Where do most people go to sell a used aluminum boat these days?

I won't buy something without looking at it. Without pic's & at least key info I won't even bother to contact.

What I see is that most people put up one pic, if your lucky its of the actual item, then they want your number to text you more pics. If you don't have texting or a cell phone, there's no pics.
I looked at two boats this week, not that I need a boat but they were super cheap, one was $400 for a 1990 Starcraft 14ft V hull with bench seats, just the boat, no trailer, no motor in nice condition. The guy was asking $400, I offered him $200, he wouldn't budge, the second one was asking $750 for a 16ft Mirrocraft split bench model, on a junk trailer with no papers, (as most are here), and no motor, I offered $400, but no deal.
Both were okay boats but nothing I can make money on. If they can't get what their asking, I won't be able to get any more, and I've got four left from last year that didn't sell that are much nicer boats.

There's never been a shortage of super cheap boats from those who died or those who just gave up boating.
The last big sell off here was when few shore towns banned boats in the driveway. Most just dumped their boats and accepted the new rules. If it were me I'd be screaming and suing them over passing a bs law.
After all, who lives at the shore and don't own a boat? Chances are some local politician probably owned a boat storage yard and needed more money. The second year, about a half dozen boat storage yards that popped up were all selling dozens of abandoned boats that people quit paying the insane storage rates on.

There was an 18ft Starcraft at an auction tonight that sold for $200 with a trailer and late 90's Johnson V4 on it. They started the bidding at $500 but didn't get a bid till they got down to $5, only two other guys were bidding on it. I bailed at $100 because I had seen it listed on CL for the last 6 months for $600 with no takers so reselling it would be about impossible here.

A lot of these have been listed all summer, or all year in some cases on FB and/or CL.

The list changes daily but many pop back up from time to time due to the screwed up FB search.

1. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/3606077572943262
2. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2840759696072649
3. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/426508663176864
4. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/486354237503278
5. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1028720208734887
6. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1714137652695033
7. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/842706304667601
8. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/952751489129211
9. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1484561712938231
10. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1816262385567466
11. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/543553954766639
12. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/842439834624575
13. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/938655678060368
14. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/853883243125639
15. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1152286679409985
16. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1836627426828672
17. https://southjersey.craigslist.org/bpo/d/vineland-99hp-four-stroke-outboard/7768938045.html
18. https://lancaster.craigslist.org/bpo/d/witmer-honda-b100s-outboard-99hp-motor/7778365163.html
19. https://newjersey.craigslist.org/boa/d/ringwood-evinrude-hp-stroke/7778102443.html
20. https://newyork.craigslist.org/wch/ele/d/new-rochelle-99-hp-mariner-outboard/7776216913.html
21. https://albany.craigslist.org/boa/d/delmar-mirrocraft-12/7776847068.html

A few of those on that list are Euro spec motors, particularly the Mariner models. Unlike the US sold models they are often Yamaha built units, which in my opinion is a better motor. I have two myself, one that came to me from a guy who moved here from near Munich, Germany, the other was left here by a company from Australia who had them shipped in along with four new 14ft Starcraft/Smokercraft boats during an oil spill cleanup. Both of mine are Yamaha motors re-badged Mariner and sold by Mercury.

I've been watching this one for a few weeks now with no takers:
https://southjersey.craigslist.org/bpo/d/wenonah-honda-99-outboard/7774346732.html
It looks clean in the pics but its been up for two weeks or more now. (I think it got relisted a few times as well.
The same seller had a 12ft Sears boat for sale a few weeks ago for $50, I don't see that listed anymore.

freeisforme said:

I've been watching this one for a few weeks now with no takers:
https://southjersey.craigslist.org/bpo/d/wenonah-honda-99-outboard/7774346732.html
It looks clean in the pics but its been up for two weeks or more now. (I think it got relisted a few times as well.
The same seller had a 12ft Sears boat for sale a few weeks ago for $50, I don't see that listed anymore.

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What do you think that motor is worth just taking a flier on it?

Lost But Happy said:

What do you think that motor is worth just taking a flier on it?

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Adds like that baffles me that people expect you to take their word for it that it runs. I’m sure it came with tank and hose on the boat. How difficult is it to slide a 10 dollar trash can under that and put enough water in it to run it? Tons of adds that something just needs wiped down, etc. why don’t they just do it?

I would never gamble $500 on it, it would have to be $50 to make me go after it because I don't need it.
I don't have much experience with Honda and there are no dealers around to support any of the current brands these days so I see no advantage to buying anything newer than the motors from the 1980's unless its just pocket change.
Its been listed for the better part of a month with no takers, and from personal experience here, I highly doubt the seller has had any replies on it at that price.

For me, $500 is way more than I'd ever put out of pocket for any boat or motor. I don't have that much in all my boats and motors. Add in another $5 in gas to go get it and we see why its still fro sale. Like anything else it'll sit or sale until someone comes from somewhere else to buy it. The seller won't find any local buyers here. They never do. I'd probably gamble a $20 bill on it but only as a curiosity that'll sit in y garage on a stand for the next 20 or so years. I don't have a boat that it'll work on here. I find myself often just grabbing my 4hp Evinrude simply because its light and easy to deal with for most pond fishing, it does the same ob as my 9.9 on a pond that isn't large enough to get up on plane at anyway and I'm lazy, tossing a 40 lbs motor in the trunk is a lot easier than lugging a 70lb motor out an onto the boat to only go 500 feet out on the lake to fish. If batteries weren't so expensive I'd be running my trolling motor instead, its just as fast as the 4hp gas motor. As it stands now, I've got $200 in my 14ft boat that I bought used at a yardsale in PA in 2001. It was 7 years old then and came with a same year transom trolling motor and a Sears Force motor. its cost me more in fuel than it did to buy. My trailer is also from Sears, it came from an auction for $5 under a leaf filled fiberglass mess of a sears boat about 35 years ago. I sanded it down, painted and re-greased it several times over the years. The hull is a 1993 Starcraft SF14DLX with the open middle bench seat and a flat floor. There's one just like it for sale on CL all summer for $1700 with no takers without the motor or trailer. I woudn't sell mine that cheap, but I'd also not pay more than I did to own it either especially since what I have works fine and I likely will never need to replace it, let alone spend money to do wo when its not needed and won't catch me any more meals.

Billy H said:

Adds like that baffles me that people expect you to take their word for it that it runs. I’m sure it came with tank and hose on the boat. How difficult is it to slide a 10 dollar trash can under that and put enough water in it to run it? Tons of adds that something just needs wiped down, etc. why don’t they just do it?

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"....why don’t they just do it?"

That is the thing, isn't it. I won't believe the guy with that 9.9 Honda hasn't tried to start it.

I don't see why its so hard to believe that some one would have never tried to run a motor they can't use or don't want. If they don't have a tank or hose, they'd be looking at $75 or so to buy one just to give a motor away for almost nothing.
If your buying a $500 motor that normally should sell for $2k, I'd expect to have to do a few things to it.
I would think that if your looking for a deal you would go there, look the thing over, make sure its got compression and that its at least somewhat maintained and make an offer.

I've bought motors that people bought new on a boat who never once started them, they pull the motor, hang a trolling motor on the back and go fishing. The motor sits there till its an antique in the garage because our lakes here don't allow gas motors, and a 10hp is not enough in the river to combat the current on a boat large enough to be safe in the river.

I've got a neighbor down the street who buys anything and everything he can find cheap to resell and make a buck. He buys a lot of boats and motors at estate sales, he's never been in a boat, never fished, and likely has no clue how to start an outboard. He's retired/disabled and worked in a bakery his whole life. He finds some super deals, he just picked up a 17ft Grumman bass boat, from the 80's, with a newer, 2010 or so Suzuki 50hp on it. The boat is rough, he said he paid $150 for it. I looked the hull over and its junk, its got a ton of patches and the deck is shot, I didn't even want it for free. He pulled the motor, built it a stand, and gutted the hull with an axe and maul and scrapped it. The motor though looks almost unused. He said he'll list it for $300. He won't run it, with the boat gone there's no tank, no hose, and he's not buying one for it. The motor no doubt likely needs a water pump and carb cleaning. Its too heavy for my boat, and I'm not a Suzuki fan, but the last thing any buyer should want is a guy like that trying to run that motor on a stand not knowing anything about it. He'll list it on FB and it'll sit there for two or three years and not sell, eventually he'll bust it up and scrap it because no one will bother because guys theses days mostly rely on a shop to do all their work so the carb cleaning, water pump, and likely reprop to and new shift cables to match what ever boat it may need to be made to fit, will cost someone an arm and a leg.
A guy at work was just complaining because some dealer charged him $400 to change the water pump in his 9.5hp Evinrude and they wanted $165 for a new prop and the labor to change it.
In reality its a $20 impeller, and a $60 prop but since he's not capable of changing a light bulb, he's screwed.

Anyone who knows outboards can pull the rope and feel if a motor has enough compression or not, and chances are that Honda, by the looks of it is likely a motor that just sat and never got used.
Look at the prop, the paint, etc. it looks nearly new in the pics, so chances are someone bought the thing, used it a few times and it sat in a garage for the last 10 years. I've got dozens of buddies who have boats they only take out once or twice a year, if their lucky. they work all week, get the occasion free Sat. that's not pouring down rain to get out and fish for a few hours and back in the garage it goes. They spend more time running in a bucket getting read to go the next day then they ever do going anywhere on the water.
Here in NJ, there's not many places to run a small motor, so most are limited to being used on maybe three or four lakes and and maybe a back bay here and there.

It really don't matter lately whether or not it runs or not, it won't sell here because there's been no buyers.
He could list that with a video of it running and still not get a taker or even a reply.

When I read that ad I see a guy who has about as much interest in that motor as I have in a video game box.
It sounds like here it is, its cheap, take it or leave it to me. In reality , anyone who buys that will double their money even if its junk, the hood, the lower unit, or the power head area all worth more than he's asking and likely even more parted out even further.

I bought a 2007 Yamaha at an auction that dropped a valve and at up the cylinder head and piston.
I gave $200 for it. I was going to hunt down a used head and buy a piston and rings but I found a guy looking fro a lower unit and sold the lower for $500. I got $150 for the recoil assembly, $4 for the prop, $110 for the hood, $35 for the flywheel, and I junked the rest for about $18. I later sold off the rest of the parts and got another $310 out of the small parts and I got $75 for the carb. It took a year but it don't cost to keep something listed till it sells and a box of parts don't take up much space in the basement.
If I had fixed the motor, I'd have had $500 in it and it would still be sitting here likely listed for a few years already

If that Honda was closer I'd probably offer him $100 and see what he says, I wouldn't expect to get it for that but chances are he'll let it go cheaper after being listed for so long. A few on there have been up for over a year.

I've bought auction lots of motors that I've never tried to start, they get sorted buy good or parts and go in different locations in the shed or garage. If its got good compression, (if it don't feel like its wiped out, or down on compression, it gets put on a rack and I'll get around to it eventually, or I'll sell it as is.
For what that seller is asking, running or not its a home run so long as its not blow up. All else is an easy fix.
If its older than a year or two it needs a carburetor and a water pump impeller. Both are just normal maintenance items. The Honda motors have a cheap plastic accelerator pump and they're always broken off. the carbs are so cheap aftermarket its not worth fiddling with them.
The impeller is maybe $20. I've not found one without spark yet, and they tolerate saltwater better than most but that motor looks really clean.

The truth is, if you don't go look for yourself you never know what it may be. If its junk, offer the guy $100 and part it out, you'll make a grand selling off the parts. If its got compression, buy it a carb and water pump and go fishing.

I've got a dozen OMC 9.9/15hp motors in a trailer outback, all have strong compression and spark, but I've not run any of them, but they came from a dealer who had them out for sale on the rack about 15 years ago. I got paid to remove them. I also go paid to remove all the new parts they had, we even took the parts shelves. The guy had passed away, the family could taste the cash from the sale of the property and it all had to be empty in five days. They never even looked at the place, they hired a real estate broker to sell it and deal with it all, a buddy who's a lawyer for them gave them my name for the clean out when the first two guys failed to show up.
It was a running, operating dealer that closed up in 1985, it sat boarded up for 22 years before a grand kid took ownership and dumped it site unseen from somewhere in TX. We were dumping parts off shelves into bins and packing it all in my enclosed trailers as fast as we could. The shelves are now in my basement, they are pretty much all of my basement here. Most o the parts got sold off, those that I thought I may one day need stayed.

It would make no sense to get each and every motor up and running only to sit again when it won't sell for enough to cover my time and parts. Those that were junk, were mostly in a back barn there, stacked like cord wood but even some of them turned out to be decent motors. A few looked like new motors that had been damaged and just tossed in the scrap heap. Of all the motors that were in the main shop, all but one looked like it was likely ready to use, a mid 60's West Bend 40hp that's got a frozen steering pin.

I also likely will never live long enough to go through them all.

Most small motors never see a ton of use, those that do show it. Most spend their whole life sitting on a stand in a garage awaiting an annual vacation trip or two.

oilsmoke said:

I don't see why its so hard to believe that some one would have never tried to run a motor they can't use or don't want. If they don't have a tank or hose, they'd be looking at $75 or so to buy one just to give a motor away for almost nothing.
If your buying a $500 motor that normally should sell for $2k, I'd expect to have to do a few things to it.
I would think that if your looking for a deal you would go there, look the thing over, make sure its got compression and that its at least somewhat maintained and make an offer.

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Because the guy obviously isn't new to outboards. Everyone will know it is much easier to sell a motor when you can honestly say runs as opposed to the old waffling "I was told it runs". I think it a little hard to believe he didn't try to run the motor and of course it needs something or it wouldn't be listed for cheap. He obviously gave it some pulls for his seat-of-the pants compression test. A little buyer beware is in order.

I'd rather buy a motor that the seller hasn't tried to run than one that he's been running dry on the stand not knowing it needs water.
I can't count how many motors I've gone to look at where the seller just fired it up and revved the snot out of it right there bone dry.
Or the guy who runs a motor on ear muffs that don't realize it doesn't take it water in that way and it just sits there and cooks.
I have a junk lower unit outback that some brain surgeon of a home mechanic made his own water adapter. he drilled a huge hole in the side of the lower unit, then threaded in a garden hose coupler that stuck out one side about 2" Unfortunately he drilled right though the outer water chamber and into the top bearing area.

If I didn't have a half dozen 9.9 four strokes in the garage from various auction buys myself, I'd be tempted to take the ride and see it waving a couple hundred bucks around will buy it.

mirrocraft16 said:

I'd rather buy a motor that the seller hasn't tried to run than one that he's been running dry on the stand not knowing it needs water.

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Who wouldn't. Do you ask the guy to fire it up to see if he would do that? Might be a big indicator of how that motor was treated.

I do understand buying big lots of motors is going to be a much different process.

boatyard said:

What I see is that most people put up one pic, if your lucky its of the actual item, then they want your number to text you more pics. If you don't have texting or a cell phone, there's no pics.
I looked at two boats this week, not that I need a boat but they were super cheap, one was $400 for a 1990 Starcraft 14ft V hull with bench seats, just the boat, no trailer, no motor in nice condition. The guy was asking $400, I offered him $200, he wouldn't budge, the second one was asking $750 for a 16ft Mirrocraft split bench model, on a junk trailer with no papers, (as most are here), and no motor, I offered $400, but no deal.
Both were okay boats but nothing I can make money on. If they can't get what their asking, I won't be able to get any more, and I've got four left from last year that didn't sell that are much nicer boats.

There's never been a shortage of super cheap boats from those who died or those who just gave up boating.
The last big sell off here was when few shore towns banned boats in the driveway. Most just dumped their boats and accepted the new rules. If it were me I'd be screaming and suing them over passing a bs law.
After all, who lives at the shore and don't own a boat? Chances are some local politician probably owned a boat storage yard and needed more money. The second year, about a half dozen boat storage yards that popped up were all selling dozens of abandoned boats that people quit paying the insane storage rates on.

There was an 18ft Starcraft at an auction tonight that sold for $200 with a trailer and late 90's Johnson V4 on it. They started the bidding at $500 but didn't get a bid till they got down to $5, only two other guys were bidding on it. I bailed at $100 because I had seen it listed on CL for the last 6 months for $600 with no takers so reselling it would be about impossible here.

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I think I know of that Mirrorcraft boat. If it was the one in NJ I emailed with the guy months ago. He kept saying he was about to get papers for it and then the price would go way up. I wasn't holding my breath on that. I even checked with the DNR here in Maryland to see how I could register it and they basically said, it's not worth your time. Don't get it.

The 1959 Starcraft I picked up this spring had "papers" but they were from a previous owner that passed and were never signed off. After a lot of contacting the register of wills and tracking down the executors (yep, there were two and they both had to sign off - incredibly nice people by the way, got lucky on that) it's all legit now. Kinda cool to have a 65 year old tinny with current titles.

Most of the people I buy motors from aren't boat guys, they're people who inherited a boat, motor, or fishing tackle that they know nothing about. Most don't care about the 'junk', they want the money from selling the property so bad they can taste it.

Junk guys are the same way, they see scrap, if they smell a few extra bucks they list it as they found it. Many if not most have no clue how to run an outboard or they've already burned one up and know better than to try and run it.

I contacted the guy with the 9.9hp the other night, it took till last night to get a reply, and finally a phone number.
He bought the whole mess to get the trailer to haul his mower on, the boat was a PA registered Bass Tracker with no title, (something a PA boat won't have). The motor looked clean so he listed it, he said he's only gotten spam emails so far. His goal was to sell the motor for enough to convert the trailer to something that can haul a mower.
He also mentioned that the motor was way too big for the boat, which he said had a sticker saying 50hp max. He said 99hp is double. That right there tells me what the deal is. He also said a guy from the gas station down the road looked at it and said its got low compression and needs a rebuild, he said it 'only had 172 psi which for these is pretty good, or good as new.
If I find another reason to go that way I may try and make a deal for it. I couldn't tell from the little we spoke whether he still has the boat or if its just laying out in the woods or something. Some of those older Bass Tracker boats were pretty decent hulls but the wood usually rotted away leaving a bare hull full of wet wood pulp.
He's a about a two hour ride from me here each way. I'd be more apt to jump in the truck and go if it were still complete, with the boat, motor and trailer as he found it.

He emailed me the following pics:

Titles are usually obtainable but in PA they don't require a title. Two of my boats were on the property when I bought it, and likely here when the last owner bought it in 1985.
I called Fish and game, explained what I had, both were clean and on small trailers but full of leaves and junk but being all metal they weren't damaged at all.
They told me to check for HIN numbers and to give them the registration numbers on them. They put me on hold, then the guy came back and said I can register both of them with no issues, so I did. One is a 12ft Duranautic, the other a 14ft Starcraft. A buddy had a boat in NJ that he bought with no title, just a bill of sale and they told him there that since the registration had lapsed it was no longer transferable unless the original owner paid up the back registration and then signed it over to him. . All they were able to tell him was that it was last registered in 1967.
I registered it here, he ran PA numbers for a year and I transferred it back to him in the spring.
A neighbor tried the same thing but couldn't get his registered, no clue why though. Most states have a home made clause for boats like that with no papers, NJ and PA will often assign a hull a new HIN if they can't produce a viable history on the original number, or if its got too few digits in the HIN. They did that here for my '63 Starcraft
It now has a proper length HIN that was assigned in Harrisburg about 15 years ago now.

A lot of people give up and just sell the boat or junk it.
From what I'm told, even NJ has a process to get a title but I believe there is requires a State police inspection and a court order. But they seem more interested in running up the fees and colletding back registration fees than helping someone get a boat registered.

That motor could be a hell of a deal or just parts but its priced so cheap it don't matter.
No title is a no sale for me unless I have a title laying around for the same boat.

It all goes back to NJ trying to collect back registration from people when they didn't use their boat for years.
Its more an issue with 12ft and smaller boats and trailers, because they don't have titles.

PA boats can be a real hassle. What NJ considers an acceptable bill of sale is above and beyond what most sellers are willing to provide. If a boat has PA registration, NJ wants a third party, notarized bill of sale where in the HIN, purchase price, full description, color, length and year must be included. It also must be hand written and notarized by a third party, paid notary, not your neighbor who does it for free, or your wife, sister, cousin, etc.
Lately they started doing the same thing for NJ boats that have titles as a way to try and get people to pay more sales tax and fees I suppose.

When your on the water here, the number of boats that are not registered is staggering. Most smaller, aluminum boat are either expired or never registered. The thought I suppose is that the Marine Police don't generally patrol the back creeks and ponds, and the game warden don't pay no mind to registration. The same goes for the coast guard lately. They rarely bother the tiny fishing boats unless your doing something really stupid.

boatyard said:

Most of the people I buy motors from aren't boat guys, they're people who inherited a boat, motor, or fishing tackle that they know nothing about. Most don't care about the 'junk', they want the money from selling the property so bad they can taste it.

Junk guys are the same way, they see scrap, if they smell a few extra bucks they list it as they found it. Many if not most have no clue how to run an outboard or they've already burned one up and know better than to try and run it.

I contacted the guy with the 9.9hp the other night, it took till last night to get a reply, and finally a phone number.
He bought the whole mess to get the trailer to haul his mower on, the boat was a PA registered Bass Tracker with no title, (something a PA boat won't have). The motor looked clean so he listed it, he said he's only gotten spam emails so far. His goal was to sell the motor for enough to convert the trailer to something that can haul a mower.
He also mentioned that the motor was way too big for the boat, which he said had a sticker saying 50hp max. He said 99hp is double. That right there tells me what the deal is. He also said a guy from the gas station down the road looked at it and said its got low compression and needs a rebuild, he said it 'only had 172 psi which for these is pretty good, or good as new.
If I find another reason to go that way I may try and make a deal for it. I couldn't tell from the little we spoke whether he still has the boat or if its just laying out in the woods or something. Some of those older Bass Tracker boats were pretty decent hulls but the wood usually rotted away leaving a bare hull full of wet wood pulp.
He's a about a two hour ride from me here each way. I'd be more apt to jump in the truck and go if it were still complete, with the boat, motor and trailer as he found it.

He emailed me the following pics:



View attachment 122567View attachment 122568View attachment 122569

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Sounds like you got the skinny. I note his story has evolved from the original.

Texas is very difficult to deal with with no titles for boat and engine. Almost not worth it unless it is something special to you. Trailer not so much.