TOPIC: Best deal you ever made on a boat!

It happen again! Having a good time looking at Craigslist in Sacramento and there it was. A Dorsett San Juan for five hundred. For the fun of it I offered the guy a hundred cash and to my surprise he said yes. Sooooo I called him up and in talking to him I found out he loves coffee and guess who works for a roaster? This guy! He told me he would take ten pounds of coffee for the boat and trailer. My buddy Gary and I drove down and got it. The owner is a really great guy who I think just wanted to get it to someone who would take great care of it.I sure he's writing on another post saying that he can't beleive that someone was willing to take the boat off his hands! Man I'm so pumped about bringing this boat back that I sold my dive boat and will be putting my Catalina 22 sail boat up for sale so I can do this thing right. Any one want a 75 Sail boat?

I would love to hear about other deals that you guys have had in getting and bringing your boat back to life.

All the best, Monte

OOO-OOO ! let me guess ?
You'll name the boat "Chock Full-O-Nuts ?"

I got a boat from a guy who lives down a side street, where they put in a strip mall. Before the mall went in, there was a house on the corner that was to be leveled along with the small wooded lot with a flaky Sea Fury sitting on blocks. The guy asked what was going to happen to the boat ?
He was told.... it will be run over by a bulldozer and placed in dumpster. as it goes.... that boat dissappeared that night. and now I bought it !

This June a guy responds to my ad that says I'm looking for antique motors old boats and trailers I keep posted on KIJIJI here in Northern Ont. He says he has a really old boat on a trailer with an Evinrude motor on it and it's cheap. Soo of course I hop in the truck and make the 20 min drive to have a look at this really old boat. Of course it's a 1975 Grew boat(non de-script Canadian made 15' runabout with the usual ugly fishing seats and a big ski tripod) with matching 1975 115hp Evinrude and a Calkins roller trailer. I took one look at this thing and said "Thanks for giving me the opportunity but I'm not interested" The guy says "but it runs really well, check it out" he turns on the water to the already installed ear muffs twists the key and the thing fires up instantly and sounds great. I told him that I am still not interested as it is just far too new for me. Then the guy says "look I just bought that new boat (gorgeous brand new 21' bowrider) and the wife wants this thing out of here like now, so back in your truck and just take it, please" "Well for free I guess I could haul it away for you" and I hitched it up to the truck. I figured it would be just rude to immediately list it for sale so I let it sit for 3 months and then listed the motor on KIJIJI for $500.00 and if they buyer wanted the boat it came along for free but the trailer was not for sale. 2 weeks later I had $500.00 cash in my hand (guy was thrilled to get the free boat too)and a perfectly good trailer that once I change the lighting kit and do the bearings should bring another $500.00 next spring!!
By far the best boat deal ever for me!

I routinely sell boats for three or four times what I pay for them without doing anything to them...sometimes right away, sometimes months later. I've never gotten a boat for free but most of my clients want brand new aluminum trailers for their restored boat. I always end up owning the trailer the boat came in on. So far, that's seven free trailers, three of them dual axle, all road worthy.

Maybe the best deal, but not a big one, was an OMC deluxe I bought for parts for $200. I removed the V6 engine, outdrive, windshield, seats and everything else from that boat...every single thing...and sold the empty, stripped hull for $300, no trailer or title. I didn't ask why they wanted it but maybe I should have. Anyway, the $300 sure beat the $90 fee I would have had to pay to take it to the county landfill.

Well there the boat lay, a 14' mahogany runabout. Turned upside down covered with a tarp in a out building. And for the past 30 years I remained determined and patient. My father-in-law had put it there in 1960. Me: "why don't you let me fixed it up? It's going to rot away" Response "Grrrrrrr and Grrrrrrr" As time went by (30yrs!!) and many "Grrrrrrr's!" He said in the spring of 2012 "When are you going to get your boat out of here? YES!!! I was there the next evening with a borrowed trailer !!!!!!! A great project with a great story.

Woody_ltd,

WELCOME ABOARD.

OK, so WHAT is it? - I'm curious.

yours, satx

monte w; All,

OK, this is mine.

About a 5 years ago, I went to look at an aluminum runabout with a 25HP Gale that was advertised for 200.oo on a trailer in Prince George County, MD.

Ended up giving the guy 100 bucks cash for the rig. As I was leaving, he said, "You want some more of them 'off-brand' Gale outboards? - I got 4 or 5 more in the shed."
(I asked how much.)
He said, "I'll take the rest of the 200 that I asked at first for the whole works."
(I said, "I'll look at the other stuff.")

Turns out that he had a '55 Buccaneer 25HP, a pair of 1959 SeaKing 35 DE, a 12HP "standard" GALE and a 7.5HP HP SeaKing. - All of them had controls & gas tanks, except the 7.5 AND none of them were "stuck".

So I got his help in loading all the stuff in the PU, hooked up the trailer & headed back to Gerratstown WV, by way of the DC Beltway. - Once I crossed the line into VA, I stopped at a gas station in Alexandria where I could buy diesel fuel "at a reasonable price".

While I was pumping the > 40 gallons of diesel, a fellow came over to look at the boat. - He commented that the boat was "neat"; then, he looked in the PU bed & said, "WHERE the H did you get all those Gales & SeaKings?" Then he said, "I had a 25 Buccaneer like that one. Would you sell it?" Then, "Does it run?"
(I said, "I don't have a clue but it's not seized up, the tank is there and the controls are in the truck."

He said, "I'll give you 150.oo for it, CASH MONEY right now."
(I said, "OK" and he paid me.)

So I headed out again to WV & stopped about 5PM at a "waffle joint" near Front Royal. - Ate a waffle and coffee & got up to leave. When I got out to the PU, there were two guys "checking out" the rig & the "contents" of the bed.
One of the "good 'ole boys" told me that he "wouldn't give a penny more than 500 bucks" for the pair of 35HP SeaKings.
(I said, "OK" again & his buddy wanted the little 7.5 for another fifty bucks.)

On the way home, I called my brother on ham radio & he said, "You wanna meet me at the Mexican place, over in Inwood?" - I said, "YEP. My treat, too".
(You guessed it: I got home at "the mountain lair" about 2.5 hours later W/O anything but a pocketful of bucks, as I sold the rig on the way home from supper for 300 cash & CLEARED the best of "ONE LARGE" for the day, for driving all over southern MD, Northern VA & back to Berkeley County.)

The following Tuesday, I bought a 1956 Lone Star runabout and a matching BigTwin IN GERRATSTOWN for 200.oo AND less than 5 miles from "the house".

"Passing strange business", don't you think?
(WHO could dream up a "rather weird" story like that? - NOBODY over 5YO would believe it, anyhow.)

yours, satx

You've got the best story, Satx.

In my opinion, my best deal was paying $3K for my Custom Craft. All I had to do was wash it, treat the seats and replace the impeller and I was done. Took about a week and I was on the water with a show winner. Have turned down $9K, so it was probably not a bad investment either.

Found a 62 Dorsett El Rey in oregon with a 62 Merc 1000 on the original 62 trailer all for $500. Went and looked at it found out that her father had purchased it new and he gave it to her. She had never used it and it was sitting in her yard for 10 years. No rot and everything was there including the original convertable top, only the seats had been recovered. Hauled it home, blowing the engine in my truck on the way. Put in new plugs and fresh fuel. Dropped in a new battery and fired right up and runs great. All for $450

Free/with Tee Nee. Work in progress.

14' Sea Mac

Woody_ltd,

GREAT woodie. What kind of OB are you planning to run on it?

youyrs, satx

Very cool!

Bob

thetudor, et.al.,

This is the rest of the story:

When I came to San Antonio (to care for my "duckie", who is now "a lady on wheels") in Feb 2011, I left the Lone Star runabout rig at "my little brother's place".
In March of this year, he called me and asked, "How attached are you to the boat?"
(I asked , "WHY?")

Ed said, "Well, you know that I'd like to have the 1940s kitchen renovated and the fellow that delivers your BBQ wood has offered to completely re-do the kitchen for the boat, motor and trailer. All that I have to provide is new appliances. He'll build all the cabinets, movable central island, tile the floor, re-do the walls, paint the ceiling and install the appliances. Butch wants that boat BAD."

I said, "DO IT!!"

So for an original "investment" of 200.oo, I made about 750.oo clear profit and "our mountain lair" on North Mountain has an up-to-date kitchen.
(Ed didn't tell me how much he spent on a new fridge, stove, dishwasher, etc. but whatever he spent for appliances, that "experience" worked out quite well, I think, as a set of handmade oak cabinets would be $$$$$$$.)

yours, satx

If you go to my forum under ( Bringing the Dorsett along ). You'll see my other deals. The Catalina, We got for 350.00 and it came with a 90 HP Motor which the guy selling it said worked. I took in to a boat shop and was sure the tech was going to tell that it was junk and was told that it started on the 2th.try. Every dog has his day!!

monte w,

Sounds like you did WELL!!!

yours, satx

I have a Johnston sea horse 35. Do you think this is a good fit?

I hope to have it on the water by May 2014

Woody_ltd,

ImVho, a 35HP BIG TWIN or TWO is "a good fit" on most any classic boat.
(My other choice would be a HOMELITE 55, IF it is a post-1960 model.)

As most "old-timers" here KNOW, I'm not very fond of "modern OBs" or "other than the correct year" of any sort of OB/inboard engine.

yours, satx