How many of you enjoy a "Beater Boat?"

[Wayne Roberts]

Around my way everyone wants a boat, motor, and trailer for $550.
I had my 16ft Mirrocraft hitched to the truck in my driveway this morning, I had just gotten back from a run down the river for some catfish.

I hosed it down, cleaned the fish and was letting it dry before putting it away. When I went out side I had a note on taped to the boat with a phone number and a story about how much they loved my boat and that they had one just like it years ago and would like to buy it. Then it said they have $300 if your interested.

Last month I put a 2000 model Stardraft SF 14DLX bare hull out for sale, no motor, no trailer, with a full floor, livewell, and split center bench seat. The boat was a nice clean, solid boat in great shape, but I had only bought it for its motor I got four people who answered the ad which I put up for $1100. A new hull is just over $4,400 and a used bare hull down at the dealer is over $3k and its not going to be as wide or deep as this one.

The first guy showed up and was looking over the boat, crawling under neath it it and all when I walked out and he started right off with 'Your asking too much for just a boat ain't you". "Would you take a couple hundred for it?"
He got pissed off when I said no thanks and burned tires away. The next two raved over how clean the boat was and kept asking what motor came with it and where the trailer was. One said he'd buy it if it were cheaper and if it had a new motor and trailer under it. I told him he could buy all that for it if he bought it, but his reply was he didn't have that kind of money and that his boat budget was only $200.

The other one offered me $100 and acted insulted when I told him he was wasting my time.
The last one wanted to trade me for a pedal boat that a tree fell on.

It sat for four months, listed on CL and chained to a tree on the lawn since April with no other attention.
I towed it to my cousins place in PA and listed it there for $2,500. He called me that Sunday and said he got $1,700 for it from a truck driver that happened to stop.
He said the guy forked over the cash, then flipped the boat over and slid it into the back of a box trailer full of produce he was hauling back up to Maine.

Its impossible to sell anything in an area where everyone is flat broke or just plain cheap.
Anything you list gets only scrappers and people with big dreams and no cash.

I probably would have sold it here for $800 if someone showed me cash but all I got was nickle and dime offers or guys saying its worthless and not worth anything.

That's that Biden/Harris economy.................)

 

[thill]

Again, I think I need to do a road trip up to Jersey to find a good hull.

I'm looking for a 16-17' V-bottom that is rated for 40+ HP for less than $1k, with or without an outboard. Let me know if you see any or any of you want to sell one.

 

[thill]

Decided to clean up my beater a little and paint my engine's top cowling. I did this because we had some guests coming from the city, and I didn't want them worrying that we wouldn't make it back to the dock.

Before:


As you can see, the paint was dull and chipped, stickers were mostly gone, etc.

We had a nice, breezy, low-humidity day, so I stripped the decals and glue, sanded the chips down, sprayed OEM paint and applied replica decals. Took me an hour or so, and now it looks MUCH better:




Our trip went well, and Ron was asking whether it was a 2-stroke or a 4 stroke, because it ran so smoothly.

 

[LDUBS]

Sorry @thill, when I think of a beater, your boat doesn't qualify! Haha.

BTW, I just noticed the wide gunnels on your Spectrum has that cowling running along the outboard side. Mine has the same. I love that it is there because I frequently set things on it when I'm changing spoons, etc. Keep them from going over the side.

 

[thill]

Unfortunately, that outer edge is pretty much flush. If you set something there and a wake goes by, you will probably lose it.

Believe it or not, those gunnels were originally carpeted. Look at this:



WHY would anyone put carpet on the gunnels of a boat? I plan to sand and paint those gunnels when I get a chance. That will be a lot easier to keep clean than carpet.

If you see the boat up close, it's still a beater. If I keep fixing stuff, eventually it won't be, but then I might have to sell it and start over, so I should probably take my time on the upgrades.

 

[LDUBS]

Unfortunately, that outer edge is pretty much flush. If you set something there and a wake goes by, you will probably lose it.

Believe it or not, those gunnels were originally carpeted. Look at this:

WHY would anyone put carpet on the gunnels of a boat? I plan to sand and paint those gunnels when I get a chance. That will be a lot easier to keep clean than carpet.

If you see the boat up close, it's still a beater. If I keep fixing stuff, eventually it won't be, but then I might have to sell it and start over, so I should probably take my time on the upgrades.

Here is a pic showing the outside raised edge I was talking about. I didn't give it much thought when I first got the boat. Now I'm glad it is there.

 

[thill]

Here is a pic showing the outside raised edge I was talking about. I didn't give it much thought when I first got the boat. Now I'm glad it is there.


View attachment 122468

That would be very helpful to have, especially next to the seat area. But probably it would just tempt people to put stuff there and then lose it when we hit a wake, so I'll skip the idea of adding one!

 

[Bantou]

I'm currently working on a beater 1973 Monark 16' Jon Boat (model 1648, I think). It was a marina "run around" boat that they used and abused. It looks like a turd, the transom is rotten and the aluminum on top has started to split where the motor mounted, the drain hole is out of round and leaks a little... Nothing I think I can't fix but I'm not going to dump a whole lot of money into making it look "nice" either.