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

So what do you guys think a ‘97 Johnson 115 two stroke is worth? I’m thinking of picking up a parts motor. It’s in running condition and cosmetically average for a 1997 but, I haven’t made the drive to check it out yet. Assuming that it has good compression, etc. but I will check.

While I'm not a fan of the post 1992 motors, the V4 didn't change all that much. Provided its got good compression across the board, (120 plus on all four or better), and with no serious corrosion issues, I'd say its likely somewhere around $1,000 or so or the sum of its parts otherwise. I just sold a lower unit off a 1995 V4 for $500 cash in July. The motor is came from ran okay but was low on compression in one cylinder by about 10 psi. it had 122-119-125-108 psi and had been run hard puling skiers on the river for years. I wasn't going to part it out but ended up using its igntion box and stator on another motor in a pinch so when the chance to sell the lower came up, it too got sold, followed by $300 for the tilt/trim unit. I sold the cabs just this weekend for $250. And the same guy emailed me and made a $300 offer on the power head which he said he plans to rebuild as a spare for his.

Like a few others have mentioned, its rarely worth it to sell any motor whole these days.

I've chased a few missing titles before but for the most part its not worth the hassle unless you got the boat for free or close to it or have nothing better to do. There's no shortage of deals out there lately so there's no need to bother with a missing title.

I emailed the guy with the Honda posted earlier, it sounds to me like he just has no interest in it. I got the impression he may let it go a lot cheaper despite saying his price is firm. He sent me the same extra pics then added them to the ad a bit later. He told me he's only had four emails on it and no one has ever shown up to look at it. Looking at the pics, I get the impression that its likely a new or close to new motor that's never been run very much that got left sit for years. There also seems to be a big problem selling Honda outboards around here, likely due to the lack of dealer support, but lately there's no local dealers for anything left so I'm not sure if that's it or now. From my experience, Honda motors were a bit heavier but generally rock solid with their parts being cheaper than most. They were much more popular where I lived in FL than up here.

I would think that if its not been run without water and cooked, which by the pics I don't see any sign of that, the worst it likely will need is a carb cleaning, a water pump, and some fresh lower unit oil. Basically nothing you wouldn't have to do to any motor over a couple years old.
Even if it needed everything besides an overhaul, I would think that $500 is far cheaper than the $2,800 plus shipping they get for them online. More if you go with a Yamaha instead.
When I was in FL, in the early 2000's, the 9.9 and 40hp Honda motors were king. With Suzuki being a close second there but up here neither brand has much of a presence when it comes to outboards and Suzuki as a whole has disappeared from the area years ago. I sold my Suzuki motorcycle because I got tired of every little thing I needed being a week away by UPS or a two hour drive.
I swear sometimes NJ is like living in some third world hellhole when it comes to parts for anything.

They were okay so long as its a carbureted motor, and no oil injection is a big plus too if you either happen on one built that way or just delete and run premix.
I sold a camo 115 about two years ago with no power tilt for $1,850, it had 127 on all four cylinders and ran great.

They were still good motors up until the Ficht junk came out.
So long as its got carburetors and its got good compression its a good motor. I ran a 1997 Ocean Runner for years with no issues, I only sold it because I found a boat I liked better it it helped me get top dollar for that boat when I sold it. I now run a 1990 115 as my saltwater motor on an 18ft Starcraft. Best $400 I ever spent back then. (It was 3 years old when i bought it at an estate sale on a junk glass boat that soon got cut up and run through a chipper my neighbor had rented one weekend. We sat around drinking tequila cutting up chunks of a water logged Glastron and throwing them into the chipper and watching it turn it into what looked like feathers. We started out swapping the motor over with the intention of taking the boat out the next morning but ended up too hung and covered in fiberglass working on the second bottle by the time the sun came up.

Most of the old OMC motors will run pretty much forever if you don't do anything to it to kill it.
Keep the water pump impeller fresh, keep the carbs clean, and don't over rev or overheat it and you'll likely die with it.

Ok, thanks. A guy is asking $3100 for the exact same model ‘97 115. I was upfront, told him that I was looking for parts motor and my best offer would be $2000 if it’s in excellent mechanical condition. Figured it was best to not waste each other’s time and drive five hours if he was stuck on his price.

I thought the $2k was a generous offer. Haven’t heard back from him so he must be one of those guys that thinks he craps gold nuggets.

A buddy of mine just bought an 80's 17ft Aquasport center console with a 1997 115 on it, it runs great but he only gave $400 for the boat, motor, and trailer. It was sitting out on the main highway all summer for sale for $800 with no takers. The boat isn't perfect but the motor is mint and the thing floats and runs. Its probably a bit overpowered but it downright flies with the 115 hp on it. I had driven by the thing a few hundred times before even noticing the sale sign on it. when I told him he ran over and made a deal. They were asking $1,000 but dropped the price to $800 after labor day but he said they jumped right on his $400 offer so he took it home. We were out fishing in it the next day. I told him he should probably put a fresh water pump impeller in it but he's not the type to do anything before he absolutely has to. I'm sure it'll wait till he's either stuck out in the bay somewhere and has to be towed in, or he'll burn it up when it fails and then complain it was no good. His record so far is almost a full season on one motor. He also rarely swaps out motors, he generally just finds another cheap boat.

I do agree though that the best motors were pre-92 models with OMC, but up until they got stupid and started trying to make them run cleaner they were still good motors.

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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That motor has been listed for over a year. My neighbor went and looked at it and he said it looked like new but the guy wouldn't budge off his price. The guy let him check the compression and even run the motor in a trash can he took with him but the guy refused his $300 offer saying others are selling for way more.
Others aren't in NJ where nothing sells. It will never sell listed there, running or not.
Its now been listed long enough that even if it were new, it likely now is old enough to need a fresh impeller.
I'm pretty sure that was up all last year too.

There's a few really nice 10hp motors listed that haven't sold in the area, a few I know are perfect running motors and have heard them run but they just sit.

I listed a 9.9hp that was super clean, it ran great for me all last year, but I found a deal on a 15hp, then a 35hp and the smaller motors just sat. I listed the 9.9hp for $600, its an early 80's motor that runs fine. I noted in the ad that it does not come with a gas tank or fuel line. I used that on my 35hp and I'm not going out and buying a new tank just to sell a motor. Four people walked away because it didn't come with a fuel line and they were likely incapable of going out and buying their own. I guess. My fuel tank in my boat is mounted under the seat, its a tank made to fit under a bench seat and was custom made. I carry a 3 gallon portable just in case in the bow box.

I personally don't care if the 9.9 ever sells, I quit listing it because of all the idiots I was getting who insisted on it needing a fuel tank and hose or those who thought I should sell it for cheap because I have another motor.

I had a guy show up back last fall when I first listed it, I hung the motor on the side o my transom in a barrel and showed him it ran, I had it listed for $750 then. It had a fresh water pump and fresh carb rebuild and lower unit reseal a week earlier, plus a brand new prop. He gets done listening to it, running up in the barrel a few times, he comments on how it looked brand new, then asks me if I'd take $100. I told him the price is firm. He got mad and told me he's not paying that much for a used motor and he left. He then continued to email me with his $100 offers and finally a $120 offer in late winter telling me it'll never sell and I might was well sell it to him.
Its still hanging on the rack in the garage and it can stay there forever for all I care. Now over a year later it likely needs a new impeller again, but I did have it running a few months ago and it pumped water fine. But I'd still change the impeller just to be save, its not like a $18 impeller will break the bank but that'll be the next owners job not mine, unless for some reason I find another boat I want to use it on in the meantime.

In reality though, I've got dozens of others, I could never pass up a cheap clean used outboard when someone decided 'boats' weren't their thing anymore. A few of them are likely motors that only saw the water once or twice that sat in some garage for years. My 15hp was one of them, the owner bought it, realized he hated boats, or at least small boats, and after falloing overboard while fishing he sold the boat and motor to me for $200 back in 1985, the motor was only four months old then. It still had its original box and manual with it.
Its now on a rack in my basement for safe keeping vacuum sealed in plastic to keep it 'new' longer. I have a dozen or so down there like that, including a new/old 1960 10hp and a 1964 18hp that never saw water or gas.

In a nutshell: That motor is still there because everyone is flat broke, they can't afford food, gas, or soon heating oil let alone a $500 motor to fish for fish in water they tell us is contaminated and not to eat the fish.

Most of those who I know who fish are my age or older, so that means most are on fixed incomes and they fish to either get away from their wives or for food they can't afford otherwise. Its hard to buy a $500 motor if groceries are costing you most of what your getting every month in SS.

I emailed the guy with the Honda and it took three days for him to get back to me, then two more to get a phone number. When I finally talked to him I got the impression he's an older guy, (older than me), who just don't have any use for it and doesn't boat. He said someone came out and had it running but they had no money. He said they plugged in a fuel line and tank, stuck it in a barrel of water there and it fired up on the second pull.

My guess is that its a solid, clean motor that likely just sat most of its life. If you look close at the pics the thing is barely scratched, the scratches in the cover he mentions are only scuffs in the paint, not even noticeable in a pic.

No doubt it'll need some attention but so does the 2024 Mercury 50 I just bought that's spent half the summer hanging on someone's boat.
I agree that an impeller is cheap insurance and not doing it every year, or at least every two years is just dumb and asking for trouble. I've had new impellers go bad let alone one that's maybe several years old or more.

A dirty carb can lean out and overheat a motor, it usually don't cost anything to pull the carb, remove the bowl and give it a good cleaning. Most four stroke motors also have an inline fuel filter that should be changed. the last I checked they were under $2 each if you buy them by the dozen. Fuel hoses and tanks are not part of the outboard and I wouldn't expect one to come with a motor unless its advertised that way. They have value too, with even a cheap fuel tank being over $40 these days and most being over $60, plus the fuel line it adds up fast. I custom made my fuel hose and my tanks are older and fit a tank bracket, so I keep the same tanks, and have for 30 or so years now.

When I sell a motor, its a motor, and motor only. If you need a fuel tank, buy a new one, and keep it for life. Fuel hoses are generally a replaceable item and for most, they only get a few years out a factory hose. I made up my own, using good braided hose, new fittings, and I use Yamaha primer bulbs and I run two primer bulbs, one between the tank and the filter, and one between the filter/water separator and the motor. Only the tank and motor end have quick connectors.

I'm heading down that way on Friday or Sat. I may go look for myself and try waving $300 and see if it buys it. If not, I have little doubt it'll be there for the next year or two with no one ever going to look at it.

I got down to Jersey this morning and took a good look at the Honda 9.9 for $525.
I really think that motor may be brand new, never used, the scratches he talking about are nearly invisible and only show at an angle, they're more swirl marks than scratches.
I had a tank with me and I filled a recycle bin with ware, the thing fired up on the first pull..
I tried to get his price down but he's stuck on $500.
I don't need it that bad. New or not, its $500 I don't need to spend and if it won't sell for him, it won't sell for me.
He said he's been listing it for three years and said i was only the third person to show up to see it and so far no one has had cash, all he's gotten has been $100 offers and offers of junk trades for blown up motors, video games, and bicycles.
I thanked him and left it there. I did pull the fuel line off and run it out of gas, with the thought that if he changes his mind and wants to sell it for $250, it won't need a carb job two years from now or more when he realizes no one has any money these days.
For $250, I'd keep it and just put it back in its box and save it as a spare but I've got 300 spares already.

It won't even sell for $250 here. I watched a year old Yamaha 20hp sit all last summer for $400, it turned out to be a widow selling a motor her husband bought and never used, it was still in the box. She listed it for $400 and because she refused to take less it never sold. She finally sold it to some guy who was here on vacation who felt i worth while to ship it home to where ever he lived. He probably paid more for shipping then he did for the motor.

I'd give $50 for that Honda just to have one to mess with but any more and its just something I don't need that will just sit in the shed that won't sell.

The seller with the 9.9hp Honda lowered the price to $250 the other day, I emailed him a $200 offer and my number. I picked it up last night.
$200, plus about $30 in gas to go get it.
It starts on the first pull, I don't think its ever been used, the 'scratches' in the cover were so superficial they were gone after just a few rubs with some clear coat polish.
I didn't need it but for $200, I'd have been an idiot not to grab it.
Hopefully its a forever motor because seeing how little boats and motors are bringing I'll likely die with it.

From the way you guys are talking, it would be worthwhile to run up to the NE with a box truck and buy up as many motors as I can fit to resell here.

Any motor I've listed, from 5.5hp to 90hp, has sold pretty easily in weeks. Seems like the used market here is pretty good. Last one I sold was a 90hp Merc EFI 4S, sold it in a week for $3900.

The 50-75hp range with power trim is the hot commodity around here. Hard to find a good used one for a reasonable price.

I was thinking the same thing for about 10 seconds. It is frightening thinking about what might happen if I mention to Mrs Ldub's I'm going on a 5,800 mile round trip to pick up some motors.

LDUBS said:

I was thinking the same thing for about 10 seconds. It is frightening thinking about what might happen if I mention to Mrs Ldub's I'm going on a 5,800 mile round trip to pick up some motors.

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All you have to do is trick her into thinking it was her idea.

I was really hoping someone closer would grab it, I saw the ad price drop and thought for a bit I was going to have to make the almost 3hr ride back down there to get it.
I do think though if it sat longer it would have gone even cheaper. I think too many people assume the worst when they see a motor like that listed cheap. Sometimes it just a clueless or desperate seller that want's it gone.
I've got a a barn full of outboards, small engines, and chainsaws that I got either for free or close to it over the years because someone either inherited it and had no interest in it, or just wanted it out of their way.
Its happening more and more these days as the younger generation inherits their parent's things that they have zero interest in. Chances are they don't live there, and only see the value in selling the house as fast as possible.
I've got a couple of real estate contacts that find me items all the time.
I have to go look at one this week. A guy in his early 60's died suddenly, his way younger wife wants the cast from the house and put the whole deal in the hands of a real estate agent. The realtor called me because its full of outboards, bicycles, lawn tractors, trains, and slot cars.
I'm sure half of it will be scrap or trash but I've got permission to bury the trash on the property before taking away the backhoe there. I'll probably start with my 20ft dump trailer, I'll load up all the bikes, outboards and small motors and bring them back first, then I'll go back with the same trailer and start loading up things like work benches, furniture, etc. Once that's gone I'll go back with one of my enclosed car trailers to get the tools, tractors, and things I care more about. The last trips will be to bury the trash, haul away any left over top soil, and the old backhoe (Case 580 CK).
I already got a pretty good look at all that's there and my guess is close to 200 outboards, about 30 garden tractors, mostly all Simplicity and Allis Chalmers, plus a few newer Cub Cadets, a dozen or so chainsaws, three tool boxes full of tools, and a few older Ford engines on stands. What really caught my attention was a lathe and a milling machine in the corner, both of which will be coming home for my own use.

Best of all I'll get paid to haul it all away, I'll get paid for anything I scrap, and I make money of anything I sell.
The only catch is that it all has to be gone by Oct. 28.
Most of the motors are older Honda 7.5 and 10hp, plus an assortment of 70's and 80's OMC and Mercury, the chainsaws are Stihl and McCulloch, and the tools are a complete mix, with most being Snap On and Craftsman.
The one tool box is at least 8ft long and close to 3ft deep with a stainless top, it looks like new. The others are all 40" wide models, a mix of Snap On, Sears, and Harbor Freight. Plus four or five 26" wide top/bottom boxes too. The tool boxes will fill my smaller car trailer and likely max out its weight capacity as well.
Fleabay is going to love me this winter.

I've been watching this one, and about four others in that same area, all $300 or less.
https://southjersey.craigslist.org/bpo/d/mays-landing-johnson-15hp-short-shaft/7781731003.html

By the look of it, and being from PA its likely a pretty clean motor. The decals look to be 1987.
A few years ago none of those motors would be for sale for long but lately it seems the list of motors for sale just
keeps getting longer.
The one above has been listed and relisted now all summer.

It seems like everyone in the area is dumping their boats and motors. Water traffic is way down, almost non existent most days. Its certainly not a lack of fish, the lighter than normal fishing pressure has made fishing fairly easy all year.

Seafarer said:

I've been watching this one, and about four others in that same area, all $300 or less.
https://southjersey.craigslist.org/bpo/d/mays-landing-johnson-15hp-short-shaft/7781731003.html

By the look of it, and being from PA its likely a pretty clean motor. The decals look to be 1987.
A few years ago none of those motors would be for sale for long but lately it seems the list of motors for sale just
keeps getting longer.
The one above has been listed and relisted now all summer.

It seems like everyone in the area is dumping their boats and motors. Water traffic is way down, almost non existent most days. Its certainly not a lack of fish, the lighter than normal fishing pressure has made fishing fairly easy all year.

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That's the kind of motor I'd call a keeper if you can get it cheap enough,
As far as I'm concerned, those mid to late 80's years in 15hp were about as good as it gets for any outboard.
They're worth their weight in gold if you find a clean one that's not been run its whole life in saltwater.
I'd gladly give a $100 for another one myself. $300 though is a bit steep for something I don't need though.
(I have a whole row of them that I've accumulated over the past 30 or so years, and I don't recall ever paying more than $100 for any one of them. I didn't need any of them, in fact I don't even run one these days, having moved on to all 35hp motors but I'll never sell them.
I'm working on a full row of 30 and 35hp motors next. I also only buy motors from 'parts not local' or from states without saltwater. A good many of my motors have come from PA, Michigan, or Missouri over the years. Cold water also means a short season and less use compared to say FL where many motors run year round. Its hard to wear out a motor if you only get a dozen or so warm weekends to run it each each, and how many of those will you actually get out on the water?
I lived on a lake in the 80's I was lucky to get the time to hop in the boat maybe a half dozen times a year, then it got put up for the winter in the garage in the rafters. I used the smaller boat with the trolling motor on the back more than I did the one with the 10hp motor on it.

For me, since NJ doesn't allow gas motors in non tidal water with the exception of a few larger lakes, I tend to only run a big trolling motor. Most freshwater here is shallow without any current so even a 28 lb thrust motor will get your around just fine. Most ponds here are only a few acres at best, with the larger lakes being few and far between. The only lake sort of near me that allows gas motors has a 10hp limit, but its contaminated bad enough I don't care to fish there.
I only fish for food, so I don't care much about fishing anywhere I can't eat what I catch.

You can run gas motors in the rivers but you really want a larger motor for the river unless your staying close to the dock.
I find that I need 25hp or better in an aluminum boat and I try to hang the largest motor I can when figuring the most HP vs motor weight. For me its a 35hp on a 16ft boat, It'll take a 60 but the added weight of the 60's maxes out the boat weight wise and the added draft at the stern kills most if any power gain giving me only a few more mph on top end and a bigger issue trying to balance out the boat.

The 74-92 15hp were top of their class for weight and power If you jumped up to an 18 or 20hp, you gained more weight than you made up for in HP. That 15hp is perfect for a simple 14ft open aluminum boat.
I do agree that although its likely worth four times what that seller is asking, it won't sell here for more than a hundred bucks. He may say $300 firm but after being listed all summer, I'd bet he'd take less if you waved the cash in front of him. If not, just let it sit, its far from the only one listed, and there will be more, there's been a steady stream of motors all year, with most dropping to less than scrap value in price before selling.

Things were different here years ago. Any motor that stood the slightest chance or running was worth $1000 or better. Now even new motors sit for pennies on the dollar. I don't think its a matter of no interest, its a matter of no cash.