The last boat I purchased looked too good to be true in the seller's YW pics. Especially considering the asking
price of $1,500. But since the boat was only 30-40 min drive away I went for a look see. Surprisingly up close it looked even better than in pictures and there were 3 crisp almost brand new
sails, nice well kept cushions,
autopilot, etc. The catch was that the 2cyl Universal was not turning but I figured my
marine pro buddy will bring it to life. When finally he got to see it he estimated that the $$ and effort needed to
work on the Universal would not be productive compared to getting an old QM he already checked out and pronounced "good shape and good deal" ($750 including craning it up to my boat and craning the Universal out and including me keeping the Universal for
parts, the crane charge by itself was worth about $150-200/hr). So for another $600 in labor and $140 for the mixing
elbow I have a very nice $3,000 28 footer which I spent very little time searching for. Just the sails alone are worth at least that much.
I am sure I could've found a similar boat in great shape for say $5-10K which would not required all this
work. But if I had to spend months or years for that hunt it would be time I'd never get back. And still there wouldn't be 100% assurance that another boat would not spring a surprise or two on me anyway.
My point being that I completely agree with your "you know when you found the one" outlook. That's how I felt when I initially saw this one, warts and all. And if the
engine would've been good to begin with I would have gladly paid 3 times the
price I ended up paying.
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