You never go wrong getting a survey. I would never buy a boat without one.

Don't get hung up on distance - as you said - great opportunity to learn the boat bringing it home. The cost of a captain that goes with you is a fraction of the cost of the boat.

You are the buyer - you are in control of the deal.

Are you worried that if you make an offer to the seller that he will get pissed and not sell you the boat? Don't worry about that.

just my thoughts,

Mark

 

Great points! A survey will happen for sure. Not worried, I will likely make a low offer and see what happens before getting a survey, but based on what the broker is saying the owner is set at a certain price, which is very close to the other boat, the one without all the uncertainty.

 

How many miles by water? 100 miles is not that far at cruise.

 

100 miles by water too, Pensacola to Mississippi. Actually would be a cool cruise!

 

Shoot, I wish I could have made a deal within 100 miles! I ended up buying a 340 about 200 miles away from me and paid to have it hauled over land. For me piloting it around the mitten state would have been far too costly and time consuming.

Are you worried that 200 hours is too high on the first boat you mentioned? That seems like “just broken in” to me? Those generator hours would concern me too, however. But for the right price I surely wouldn’t walk away from it.

I walked away from three boats and one survey before landing on the perfect boat for me and my family. Walking away was pure pain….pure pain. But it worked out perfectly in the end.

Good luck! At least you don’t have the added pressure if a 6 week long summer like us northerners. Take your time…

 

...Those generator hours would concern me too, however. But for the right price I surely wouldn’t walk away from it.
…

Yes it's a lot of hours, but if you break it down it's only 145 hours per year on the gennie and 18+ estimated hours on the drive trains. If you are on the hook for a weekend, you're going to put 50 hours on the gennie. I wonder if the engine estimates are correct.

 

Where was/is the '04 during the boating seasons? Was it in a slip with power? If yes, then the ratio of the "estimated" 200 hrs on the main motors, versus 1600 on the generous seems highly suspect. I guess it could be plausible if all they used the boat for was short runs to anchor out and run the genset while on the hook.

Either way, GET the survey done, once you decide which one you like.

 

You have to consider the area the boat is in……Pensacola FL.

Pensacola Beach is a 10 minute run from the downtown Pensacola dry stack marinas. Most people who just like to anchor out and cill, as opposed to fish, head to P'cola beach, drop anchor, shut down the engines and do their thing. This is Florida so running the A/C from May to November, which is the prime boating season, is the norm. Under those usage parameters the main engine hours vs. the generator time is very reasonable since you might run 1/2 hour on the mains and 50 hours on the generator on a 2 day weekend.

As far as firm prices go, the broker's job (and his means of getting paid) is to get as much money from the buyer as he can. Asking a broker how firm is the price is a waste of time and what he tells you is useless information. The only way to find out if a price is firm is to step up to the plate, fill out and sign a purchase contract listing all your contingencies and offer and a deposit check and hand them to the broker.

 

A fellow at our marina has a real nice 06 340 for sale.
You can see it listed at Elite Boat Sales.
It is on Dale Hollow Lake in TN.
In great shape, just to confuse you a little more!

 

Nooo, no more confusion!!! Haha!

We are moving forward with the 2004 300 with the 1600 hour generator. I got more clarity on the motor hour issue, the condition of the boat is 9.8/10, I will have an lease at my current marina (which is booked and is the only way I could get one for a boat this large), and it looks like the owner will deal, at least a bit. Assuming the survey and engine checks are satisfactory, I will be getting a good deal on this boat. The only negative will be the generator, I will have to go into it with the expectation of having to do some work on it, and worse case, replacing, but I can live with that. Who knows, that thing might run another 2000 hours. I will keep you posted and post pics asap! Thanks again for the advice!

I will also be upgrading the raymarine c70 and radar, I am sure I will need some advice on that.

 

My '04 300DA had over 1100 hours on the Kohler 5E generator when I bought it way back in 2011. My research at the time didn't have me worried about the generator. I was advised it was a 10,000 hour unit.

Also, I just sent you a PM.