Inherited vintage outboard value?

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If we required an IQ test, we would eliminate half of those running for office.
They need to require an IQ test to be allowed to do a lot of things, vote, drive, have kids, teach, most jobs, and to own power tools.
I've got a neighbor that's good for a new mower every few years, sometimes more often, he buys only top of the line rear bagger models with all the bells and whistles. But he's not capable of using it without either hitting his septic vent pipe or tripping on the bag and letting it run away into the bushes or garden. Its the reason I put a fence around the garden. I told him it was keep rabbits out, but its for him when he slips and falls and lets go of his mower with the towel tied around the bars for cruise control.

I answered an ad this morning for a 9.9hp Honda, a 2006 tiller short shaft, rope start. The guy said it runs but the lid won't stay on it. I head over there in the pickup, its about 10 miles away. (I had replied to his ad about a month ago, he finally got back to me).
I get there and he's got the motor laying on the ground in the grass. He then proceeds to try and start it with it laying on the ground. Probably a good thing the tank had no hose.
I had one of those old die cast Evinrude stands in the truck so I hung it on there and checked the compression and got 155 on both holes.
He was asking $200 for it, the prop is beat up but likely from an idiot dragging it around the yard or garage. The skeg is good, and the rest of the motor is clean bu the cover has road rash and its been sanded with 10 grit sandpaper and painted with a brush. He said he had to buy a used cover for it and the used cover was camo so he had is brother paint it. I somehow held back asking him if his brother was 10 or if he used finger paint.

I told him its a pig in a poke, I can't hear it run and parts are expensive, he then tells me he knows, they wanted $600 for a new cover but that was more than he paid for the whole boat. I told him I'd gamble $50 because I see $500 worth of parts it needs right away. He moans about paying more than that for it but finally says 'That's all you'll pay? I said "Any more and I'm taking too big a risk, "get it running and we'll talk some more' and I starting packing up my tools, as I shut the tailgate he came over and said 'Take it'. I handed him two twenties and a ten, laid it in the back of the truck and left. I went back to see when the ad was put up but it said the add expired when i got home and checked. The pic in the ad showed the motor without the cover on a boat, but he had no boat there and didn't seem to know a thing about motors or boats.

Its still in my truck, when I'd done building it a stand I'll get a few pics but its not bad, a closer look when I got home looks like the air box and the carb linkage is a bit butchered up, someone was in there with a too big screwdriver and split the plastic and some of the carb links are held on with bread ties and tape. It has spark, it has compression, and I did slide it back and drain the lower unit and all I got was oil out of it. The prop looks like its fixable with a file but if it looks like a runner, I'll just order it a new carb, water pump, airbox, and prop and go from there. If i put a couple hundred into it, I'm still in it a lot cheaper than buying one running, and even then, running don't mean its right either. I have little doubt I'll end up with a good running Honda 9.9hp for under $300 in the end. If I was looking to flip it, chances are it wouldn't sell for much more here these days but if i ship it to my cousins place in PA, it'll snag a grand in a day or less. Best of all its not all salted up.
He did hand me a packet with it and I just noticed there's also a signed 'Title' for the outboard from Missouri. Never had one of those before. No wonder its not all salt eaten.
 
I had a 2005 Honda four stroke 9.9hp that I had inherited from a relative. Since I had a good Mercury I trusted I decided to sell the Honda. That was back in January. I didn't have a tank or hose for the Honda but it would fire on the first pull if you shot gas in the air box. I know it hadn't been used much and the prop showed no signs of use. I listed it for $400 cash on CL and FB.
All I got was $50 offers and sob stories about how times are tough and things aren't worth what they once were.
One guy wanted to trade me a non running 5.5hp for it even up, another wanted to trade me two rusty bicycles, and another wanted to pay me $10 a month till he paid it off minus anything he had to spend on it in that time. Yeah right.

I gave up, pickled the motor, sprayed it down with oil and wrapped it up in the back of the garage. If its all its worth is the cost of a pizza, I'll just keep it as a spare.
My neighbor has been trying to sell his truck, a 4x4 Dodge with 44k on it, he's had a total of 14 people message him off FB, only one showed up and they had no cash. He was only asking $3k for it. The truck was a one owner, low miles, never wrecked fully loaded SLT model. I had to go to MO for a week and was hauling a flat bed trailer there. I got him to list it for sale in that area, for $9k, it found a buyer in 9 hours. I took the truck with me, the guy paid cash and was glad to get it. He even said he saw it on CL but NJ was too far and he figured it would be gone by the time he got a chance to go after it . My neighbor got dozens of emails about the truck from that area all wanting to buy it. None were low ball offers or scammers, yet here all you get are people with no cash. In the end, I got a grand out of hauling it out there, plus I got paid for delivering the trailer. Best of all I came home with a new to me 16ft aluminum boat that I got for less than scrap weight.
What it boils down to is that some areas are 'depressed' when the economy turns bad, and some areas value different things. Apparently outboards and boats are easier to find in the midwest than trucks are. Fuel is also cheaper in MO, if I knew how much cheaper I'd have taken a few barrels with me and stocked up. ($1.40 less a gallon for diesel, I paid $2.61/gal outside of Springfield, MO, while its close to $4/gal in NJ).

The best part of the whole deal is that the boat really needed nothing, (other than a better trailer). I stuck it in the water yesterday morning and ran it all day with no issues, the little 9.9hp Mariner ran like a top and not a single leak. Best $400 I've spent in a while. The motor is too small though and I'll be hanging a two stroke 60 on it in short order.

What really got me was that for a Sunday, there wasn't a sole on the water here all day. I've never seen that before on a weekend. I was worried about being hassled over the expired MO boat registration but I didn't even see a marine patrol all day.


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