Buying a used boat

Grapedrink

New Member
Hello,

Complete noob here.

Long story shorty my father is nearing retirement and he’s always wanted to own a boat so I’m trying to help out.

I found a used boat (2013 Hewscraft 220 Searunner) that he’s very interested in.

What is the process like for a private purchase? Do we bring an inspector with us? Pay by bank draft?

Any advice is welcome.

Sorry if this is a stupid post lol.

Thanks!
 
No way this is a stupid post. Good on you for asking the right questions. The sale can be subject to inspection like a house. Pay good money to have a mechanic run through it thoroughly. Good luck.
 
Marine surveyor to look at the boat. Get a GOOD marine mechanic to check out the boat. And then take it for a sea trial.
Don't cheap out on these steps and don't skip any steps. Don't be in a rush and don't take the seller's word for anything.
 
Sign a conditional buy-sell agreement, paying a small refundable deposit to give you time to do the inspections. Then get a survey and mechanical inspection. You will then be able to renegotiate the price based upon any deficiencies discovered. If you do not have an agreement in place you could spend money on inspections and have the owner sell to someone else.
 
Make the offer subject to a Sea-trial/Sea-trial/Sea-trial satisfactory to you as well as the survey/mechanical. Run the boat for at least 20 minutes and the kicker for at 10 minutes. Put them both into idle and chat with the owner. Stalling engines are a sign of problems. Put them both into reverse and see if there is any clunkiness. If you are new to boating, ask a friend who knows boats to go on the sea-trial. Alternatively bring phone and video all parts of the boat slowly and send it to a friend. A member sent me a video of a boat he was in love with, and I told him to run, he eventually got a perfect boat.

Clarify with the mechanic/shop what is going to be done sometimes the mechanic/dealership will just check the compression and digital read out and test run in a tank. I had the sales person from Sherwood come out and really give the boat a once over, free of charge which was helpful but not part of the "service". I paid for Surveyor in Oregon to look at a boat for me and it had been run up on the beach and the gelcoat/had been worn through to the fibreglass, he failed to look at the keel/bow of the hull and I wasted a trip. Ask them to send you an example survey and make sure it is through with pictures.

PS that Hewescraft is awesome, get a deposit on it!
 
All great advice but be prepared to loose out on good boats that guys will buy sight unseen the day they are listed
 
I would say go for a sea trial also. I didn't with my boat, and luckily I am VERY happy with it in all ways, so all is good, but after buying it, I got nervous thinking, Why the <blank> did I not get a sea trial. Felt really stupid (until we fired it up and all was great). Could have been a disaster...
 
Being an AL boat the boat should be inspected for any defects (cracks/corrosion) particular to AL boats, an engine survey is also needed. It is likely the hull & engine surveys are conducted by different folks. The engine survey MAY require a sea trial; the boat engine should with an average load achieve the recommended RPM range the engine mfgr quotes for that engine, and the engine if outboard should run at full throttle for several minutes w/o overheating. For a gas car engine (inboard/outboard) the engine may not tolerate full throttle for very long.
A sea trial should be conducted in less than optimal conditions so that the rough water performance can be evaluated. Make sure you are happy with the way the boat performs. If you are unhappy, you may reject the boat, but will forfeit any money spent on survey's.
Payment method will be at the option of the seller.
 
Do not skip the sea trial!
Boats run the best in the driveway hooked up to muffs idling at 600 rpm!
Get that thing in the water and give it a good run like has been mentioned.
You need to test everything under load ie planning speed and more.
Good advice from others about taking out somebody knowledgeable with you.
 
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