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I was in your position when I bought mine. There were ZERO boats for sale anywhere near me--really, nothing I was at all interested in, the very few boats for sale were either close to brand new and wildly out of my reach, or they were beat to snot project boats. I ended up doing a 13 or 14hr one-way drive to pick up mine. I called and talked to him and it sounded promising. We talked price and some details and agreed on a fair price we were both OK with, a bit less than his asking price. We agreed that if he dragged it to a marine mechanic of my choosing I would pay for a survey and if the criteria I had were met I'd buy it at the price we'd agreed on. The market has changed and maybe he doesn't want to deal with that, but it looks to me like the guy is *****ly because these online for sale listings--facebook, craigslist, etc--seem to breed bottom feeders, and it's easy to waste half a day replying to a zillion emails asking if its still available, kicking tires ("is the left taillight out? looks dark"), asking mostly non-related questions ("How fast is it?"), and making ridiculously low offers ("will you trade for a 1986 polaris, it doesn't run but should be easy to fix"? no, not kidding). That boat is basically a carbon copy of mine--slightly diff color, mine's an '03 DC with a yamaha, but it's the exact same hull, etc. As I said above, the boat without figuring in any sonar, trolling motor, power poles, etc booked at average retail of $18k when I did an NADA search for mine the other day--that's based on the actual selling prices people are reporting to DMV's when they register. His might be a bit lower being a few years older but should be close? Is it unreasonable to get $2000 for an ultrex, 2 sonars and 2 power poles? That stuff isnt standard on a 20 year old boat, so seems reasonable to me, and that probably puts you at 19 and change...which just happens to be about 10% below his asking price. Does not seem unreasonable to me for an asking price if you like the boat. If he's firm on price or it's not exactly what you want, well, no harm in asking. But personally, looking at his boat and comparing to mine, I wouldn't settle for a dime less than he's asking because I don't think I'd have any chance of replacing mine for that price right now. Honestly, if I were selling, based on my look around at used boats just now I'd probably list mine higher than that. That's a long way of saying that if it ain't the right boat it ain't the right boat, but it it's a pretty turnkey boat and doesn't seem at all unreasonable to me as an asking price assuming the actual condition is as clean as it appears in the pictures. I did see a few boats that looked ok that were less $ on that same facebook group, but all were in rougher shape and did not have upgraded equipment. Maybe one of those boats is a better buy for someone who is going to replace the poles, sonars, etc. But I didn't really see much in between. If you can take your time (sounds like you can) then I'm betting things cool off in a year or so or late Summer/early Fall (best time to buy!) and you'll be ready to pounce on the right one when it comes along.
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Well said.
FTR, I think people that waste my time should be shot in the face. Im funny like that.
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I have a 2001 classic ( all fiberglass no wood) with raptors 3 garmin 93svuhd a force trolling motor and livescope I would let go for 23k. Motor was checked out Friday. I don’t know numbers yet but my mechanic said it was spot on
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