# Boat help.



## Rjallen683 (Sep 28, 2014)

looking at purchasing a used boat , which will be my first boat. Went and looked at it yesterday and opened up the motor and dry storage and there was mice nest inside of both of them. Talked him down on the price but still a little Leary. Is the mice nest a automatic no go or not?. Any info would be appreciated


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## RiparianRanger (Nov 18, 2015)

Mice are common in boats (and vehicles for that matter) stored for long periods of time. If I were in your shoes I'd want a better assessment of any damage that may have been done. Check the corners of all storage compartments, move any stored items like PFDs and check if mice have chewed the carpet. Where there are mice there is mice poop so if that grosses you out then maybe it's a no-go for you. One cardinal rule when buying a used boat is you want to test it on the water. See if the seller will dewinterize and float the craft. That should give you some idea of the shape she's in and if the mice caused any material damage


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## bustedrod (May 13, 2015)

keep looking untill you find what you like , be careful getting a project boat because being your first it may overwhelm you with problems. mice in the hood? not good. look for something in running condition, nice shape, dont settle for less , its your first right?


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

I wouldn't think about buying a boat without water testing it. and run it long enough to really check it out. make sure it idles well and runs good at wot. I bought the boat I have now in late winter and couldn't water test it. and it ran good on muffs setting on the trailer. the 1st time I took it out I found out i'd been screwed. the motor didn't have enough power to get on plane. and after it got warmed up good it ran like [email protected] I had to replace the motor. I tried contacting the seller but the phone number was no longer in service.
sherman


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## bountyhunter (Apr 28, 2004)

mice could have chewed up the wiring. if your new to boat buying find a buddy who knows some thing about boats. theres lot to look at .


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## Gottagofishn (Nov 18, 2009)

When you take it out to run it make sure you do some turns with it as well. When I bought my last boat it worked fine in a straight line but in rough conditions or on turns the prop would blow out. If you haven't owned a boat before or aren't comfortable putting the boat through the paces ask the owner to.


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## Rjallen683 (Sep 28, 2014)

Only want a thousand. No visible damage to boat. Was planning on getting a different motor anyways. But I did notice that mice had eaten some of the insulation off of some çompartments


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## Rjallen683 (Sep 28, 2014)

According to the owner he never took it out , been stuck in a barn for a year.


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## Popspastime (Apr 1, 2014)

Like said above.. look at the wiring, mice LOVE to chew of the insulation.. key on... fire..


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## Rjallen683 (Sep 28, 2014)

Wiring did not look bad. When I said insulation I meant some kind of styrofoam in one of the storages. With me being an electrician it wouldn't be difficult to re wire the boat


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## backfar (Sep 24, 2014)

Rjallen683 said:


> According to the owner he never took it out , been stuck in a barn for a year.


......the mice may or may not be an issue....do your home work and don't buy the boat without a sea trail....owner stating he "never took it out" is a big huge red flag to me....


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## Bad Bub (Jan 17, 2006)

Don't forget the trailer.... the boat will spend 95% of its life sitting on the trailer. It's also going to travel at its highest speeds over the hardest surface while on the trailer.


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

Bad Bub said:


> Don't forget the trailer.... the boat will spend 95% of its life sitting on the trailer. It's also going to travel at its highest speeds over the hardest surface while on the trailer.


there's no telling how old the tires on the trailer are. check them carefully for weather cracks. a weather cracked tire is unsafe and should be replaced right away. I bought a boat and trailer off ebay for 297.00. it had a motor but it was shot. I had a good motor that I put on it. the trailer was ok but some of the rollers on the trailer was in bad shape. I replaced all the rollers. the tires looked pretty good and had plenty of tread left on them. but I knew I would be trailering the boat to fl and back. so I chose to replace the tires just to be on the safe side. even if the tires looks good now they may crack after you use them. so check them again after you've pulled it for a distance. make sure the tires are inflated properly. my tires calls for a max of 50#'s. and that's where I've always run them.
sherman


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## RiparianRanger (Nov 18, 2015)

^since 2000 the government requires tires have a DOT number on the side wall. The last four numbers of the code tell you the week of manufacture and the year. For example "0213" would be second week of January 2013. Keep in mind tires may spend several weeks or even months on a dealers rack before sale but knowing this number should get you close to the tires age on the road.


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## bountyhunter (Apr 28, 2004)

for 1k and things look ok, and the seller seems to be trust worthy, I go with my gut feeling, [been a time or two its been wrong] but I,m 70yrs old and its right on the money most the time.


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## Gottagofishn (Nov 18, 2009)

I agree with Bountyhunter, after a through going over and some conversation time with the seller I get a pretty good "feel" for the seller. I have interacted with folks my entire life, I'm far too old to start doubting my decision making process now.
Gut feelings are pretty reliable in my experience.
If it looks good but doesn't feel right, keep looking.


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## Rjallen683 (Sep 28, 2014)

Thank you guys for the input. Really appreciate it. I talked to an avid boater and he said he will come with me Friday to look at it


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

Rjallen683 said:


> Thank you guys for the input. Really appreciate it. I talked to an avid boater and he said he will come with me Friday to look at it


good deal on getting some help. and sometimes you do get a good deal from someone who just doesn't want to put any work into getting it ready for the water.

if you plan to replace the motor a sea trial isn't really needed. but do inspect the boat carefully. look at the drain plug area and make sure it isn't corroded away. they do make replacements but its better if its in good condition. and I wouldn't worry to much about a little loose Styrofoam in the storage compartment. if the boat is solid and doesn't have a soft floor and the transom is good and solid and the carpet isn't rotten if it has carpet then half the worries with buying a boat are over. but check and make sure the lights have good wiring going to them. you can always replace the lights if needed. I have bought used boats all my life and always got good solid boats for the money. but did get burned a couple of times on the motor.

I did buy an old 18' Cherokee aluminum boat down in ky that had been setting under a tree for yrs and I knew what I was getting for 250.00. I had a friend that owned a body shop. and another friend that owned a sandblast shop. and my brother worked at the sandblast. the friend at the body shop said he would paint it free if I got it sandblasted. took it to the sandblast on a Saturday and my brother blasted it for free. the bow had rotted out and the floor was rotten. I just tore the bow out and put Styrofoam spray foam insulation in the floor of the bow and put plywood on it. the floor I just put new plywood over the old floor. used this boat on erie for 10 yrs or so. but when I moved to the central basin I bought a 20' sea ray and sold the old boat.
sherman


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## capt j-rod (Feb 14, 2008)

I'd be kinda leery about that. Does it have internal or external "can" fuel tank? Electrical gremlins are the worst. Old fiberglass with stringers and transom issues are a nightmare. Remember boat is an acronym... Break Out Another Thousand. There are a lot of thousands required to bring one back to life. Take a tablet along and write down everything that you can see. Then consider hidden items. Then think about motors, add this all together. Subtract it from what the boat would be worth in pristine turn key condition. I have restored classic cars, boats, antiques, and everything else with a motor. Snowmobiles, quads, lawnmower, snowblowers.... the parts are insane and the labor is expensive if you can't do it yourself. The project described above would have been $800-$1000 in sand blast and probably $2000 in paint if you were writing checks. There are millions of used boats. Take your time and get a good one. I'm not saying this one is bad, but "boat fever" is a horrible illness that warps our judgement. Finally make sure that the finished product is absolutely the boat you love and want to own.


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## Rjallen683 (Sep 28, 2014)

Yea I'm starting to get familiar with that acronym. But I love fishing and just tired of limited fishing from banks. I'm pretty mechanically inclined so a lot of things I can do myself. If I do decide to get it and it don't work out at least I can say I tried. With my luck boat will be good but my work schedule will triple and won't have any time to mess with it. The life of an electrician


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## Gottagofishn (Nov 18, 2009)

The switch from bank to boat increased my catch rate by about a zillion %. More and bigger fish started coming in the boat pretty quickly. The first thing I found I needed was a bigger net!

It should make the time you have to spend on the water more productive and open up a bunch of new adventures. It's worth selling off one of the kids for!


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

my 1st boat was an old 14' run about with a 15 hp sea king motor. I bought it for 450.00 back in the late 70's. later I bought a 50 hp Johnson motor from my brother n law who was scraping out and old houseboat. then it was a great little boat. but with the bow it made it a little small for fishing out of. so I cut the bow out of the boat then used the bow material to build me a steering box. it was fun figuring out both the cables going down one side of the boat. but I got it working and had me a little fishing machine, LOL.
sherman


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## Rjallen683 (Sep 28, 2014)

Well took my buddy with me to look at the boat today. After further examination I determined it was a no go. Wood was rotted and the mice problem was way worse than I thought. Motor was in God shape though. Oh well, hopefully better luck next time


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## Popspastime (Apr 1, 2014)

Well there you go... lots of boats coming for sale now as spring pops in so be patient and you'll find what your looking for. You want to get something you can get in and fish with to start, not put all your hard earned $ into to start. Even if you find one that can use some TLC you can do it a bit at a time as your pocket see's fit while your using and fishing it.


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

yeah just keep looking. and I'm sorry to hear this boat didn't work out for you. there's thousands of boats out there. you'll find one that's going to last you awhile.

I pretty much gave up bank fishing after I got a boat. with a boat you can fish many banks until you find fish. and you can get to water that bank fishermen just cant get to. if you enjoy bank fishing you'll love having your own boat.
sherman


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## moondog5814 (Apr 8, 2007)

Keep looking and you will find something. It took me two years to find something decent that was within my budget. The more you look at different styles of boats, the more you will learn about them. Good Luck.


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## bountyhunter (Apr 28, 2004)

start looking in peoples yards as you drive by. theres hundreds of boats siting around doing nothing. I know where theres a great rig hasn,t seen water in ten yrs, in a garage,and it won,t move till the owner passes.


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## My Demeyes (Aug 2, 2010)

Rjallen683 said:


> Well took my buddy with me to look at the boat today. After further examination I determined it was a no go. Wood was rotted and the mice problem was way worse than I thought. Motor was in God shape though. Oh well, hopefully better luck next time


What motor was on it?


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## Rjallen683 (Sep 28, 2014)

Evinrude 85


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## NWCrappie (Feb 10, 2016)

I would say if you are only fishing small waters I would go buy a new boat. You can buy plenty of small boats brand new for around ten thousand and with the financing today you can do it for less than $100 per month with brand new everything. Just a thought


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