Hey fellas,

Going to look at this boat on Friday (http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/boa/1067985654.html) and I am pretty excited about it. This will be my first boat. I don't want to get caught up in the moment and buy a boat that may not necessarily be a good deal. I am not completely ignorant about boats. I have a friend that has one and have helped him out with his a few times. I have also been looking at them for quite a while. Basically I am just asking your guys opinion on the boat and if everything is in good condition (ie interior, engine compartment, transem, etc...) is $7,500.00 a good place to start with him?

In the event the owner of the boat is on this website, please disregard everything above as I am just kdding. LOL.

Ok here it goes I have the exact same boat but mine is a 1983 and the color scheme is different.  Some of the problems that I came across since I broke rule #1 was I had to put in a new floor and stringers, my transome had a few dark spots but fixed that. And now I am in the process of doing the motor but I have had the boat for 3 years now.  My advice is make sure that the floor is good and that all the seats are secure and no soft spots. Do a compression test on the motor or better yet have him take you for a ride. Check the hull for cracks especially around the steps and handles.  Also, look at the hull where the boat gets beached.  Trust me I have learned the hard way.  But my boat is by far the best I have had and I love it.  Crusader makes a great boat.  And when it is all said and done offer him alot less it has been for sale for about 8 months.  Let me know if there is anything else I can help with and good luck.

X2

That's exactly what I would have told you.  In my opinion that is a $5K boat and there is nothing other than the price that will make it sell.  It just doesn't have anything that you can't find somewhere else.

I am a recovering rule #1 breaker too. Don't forget to:

give the trailer a hard look. if it's got brakes, figure out a way to check that they actually work. If it is a surge brake style, then when you backup does it have a lockout pin and does it work or do they bind up in reverse? Look at the spring shackles that they are tight and no missing bolts/nuts. That the wiring is not all hillbillyed up. Does it have a tongue jack and if so is it straight and works. Are all the lug nuts on and the same size? Do the trailer axles or any of the frame cross members show any signs of major road hits or encounters with stationary objects?

On the boat - how much gear comes with it? Anchor, safety horn/flotation chit all the stuff that will nickel and dime ya to death after you bring it home.

And good call on the bow wear. It's not bad to have beach marks on it, but if it gets down to the cloth then water can wick it's way into the most amazing places.

Crawl under the dash and check how sano the wiring is or is not. Same dealio back in the engine area. How many generations of cut and splice?

Play devils advocate. Pretend you are rain water and you landed on this boat when it wasn't tarped well or not at all. Where would you run to? Look there for signs of mold, dryrot, silverfish, pill bugs, or basic skank.

And $7500 is in George W Bush dollars, not failed economy dollars.

Is $5500.00 a fair market value

To pay, Yes. To offer, No!

Its not taking advantage of their desperation. Its paying what the market will bare. If you are comfortable over paying for something then by all means. Its a bad time to be in the sellers market! However its a great time to be in the buyers market!

Just keep in touch with everybody on here when you need parts, we could all use the xtra cash when we sell parts, etc.(I meant that as a joke, sincerly not trying to be a dick-if thats how it sounded)

That boat has been 4 sale for a while. You should be able to pick it up for a song and dance if the guy REALLY needs to sell it. I would say 5-6k but who really knows without seeing in person.

Just click "applaud" above the post count

Thanks. I guess I have not been around enough to "applaud" because that button is not there on my screen. Thanks though. I plan on sticking around here so, I guess it will show up at some point.

To pay, Yes. To offer, No!

Its not taking advantage of their desperation. Its paying what the market will bare. If you are comfortable over paying for something then by all means. Its a bad time to be in the sellers market! However its a great time to be in the buyers market!

Just keep in touch with everybody on here when you need parts, we could all use the xtra cash when we sell parts, etc.(I meant that as a joke, sincerly not trying to be a dick-if thats how it sounded)

I didn't intend to come off as holier than thou or as an idiot either. I see how it could be read that way though. I honestly just want to find a happy medium between a good deal on a boat, and not screwing over what seems to be a pretty decent guy. Thanks for all the info.

I didn't intend to come off as holier than thou or as an idiot either. I see how it could be read that way though. I honestly just want to find a happy medium between a good deal on a boat, and not screwing over what seems to be a pretty decent guy. Thanks for all the info.

I didnt think you were being like that, I can be a pretty sarcastic guy (one of my many talents) and know that some take it the wrong way!

By the way, dont think for a minute that he wouldnt list it high thinking that someone will try to lowball just to meet in the middle! He also may be unaware that the economy is for shit or he may be under the impression that all the money that you put into a boat your supposed to get out when you sell it.

It just comes down to what your comfortable paying. If you pay high but got the boat you wanted, then thats cool!

and again....welcome, there are some awesome people here and even better advice and friends...ENJOY!

Just want to let you all know what happened.

I showed up after telling him that if I liked the boat and it worked out, I was going to buy it today. He started telling me how he had some things to do it before he was ready to sell. That kind of pissed me off but, I thought "okay I can just offer him less than I had planned on befrore" So I figure alright lets roll. We launch it, starts up perfect and sounds really good. I'm thinking okay cool. We idle out past the bouy's and he starts to accelerate and it dies...........and never started again. LOL. We had to get towed back in. Oh well. He blamed it on the shop that he said he just got it out of that morning. Think it's a load of crap personally. If you guys are interested in picking up a project boat for probably almost nothing maybe you should jump on it.

Boost had turned me on to this one a while back.  It's a repo'd boat so you won't know much history about it.  The guy's not advertising it on CL anymore but it's still up on his site.  He had it up on Inland Empire Craigslist about a month ago for $5,750.  Seemed like a pretty good deal to me.  But what do I know!?

http://www.nationalautogroup.net/95_jetboat.html

Seems like it huh?  I've never heard a damn thing about "Silverwing Boats" though.  Anybody ever heard of them?  It seems like the construction of the boat is pretty cheap, like for instance, check out that gauge cluster...  They did use a little bit of billet, but then skimped on things like the glove box, or the shifter lever.  If you're using billet hardware, shouldn't all the hardware be billet?

Ya I forgot to say that also.... that I had never heard of that make either

Just a quick word on Silverwing... The company that originally made these was in Orange called Speed & Marine. It was a family company. They took a Jaguar V-12 tunnel to Parker and won the enduro in 1985. You missed out on a great boat. I couldnt see the picture but was it a center console or a tunnel hull? Most of the tunnels they built ran twin merc racing outboards. These are some great boats and I have had my eye out for one for a long time. Jim Wilkes (hotboat magazine) has the molds now at Wilkes Marine. He has built a few of them since Jerry Lembke co-owner of Speed & Marine died.