Buying a Boat - Help

[luvmystang67]

Okay, I know what everyone has to say about buying boats, I know its bad, I already have anxiety and don't even own one yet... So I'm reaching out for help.

I wanted a fishing boat with an outboard, of course the girlfriend looked at all of these boats that are semi in our price range and we've settled on a bayliner sunbridge style for camping and a little fishing.  I know, bayliner bash, gas bash, continue... I already know these things.

On to the important part.  All of the boat survey outfits are a few weeks out (like 3).  I'm a fairly handy shade tree mechanic (put new heads on my old truck, changed timing chains, put together honda 90 engines from the crank case up).  I feel like I'm competent to do my own check on this thing.  It has the 7.4 Mercruiser (454 chev) and bravo 2 outdrive.  It appears to perhaps have 1200 hours on it, which many say is a ton for a boat, depending on how it is maintained.  Fact is, I have no idea how it was maintained and am not super trustworthy of the seller, SO, I'm on my own.

I plan on doing a compression check myself, checking the oil for milkiness and the outdrive oil for milkiness as well.  If I get good compression numbers ~135psi+ within 10% or so of each other, the oils look good, and the sea trial goes well, does anyone have super critical things to watch out for or advice?  I know they have oil test kits you can buy, but I'm not sure where.  Anyone have compression check advise?  There's a little surface rust around the gasket for the riser/manifold connection, which I know isn't the greatest, is there any way to check these without tearing them apart?  Can I just put my hand on them while running?

Thanks, Stang

[Woodchuck]

454's are usually not big fans of high rpm unless built for it. I would ask questions about cruising speeds and rpm's at those speeds and if it sounds like it was wound up above 4500 rpm very much I would be nervous. 

[luvmystang67]

454's are usually not big fans of high rpm unless built for it. I would ask questions about cruising speeds and rpm's at those speeds and if it sounds like it was wound up above 4500 rpm very much I would be nervous. 

Basically, I trust this guy as far as I can throw his boat.  The tabs on it are from 2008.  Red flag, I know.  Basically, I'm trying to approach this as if I'm buying it from a dealer who got it from a drug impound auction.  I'm hoping any damage done by misuse will show up in the compression check.

A lot of boat people have told me "I dont know, I haven't seen many go for >2000 hours".

If this thing really is at 1200, but all the readings and indicators come back fine, if I maintain it properly and don't run the crap out of it, is there any reason it shouldn't hit 2000 hours?  If I change risers and manifolds when needed, rinse it out and treat it nice?  If nothing fails, is there any reason it should last less long than any other V8 out there?  My truck has over 4k hours and 150k miles.  I don't expect it to flop over anytime real soon.     Am I being dumb?

[CP]

Does it have freshwater cooling?

[luvmystang67]

Does it have freshwater cooling?

Yes, but as one mechanic pointed out, you'd never know if that has been there the entire life of the boat or if its been added sometime throughout its life... 

But yes, it has it right now.

[CP]

Drain some coolant and make sure it isn’t contaminated.  Any rust in it - walk away.

[Rick]

Buying a used boat without a surveyor giving it a clean bill of health is crazy IMO.

What's your plan for checking the hull for rot?

[Woodchuck]

Without much back history, I would be scared. 

[WSU]

Buy the boat you want and tell the girlfriend to get her own.  Beyond that, I would be scared to buy a boat that I had any questions about.  They are a big enough pain in the rear as it is.

[Buckmark]

I would walk just based on what you have told us, heck i would not even take it if it was free!!! 7yrs not used (assumed since the tab are that old) and that many hours....

If a deal sounds to good it most likely is.
If your gut tells you no then listen to it...

Break
Out
Another
Thousand

[Smokepole]

I would walk just based on what you have told us, heck i would not even take it if it was free!!! 7yrs not used (assumed since the tab are that old) and that many hours....

If a deal sounds to good it most likely is.
If your gut tells you no then listen to it...

Break
Out
Another
Thousand

I disagree.  I would run. 

[luvmystang67]

Here's my problem, I wouldn't feel good about buying ANY boat.  If I sold it to someone, I can tell them whatever I want.  That I ran it lightly, that it often, this/that/the other thing.  On any boat of that age you wont know those things about it.

If someone told me all of that, I checked the fluids, compression and everything else, I would probably feel warm and fuzzy about it, and all of the verbal part could be a lie.  Heck, half of the boats I look at in that age bracket dont even have hour meters and I would have no idea other than the compression check.

The reason I feel okay about going over it without a mechanic... is that I've talked to probably 5 in the last few days.  They said a compression check is better than what they do and the oil check either with the test kit or visual is all they do.  Other than that its just inspecting for condition and checking bilge pumps, lights and other stupid crap.  I am very confident I can do a compression check and both oils check.  The boat has been dry docked, at least recently.  The fiberglass appears to be in good shape and the transom appears to have no rot.  I'm just not quite sure what else a mechanic is really going to do for me.  I'm going to visually inspect the bellows and look for any saltwater intrusion during my sea trial.

So, aside from just being generally afraid of not having a mechanic go over it, can anyone help me with some real mechanical knowledge of other things that they would check?  Everyone I know who does boat surveys is at least 3 weeks out.  Every other boat we've bought has been without a mechanic OR a sea trial, just running on cups.  Not that it is the most brilliant choice, but thats what we've done.

Is there any reason if everything comes back good, and it runs good, that I shouldn't buy it?  Its not a SCREAMIN deal, its just a good reasonable deal for what we're looking for...

Just looking for serious input on things to check... I know the rest of the advice.  I think if anyone has a good feeling about a boat it is probably misguided   

[Rick]

Do you have a link to the boat in question?

[Hunterman]

Just from what you have said about the seller, I would walk away. Hell an oil change only takes a little while to make things look good. Find another boat.

Hunterman(Tony)

[cbond3318]

I recently traded for an older boat similar situation as what you have described. Much smaller boat, 78' 16' Beach craft with the 120 Mercruiser I/O. It had sat for a while and things I considered:
I checked the outdrive oil, owner said he had never checked it in the 2 years he owned it but had ran the boat a dozen times. Gear oil looked good, didn't smell burnt, no chunks of metal stuck to the drain plug.
checked the motor oil, looked slightly discolored but I took into account it had sat for a season and could have collected condensation as the owner said he hadn't changed it after he purchased the boat.
motor was ran for me with the cups, fired right up, had smooth idle and ran through RPMs smoothly, ( its just a small truck engine same rules apply). Water from cooling had good flow, exhaust smelled normal,
Hull looked good, floor in good shape, transom not rotted, no evidence of bleed water getting through the outdrive seals through the transom, no noticeable oil in the bilge or on interior of transom, no evidence of a leak from the engine, engine looked in decent appearance, no rust.

This is the first boat I have acquired and is obviously a scaled down version of what you are looking at but the logic still applies. Mine runs like a champ, gets on plane, cruises along nicely, no leaks no issues.....

and every time it take it out I feel like today is the day I find out I made the wrong choice Im still building trust in the boat. I think you know what to look for, just don't be intimidated because it is a boat.