Used Boat Disclaimers: "boat has not been used in years"

[hamburking]

I bought a 70's Cal 25 that had been sitting on the hard for 5 years. It had an OMC Saildrive inboard engine. After I launched, I connected a new battery and turned the key...the engine started without too much fuss. However, it would not idle. The local marina mechanic charged me $100 to clean the bad fuel out of the fuel tank, and to clean the carb. After that, no problems. However, it was a 2 stroke gas engine...not a diesel.

[Teknishn]

Am currently in the process of possibly purchasing an older sailboat off the internet that has been on the hard since the end of last season and is advertised as being "Turn Key". Priced affordably at well under $10K for what it is, and negotiations for the cost of a new main and autopilot brought the price down to the "Almost too good to be true" level. (Alarm bells going off here at this point). The Yanmar 1GM engine was winterized and the owner says it is one of the best parts of the boat (Hmmm, what are the "not best" parts of the boat....running rigging? sails?). I have maintenance receipts for the last two years, and there are many. And a lot of real nice pics of a beautiful well maintained boat which I think we would be a good fit together.

Great, all that. Am in love with a boat (It happens sometimes as most of you already know), but arranged for a survey as well. (Wish I could have had a survey of my previous 3 wives , Would've saved me a fortune so that I could afford a bigger boat!). Doing a survey on a cheap little piece of fiberglass sitting in the water, why? Because when you buy something sight-unseen, you deserve what you get, don't cry and whine about it. If a boat hasn't been used for years and years without maintenance, then there will always be other issuess that need to be addressed besides the engine.

Remember, when you are out there on your own, or with family and friends, one's boat has to be safe, capable, and reliable. Get a survey done if you can't, or don't know how to inpsect the boat for yourself.

[Dave22q]

Originally Posted by bjymd

I put a bid on a boat that had been sitting on a mooring ball for a year. At the time of the survey the broker said everything worked. While running the engine, generator and air-conditioning we got high temp alarms on the engine and generator after a half hour run and the air quit. The surveyor opened things up below and found barnacles throughout the raw water intake system and fish in the strainers. The seller refused to lower the price because he was " under water with his boat loan. I moved on and just finished negotiating a deal on a larger, better boat ( on survey) for much less. Buyers beware.

We should all have such trivial problems. Easy to fix water intake restrictions would not seem a deal breaker to me. The fact you got lucky later does not impress me. If the boat was over priced, why hire a surveyor? Exactly how much of a discount would you think is fair for cleaning the lines and strainers?$50 or $100?

[Manos1955]

I d rather buy a boat with an engine loaded thousands hours but working continually day and night non stop than a 200 hours engine but one year on the hard

A 5 year on the hard old boat needs all plumbing redone, engine and gearbox remanufactured, all electrical wiring redone, all haches refit and the deck gear remake

Too much

[mowerandy]

well, my diesel was running fine a year ago when I last sailed.. now it has a completely seized raw water pump, the cast iron exhaust elbow has cracked in half and the bottom of the pong box has corroded out and fallen off into the bilge.
While the water pump could have used more attention than it ever got, the exhaust just got old and fell apart - which happens to all things sooner or later I guess - law of entropy and all that.
I could honestly say it was running great last time the boat was used only a year ago, but the real truth would be that it needs a bunch of work done before you could hope to learn much about the actual state of the engine....
Buying unseen is massively risky, and even more so if the price looks really good. Having bought and sold a few power boats lately, some indeed unseen at purchase, I can attest that some (many) will justify lying through their teeth about the state of things by telling themselves that the price was so good you got a bargain anyway - watch out for that

[wesevans]

Any rubber item (belts, hoses and raw pump impellers) will deteriorate over time whether the the boat or engines are used or not. If the engine was not properly serviced for storage there may be other problems. Other problems may be corrosion in the electrical connections. boats not used for long periods of time almost always have problems.

[Hudson Force]

During my 55 years of boat ownership I've had about a dozen small outboards from 2 to 20 hp, a one cyl 8 hp inboard Palmer, a couple of Atomic Fours, a Westerbeke 4-107, and my current Yanmar 4JH3E. I've been attentive to these engines and I have close to seven thousand hours on my Yanmar from new.

I'm surprised at what people seem to expect as "reliability". Sure, I maintain my engines and they seem to do what I expect most of the time, but sometimes water, air, fuel or electricity don't obey the planned and desired pathway.

Regardless of surveys, preparation, maintenance or hope; it's best to be able to respond to your engine stopping at any given time for some unexpected reason!

Accept that you need to be the cure. There is no absolute reliability!

[nzmal]

I have a slightly different angle on this thread. My old cav39 has a 1974 md3b volvo fitted. I've come across another md3b still in its crate never fitted. Bought new in the late 70s... what might be the risks with buying this for a swap out with my current engine

Sent from my GT-I9506 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[barnakiel]

Unused and still in original box?

Hmmm. I would be very tempted to fully investigate. Unless it is frozen.

An engine like this can be fired up on the palette. If it turns and starts fine .....

We have an MD7. If I could buy an unused one, I would not even spit on the modern engines.

b.

[Panope]

I installed a factory new Yanmar in my earthbound project, ran it a couple times under no load, then proceeded to take 12 more years to splash. Other than a deformed impeller, it was still as new. 500 hours on engine now. Perfect.

Steve

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by nzmal

I have a slightly different angle on this thread. My old cav39 has a 1974 md3b volvo fitted. I've come across another md3b still in its crate never fitted. Bought new in the late 70s... what might be the risks with buying this for a swap out with my current engine

Sent from my GT-I9506 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

Well, stored inside would be a plus. That's a long time. Arizona would be a yes, damp and humid state? Maybe. Step #1 turn the crank over by hand. Step#2 It better be cheap.
Likely all rubber seals are bad would be my guess. It could be a great deal, real hard to say. If I bought it I would likely remove the head, look for rust in the cylinder walls, if ok, spray the cylinders, turn it slowly to get light oil into the rings etc.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by Hudson Force

During my 55 years of boat ownership I've had about a dozen small outboards from 2 to 20 hp, a one cyl 8 hp inboard Palmer, a couple of Atomic Fours, a Westerbeke 4-107, and my current Yanmar 4JH3E. I've been attentive to these engines and I have close to seven thousand hours on my Yanmar from new.

I'm surprised at what people seem to expect as "reliability". Sure, I maintain my engines and they seem to do what I expect most of the time, but sometimes water, air, fuel or electricity don't obey the planned and desired pathway.

Regardless of surveys, preparation, maintenance or hope; it's best to be able to respond to your engine stopping at any given time for some unexpected reason!

Accept that you need to be the cure. There is no absolute reliability!

Hudson,

Thank you for adding your example and wisdom to this thread (and CF).

[Steadman Uhlich]

It has been awhile since I last posted in this thread.

Surely more "been laid up" boats have been bought by CF members since the discussion started.

Please add more boats and examples to the mix. Share your stories, your challenges with old or long laid up boats, and your lessons learned.

[WilliamKidd]

My new girl says she sat for four years but that's a alota funk for 4 years ensenada 20Attachment 223526

[charliehows]

if you have the sheer luck to come across an honest seller you may buy a boat sight unseen that doesnt turn out to be a fabulous disaster. Buy a lottery ticket instead.
The big issue in 2nd hand boats is 'deferred maintenance' ; its quite easy and common for the accumulated deferred maintenance to outweigh the value of the boat, something the seller can conscientiously turn a blind eye to. Think of it like this; why would you pay $40,000 for a boat that will immediately cost you $30,000 to make it worth $40,000 ? what if it would cost $45,000 to make it worth $40,000? In theory the seller should pay you $5000 to take it away.