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looking at a boat and need help.

P

peebles24

New member
I am a newbie here and have a few questions. I am looking at a 83 Enticer with a 84 Evinrude 115 for 3500.00 which I think is a bit steep but he won't budge. Here is what I noticed. Clear coat is peeling in a lot of places. Interior is not terrible but the rear seat does have some craking. He has replaced two boards one at the back of the rear seat and one right in front of the console under the front seat. He used 2 by treated lumber. Under the rear seat one of the pads the sides of the seat sit on is completely un attached. I didn't know how to check the transom or what was visible of the hull under the seats. There are some wear marks on the bottom of the hull looks like it had been driven up on a sand bar. There are also some chips in the hull I didn't notice any cracks and they don't look deep sixteenth of an inch maybe. There is a small spot spiderwebbed on the top surface in front of the drivers console could be the paint. It does have a stainless prop but doesn't come with a spare. No skis, life jackets, or tubes are included. Trailer doesn't look to bad just some surface rust.

Let me know what you think I don't want to buy a POS. I want something I can enjoy with minimal problems for around 3500.00.

Thank You,
Chad P.
 
Forgot to mention this.

He said it had been a couple of days since he had it on the water then he wanted me to here that the new bilge pump work. Well I could see that it worked when it pumped out a quart or so of water on his garage floor. It does have a nice cover that comes with it.
 
Peebles, I got an 81 enticer last year with a 115. Things you want to look for, check the floor out back by the seat, if you can move the rear seat you can get a better idea of how the floor back there feels. there are also some foam boxes behind the rear seat and under it. if they show rotten wood, they are wet. If any of that back there is wet, then your transom is probably wet as well.

have you heard the motor run? Have you seen what the compression is?

3500 is steep unless the boat is in good shape. When I got mine, the po wanted 700, I walked away and got a better price... FREE because his wife wanted it gone... I took it with intentions of restoring it... If you want something to use now, I advise you to take a deeper look, if he is pumping that much water out, its getting wet. If you want something to work on and get it right, then the enticer is a great looking boat...
 
The foam under the rear seat sides was not even attached on one side of the boat. There was no water standing where I could see and I looked before he showed me the bilge pump worked. The floor has been replaced but I am worried about under it from looking at one of the rebuild threads. No I have not heard the motor run, he does have it on the water obviously in fact the first time I talked to him about it he answered his phone while on the boat. He said it's GPS speed is 47.

The lines of the Enticer is just stunning. There is not to many boats out there that look that good.
 
I agree, they are nice boats. I am not telling you to shy away from it at all. Just take a close look. You said you wanted to get something you could put in the water and go.Just going by everything you noticed, I would say there will be a lot of rapairs that you may want to do to it to get it back to very nice condition, and just by the stuff you described in your original post, I would just be careful. I would hate to see anyone pay $3500 for a boat and have the motor drop to the bottom of the lake bacause the transom was wet...

If the floor was recently replaced, you can only hope that transom was replaced or didn't need to be, same goes for the stringers.

Do you have any pictures or an add that we could see? Pictures wont tell you everything but will give a better idea about some of the things you described...
 
I forgot to take pictures of it while I was there and had every intention of doing so. There is a couple of pictures on Craiglist go to Indiana, Terre Haute, boats the listing is on the first page still I think but not positive.

pkevcon said:
I agree, they are nice boats. I am not telling you to shy away from it at all. Just take a close look. You said you wanted to get something you could put in the water and go.Just going by everything you noticed, I would say there will be a lot of rapairs that you may want to do to it to get it back to very nice condition, and just by the stuff you described in your original post, I would just be careful. I would hate to see anyone pay $3500 for a boat and have the motor drop to the bottom of the lake bacause the transom was wet...

If the floor was recently replaced, you can only hope that transom was replaced or didn't need to be, same goes for the stringers.

Do you have any pictures or an add that we could see? Pictures wont tell you everything but will give a better idea about some of the things you described...
Click to expand...
 
It would help if you had some photos. However, from your description I'd be a bit dubious of this boat. Where'd the water in the bilge come from - did he put it to bed wet (bad), or is there wet foam that's letting water seep into the bilge (also bad)? I'm thinking $3500 might possibly be an ok price if this boat is in above average condition, from your description it doesn't sound like it is.
 
sounds steep for a boat that might need work, If you can lets see some pics, how does the repair work he did look? it doesnt sound great if he used treated wood, is it encapsulated in fiberglass? and why is that seat support completely unattached? sounds like there may be more demons hiding in there besides the work he did, and theres a decent chance just based on the year that the transom might be getting soft. I say lets see some pics, but I wouldnt offer him 3500. If you really love the enticers, you can find them around reasonably often for sale, and I would say get your moneys worth, especially buying an older boat that you might need to pour another grand or two into.

Just for reference, I paid 1900 for mine with a good trailer, not knowing it would need major repairs. I have since brought the total up to around 3700 from repairs and putting in a stereo. I would ask around 3500-4000 for my enticer, that has a (not to brag) solid rebuild on parts of the hull, transom and new floor, and not a crack in any of the seats.

Good luck!
 
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