2005 320 with only 75 hours... Concerns?

Hello... brand new boaters here, looking for a boat. We are currently looking at two 2005 320 Dancers. One has 75 hours, and the other has about 300 hours. Both are in great shape. We have concerns about the one with low hours. Apparently, the owner has traveled a lot for work and couldn't use it, so it sat a lot. Can anyone please give some insight as to what the issues may be with a boat with such low hours? Is this something to stay away from? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Both are actually low hours, 2005 means a 10 year old boat......So average 7.5 hours and 30 hours a year.

Need to check a bit deeper, as in, when were the hours run? I mean did they run more hours early in life or recently etc etc...........Of more concern is servicing records, schedules etc, have they been maintained, have they been yearly serviced, cleaned buffed etc etc.

Have they been kept in or out of water...........

Does EVERYTHING work, not just engines, but steering, trim, anchor, all electrics etc etc etc.

And most importantly a good survey

My 320 was 7 years old and had 125 hour on it when I bought it. Excellent condition and well serviced, so like Ian just said, you need to see the service records, don't just take the seller's word and get a survey. I would recommend calling John at Great Lakes Marine Surveyors 616-796-4777
You didn't mention if the 320's you are looking at have the inboard v-drives or the IOs, IMO outdrives with the IOs are more apt to have seal problems from setting for long periods.

Mini HiJack- Jeff, what a beautiful boat & photo. I guess I missed when you changed your sig pic. Wow! Congrats again.

No intention of HiJacking but thanks, the 320DA is and was a great boat and fit our families needs for serveral years!

I kept an eye on your 320 while you were selling & saw the post when it sold. This is just the first time I saw the 420. Such a nice boat!

oh, the hijack comment was directed at myself.

Thank you for the replies. We have a lot more info gathering to do for sure. They do both have inboard V-drives. We will check the maintenance records on both, ask a lot of questions, and for sure get a good survey. Thanks again for the help!

Definitely get a survey. I had the same concerns as you on my 330. A 14 year old boat with only 165 hours on the motors and 87 on the genny. The single previous owner had proper maintenance done, survey went well and I'm the owner of what looks and runs like a brand new boat.

Just to add, I have an 06 320,.... on my 2nd year of ownership, we now have 286 hours on engines/with outdrives.
Really enjoy it, we do have a dock neighbor that is just listing his 06 340 with v drives. Very well kept, good service records.
If you are looking at 340's as well.

I bought a 2005 320 with 60 hours on it in 2011 and I sold it last month with 160 hours on it. Same configuration as you are considering, V drives. With V drives there is very little in the water, as long as the PO changed zincs regularly you should have very little to worry about.

My boat was slipped all its life from new and always had cockpit and window covers. Contrary to what people will tell you, it did not disintegrate from sitting, so don't let the low hours scare you. In fact, cosmetically my boat was almost indistinguishable from new, and that has some value IMHO.

Mechanically the things that did cause me trouble were things like shaft seals, they gum up with corrosion and sea life over time, one of the first things that failed was the shaft seal. The water cooling passages had clogged up over time and first time I went WOT the seal melted from lack of cooling water. The generator also suffered a bit from lack of use, it had 14 hours on it total, carb jets gummed up a bit from old gas. The fuel modules screen will clog up with junk also, and you can have some fuel problems, this is a well known issue as the paint on the inside of the module flakes off and clogs the screen up, and its not too painful to fix if the module is still good. Otherwise, when we sold, the surveyor came back with little to nothing that it needed. You could eat off my risers, and they were original, there wasn't anything that didn't work.

Of course canvas will wear out over time, I had to replace all my canvas and windshield panels in 2014, If either of those boats is on its original canvas it will be past due for replacement and that is about a $4k-$5k expense depending on what you choose for replacement material.