out of this deal. 

 And still, there are always tons of awesome pre-owned rigs bought & sold every day.  Ones that we all hear about that have low hours and are in “Like New” condition, ones where the next / new owner could not possibly be more pleased with.  And then there’s some where the polar opposite is true.  Those are no fun.

Finally, there are literally THOUSANDS of post here in this very forum that pass on EVERY bit of Solid Pre-purchase used boat buying advice a person needs to know & hear in advance of do so.   Those are all designed to make this entire post Unnecessary.  

So there's that.

A-Jay

 

 

1 hour ago, A-Jay said:

Clearly there’s a fairly dramatic price difference between purchasing a new & used anything – especially boats & vehicles.  Used boat sales is Big Business, including bass boats – has been for a while and will continue to be that way. 

Purchasing pre-owned anything comes with a certain level of risk.  The tradeoff is often reflected in the sale price, which can be viewed as “very reasonable” especially when compared to new or newer.

So take for example a 15 year old, pre owned bass boat – brand does not matter.  This is a fairly common purchase buy many, even on this site alone, there are pages of threads discussing potential & made purchases. Some vessels in fact are much older.

A rig like this has lived through 15 springs, 15 summers, 15 falls & 15 winters.  During that time it may have been trailered.  Sometimes it may have been trailered on a nice smooth highway, somethings it may have been bounced down a pot-hole invested two-track at 40 mph.  Sometimes trailer maintenance may have been performed, and perhaps a few years in there, there was none.

During that time it was used to fish out of.  Sometimes the motor may have been allowed to warm up sufficiently prior to hammering the throttle down to wide open, sometimes it may have been jack up to speed ice cold.

Sometimes the motor got quality gas along with the proper fuel treatment & top shelve oil, sometimes it might not.

If the rig was stored in the off-season, sometimes it was winterized properly, but perhaps a few years there the previous owner(s) had more pressing matters going on in his/her life and really didn’t get around to doing it right. (Whatever that means).

During those 15 years of running the boat sometimes the operator ran the boat on a flat calm lake, it was nice.  And perhaps other times the operator had friends out in it and we were jumping every wave we could find, launching the entire craft out of the water – repeatedly. Awesome !

Some of this is not exactly desirable nor does it contribute to the rigs longevity.  Truth is as a pre-owned vessel purchaser, we’ll never really know what the true history of any pre-owner boat, motor & trailer might be. We’ll heard the “story” about the boat, (and they are always good – have you ever heard a bad one?) and many times selective hearing kicks in, meaning we hear what we want to hear.  But what are the chances that at least some of the above situations (if not more) occurred ? 50 / 50,  25 / 75, 100 % - it’s really anybody’s guess.

But that’s the deal.   The next owner laying out the cash is accepting the reality of what might or might not have been the life so far of this craft. And perhaps out of that was the birth of the acronym B.O.A.T. –break out another thousand, meaning repair bills are sometimes costly.

It’s been my experience to see that if & when troubles arise, many new pre-owned boat purchasers suddenly and without any prior knowledge or experience, become on the spot repairman.  Often attempting all sorts of mechanical, electrical and or structural repairs that they honestly have no business attempting; often complicating what may have at least in the beginning, been a fairly easy fix, for a skilled person.  It’s not unusual to see these same do it yourselfers asking for help from strangers who may or may not have even less knowledge & experience than they do.  Interesting. Many times it works out, sometimes it does not.  Knowing ones limitations can save money in the long run.  

 Then there’s the Humans who actually do possess the experience, skill, tools & resources to effectively & successfully perform any & all boat, motor & trailer maintenance / repair.  They may be in the best position to get the most out of this deal. 

 And still, there are always tons of awesome pre-owned rigs bought & sold every day.  Ones that we all hear about that have low hours and are in “Like New” condition, ones where the next / new owner could not possibly be more pleased with.  And then there’s some where the polar opposite is true.  Those are no fun.

Finally, there are literally THOUSANDS of post here in this very forum that pass on EVERY bit of Solid Pre-purchase used boat buying advice a person needs to know & hear in advance of do so.   Those are all designed to make this entire post Unnecessary.  

So there's that.

A-Jay

 

 

Winter getting to you?

4 hours ago, slonezp said:

Winter getting to you?

 

A little.

How about you ?

A-Jay

Actually, I think buying a good, used boat is much harder for the average individual that buying a used car. 

Most anybody can look around under an automobile and see it's eaten up with rust, dumping fluids every where and things not moving when they should be, or moving when they are not supposed to be.  If they can't, there are hundreds of places with lifts and some type of mechanic that can look at if for them within a few minutes of bringing it in.  That's not the case with boats.  You usually have to find a dealer or someone very knowledgeable of them because all it's "rust" is going to be in the form of rot, and it's all covered with something.  Instead of finding someone on every street corner, you are lucky to find someone in every city and they are usually going to laugh if you ask if they can check it now.  Usually it's leave and check back in a week or two, something not many sellers are going to agree on.  

Most cars also have four stroke engines.  When things start getting worn in those, they tend to make bad noises and smoke badly, making it very obvious it has serious problems.  That's not the case with a two stroke.  Without a qualified mechanic to check it, many times you don't have a clue what it's internals are like.

Then you have ego's and believing the person trying to sell the item would "never" tell a lie about it's condition. 

3 hours ago, A-Jay said:

 

A little.

How about you ?

A-Jay

Yeah but not as bad as last year. It was worse when I was laid up. Trying to plan some trips. I was invited to go tuna fishing in the outer banks in March, but I'm not sure that I'm physically able. Rhinelander for the Wisconsin opener, and then on to Sturgeon Bay the following week. Trying to think of somewhere to go for Fathers Day. We normally go local, but I was thinking about doing a long weekend on Erie for a walleye/perch charter or a salmon charter in Sturgeon Bay.