Looking at new boats

[FuzzyGrub]

Doesn't NJ have a "discounted" sales tax rate for registering/titling a boat? My son indicated that, but don't remember what it was. Something like 4% vs 7-8%?

Here in NY we only have to re-register ever three years, to NJ every year. At least both are online now and easy to do.

When we sold my son's 1448 Tracker, the trailer didn't have registration, title, or COO. He did go thru and get a Maine plate for the trailer, but it was not transferable. The buyer was able to navigate the NY DMV and get it documented. We had to fill out a form and send it in for him. I think it took a month or two to get it cleared up.

 

[airshot]

Perhaps you should consider moving to another state.....seems NJ is a ripoff for boating and fishing people. I choose to live in Ohio near Lake Erie, very friendly toward boaters and fisherman. Good luck.

 

[outboard]

Doesn't NJ have a "discounted" sales tax rate for registering/titling a boat? My son indicated that, but don't remember what it was. Something like 4% vs 7-8%?

Here in NY we only have to re-register ever three years, to NJ every year. At least both are online now and easy to do.

When we sold my son's 1448 Tracker, the trailer didn't have registration, title, or COO. He did go thru and get a Maine plate for the trailer, but it was not transferable. The buyer was able to navigate the NY DMV and get it documented. We had to fill out a form and send it in for him. I think it took a month or two to get it cleared up.

The only discounts I'm aware of are for seniors over 65, disabled and those on assistance of some form but it doesn't apply to boats.
Home made trailers are easy, they can't force you to produce any receipts but to get one registered you have to be the 'builder' on record. You can never have bought a homemade trailer because then they tell you the person who built it has to register it then sign it over to you and that negates the whole reason for doing it.
My home made trailer registration says 'HMD Trailer" "Color: Metal". Furthermore I've never been asked for a trailer registration when pulled over. At best they ask if its your trailer or not. If its not registered they usually just tell to get it registered as long as its got a tag on it.
I drove all the way from NJ to MO and back once and never realized my trailer tag was laying on the back seat under a bag. 1,700 miles round trip and not once did I get pulled over. (A buddy borrowed it a week later and the tag was still in my truck and he got pulled over three times and told he best get a tag on that trailer.

If you miss a year they will try to collect the back years but they can't legally force you to pay up for a trailer not being used. Covid is what screwed it all up because they revamped how the DMV works after that. Before, every DMV office was first come first serve and they did everything. Now every office has a specialty, some do registrations, some do titles, some do only foreign licenses, meaning they deal only with the free licenses for illegals. The local DMV here can issue a title and do the initial registration but can't do renewals. That now means going to a regional or doing it online. ALL registration renewals are now done online but if you miss a year it means you don't have a PIN code for the renewal and you have to go to a regional office to renew by appointment. For me that means driving an hour and killing the better part of a day at the DMV in hopes they get to you before they close despite having an appointment,
The really screwed up part is that the only way to renew is online or get an appointment online and not everyone has internet or a cell phone. A good many people my own age that I know have never owned a computer and wouldn't know what to do with one if they did.

 

[FuzzyGrub]

Both of my kids live in NJ now. They have told me how much "fun" it is to experience NJ DMV. The NYC DMVs are terrible as well. My daughter would come back to our local DMV, vs dealing with NYC.

My understanding is that NJ wanted to reduce the impact of the Luxury tax on boats. I guess many big cruisers and yachts are bought and sold and registered in NJ.

PS: Thx, I'll make sure my son keeps up with the boat registration.

 

[hoarder]

I'd rather wait in line for and hour rather than drive and hour each way ti still wait in line for an hour.
NJ made about half the DMV offices useless after the 2020 shut down and closed up a good many of the smaller offices or moved them to more metro areas.
I'm a block from the local DMV but they won't do renewals. In the past I used to just mail in the boat and trailer renewals, if I skipped a year I'd just send in the last renewal form with a check by mail but now they won't do that. If you were 'chosen' for online renewal you can only renew online, otherwise you must make an appointment at one of the regional DMV offices.

The people who are really screwed are those who do not have internet, lots of older folks, even those my age don't have computers or access to the internet and likely never will and have no plans on ever getting it.
What its doing is forcing a good many of them to just not renew their registration because they either don't have a car reliable enough to drive an hour or they can't afford the gas to do so. One guy I fish with is almost 70 and he's never owned a computer or cell phone and when the DMV here refused to renew his registration and they returned his payment when he tried to mail it in he gave up and stopped renewing his tags. That was 5 years ago now.

More than half the boats I do see haven't been renewed in years.
When they shut down for 2020 anyone who's registration that was due during that period went un-renewed and since they had then missed a year they were not able to renew online or by mail and were being forced to drive to one of three regional DMV centers to renew.

My own driver's license just came up for renewal and since I have a boat license it requires an in-person visit to renew for a photo ID and to renew it it means a 1.5hr drive each way to Trenton to renew my license for the next four years. Those whose license came due in 2023 were granted a no fee renewal but the rest of us pay full price.
I'm not sure if that was suppose to make up for the bs they caused by going online only or not but it only gave that benefit to about 21% of people with driver's licenses. They also give free licenses to illegals which was the main reason for the re-designating of the various local DMV offices. The one nearest to me is now a 'foreign license center' and no longer does normal renewals or title work and they closed the next two closest offices moving them 45 minutes further away.

I strongly suspect that the lack of boat interest in NJ has a lot to do with how hard it is to get a boat registered here now. If your local DMV no longer does transfers or registrations or they for what ever reason assigned you to an office for renewal over an hour away it can mean a day off work just to change a title and register a boat, then add in the weight slip now required to register a trailer which means having to tow it with no tags to the scale to get a weight slip without the boat on it makes it difficult at best for some people.

There are plenty who want a boat and I'd venture to guess most want a 14-15ft boat to stay with the cheaper registration, $12 to 12ft/$28 for 16ft up, plus $18 for the boat drivers license and $60 for the title. All of that to maybe bring home a couple fish they warn us not to eat.

None of which makes any boat worth less. If I go to the grocery store and steak is $15/lb and I can't afford it, they don't lower the price so it fits my budget.
The way I see it is as new boats get more and more expensive and now even rarer, the value of used boats also goes up. 20 years ago new 14 ft boats were $1,500, now you can't touch the same boat for less than $6k. 20 years ago a good used truck was $1,500, now your lucky to find one with wheels and and an engine that needs work for $4k and new trucks then were $25k, now they start at $78k. I thought it was bad when I saw the sticker on my last new truck 22 years ago at $54k but I as able to bargain it down to $42, now they won't budge and dealers are marking up boats and trucks over retail because they know that those who want a new one will pay it. They just finance it for the next 20 years.

A good many of us also buy our boats and trucks for life barring something bad going wrong with either.
I will never sell my 16ft boat and have collected enough spare parts and engines for it to last me a lifetime.
It has to because there's no one here that'll give more than pocket change for it if I were to sell it.

Dealers won't sell used boats now because of liability and most say they can't get new boats because manufacturers are concentrating only on the higher dollar boats that they can make more money on. Why build a 14ft utility boat that they may make a grand on when they can build a 16ft full package boat that they can make $10k on. This leaves basically FB and CL as your only source for a used boat'

 

[mirrocraft16]

In theory there should be a huge excess of 14-16ft utility boats, they've been building them for 70 years now and aluminum really doesn't rot very easily and I've never seen one at the scrap yards here in any shape.
Where did they all go? The number of them registered certainly doesn't suggest people are still using them.


I find hundreds of 12ft aluminum boats of all makes for sale all the time, 12ft boats vs 14ft boats are more than 20 to 1 in the various listings and 16ft boats make up maybe 1 out of 100 or so here. If you ask a dealer they say all they sell is 16ft boats when they can get them. Myself I've owned over 25 14ft boats over the years, generally selling the old one for something I liked better. None stayed listed for more than a day or two here. Now I see dozens listed that have been listed for months or years that are legit titled boats but there's double that amount of boats with no paperwork that can never be registered again without the original owner signing off the original title.


A relative of mine passed away in 2015 who owned four aluminum boats and one junk Bayliner Capri in the middle of PA. I was co- executor of the estate with another family member who was left one tractor and one boat, neither of which were they interested in taking or bothering with. They had zero interest in helping and all but refused to accept responsibility for any of it. Vehicles there required both excecutors to sign off of each title but the other excecutor couldn't be bothered and it took four years to get a judge to eliminate them from being co-executor. They didn't live local and did not feel it was worth their time to get papers notorized to even sign off of it.

In the end I was cleared to proceed and I listed three of the boats for sale in PA. All cheap, all with papers.

The pos Bayliner with a stuck 50hp Force motor sold first for $1,800 as-is. The 12 and 14ft boats, both older Starcraft models sat for 8 years at $800 without so much as an email and I kept the 16ft Mirrocraft for myself, Since PA don't title boats bringing them to NJ was a problem, which in the end I had to do and it meant preparing page long hand written statements from the Estate, death certificates, and copies of the County court's order of sole executorship plus a 30 day wait to obtain a NJ title for the 14ft and a registration for each in my name. They both sat for a year on CL for sale for $800 and $1000 with no takers and no emails. I took them to a buddies place in MO where they sold in three days for $1000 and $1,500 each. ( I couldn't take any of the motors there since PA doesn't title outboards and it just wasn't worth the hassle to deal with).

The guy who bought the 14ft boat answered the CL ad there and came from ME to buy it, He said he saw the ad listed in NJ but didn't want to drive that far but was fine with driving from Portland ME to SW MO but not to NJ?

 

[gillhunter]

This post got me wondering what mine is worth. I am the original owner, the boat has always been garage kept. All paperwork on boat and trailer is up to date. Honda probably has less than 50 hours, we run it electric 99% of the time.

2011 Alumacraft 1648

2012 Honda 9.9 4 stroke

45 lb. Minn Kota bow mount trolling motor

55 lb. Minn Kota transom mount trolling motor

2 Deep Cycle batteries mounted in center seat

1 Starter battery mounted by transom

Minn Kota 3 bank on board charger

Hummingbird 597ciHD

Tempress Low Back seats

Bilge Pump

EZ Loader trailer

 

[Stevum]

I've looked at 9 boats near me here and only two had paperwork. Of those two only the one Starcraft was really nice, the other was a 60 year old battered mess with several patches and a bent gunwale on the left side.
The seller of the clean one wouldn't get off his $1,500 price which is likely what the boat cost new in 1993 when it was new. To its credit though it is super clean with no corrosion or damage but its been listed for that same price now for four years with no takers.
There's a few newer 16ft boats listed but they're all heavier with full interior type boats. The one was close so I stopped to see it and a four year old Tracker has huge rot holes in the transom skin and rotten corners on the deck and they're asking $9k with a 40hp Mercury. A boat like that is of no use here because we're restricted to electric motors in freshwater. For me, something like the current Smokercraft or Starcraft Alaskan 15 would be about perfect but I need a 15" transom so that means I need to find one older than 1995 or so and I'm not about to pay $6k for a new one or the crazy prices they want for a used one. I'll sit back and wait for one to come along for cheap.

"The seller of the clean one wouldn't get off his $1,500 price which is likely what the boat cost new in 1993 when it was new. To its credit though it is super clean with no corrosion or damage but its been listed for that same price now for four years with no takers."- Your quote. So you're saying he wants what you believe he paid 32 years ago. I would think that by the shape you say it's in that would not be unreasonable. What do you think that same boat would cost new off the showroom floor these days? You didn't mention the boats configuration, motor size & condition if included. How far could you have been off on perceived value? $200 - $300. Sounds to me you let your ego ruin what may have been a great buy.

 

[Seafarer]

I wouldn't sell any of mine for that little regardless of what they cost new. Its worth what ever it costs to replace in my eyes.
I personally don't care if its a year old or 40 years old if its in good shape and does what I need it to do.
I sold my last 'small' 14ft Starcraft Sea Scamp 10 years ago, it was pretty much a time capsule from 1971 with only a couple of seats added to it and a three piece removable floor the original owner made from cedar strips. It was light and removable ands super strong. I sold it as the hull only because I wanted to keep the new old stock 20hp Mercury that came with it. It sat listed on CL in 2016 for 9 weeks and sold to a guy who loaded it up and took it to Belgium in a shipping container for $3k, I had listed it for an 'I don't want to sell it price' or at least I thought I did and it sold anyway. I think the listing was up for $3,500 for the bare hull, seats, and floor panels. I offered the trailer but the seller said taking a trailer overseas was a big hassle but non powered boats are not I guess.

When you have something you can't buy new, what it sold for way back when means nothing. From what I've seen lately there's zero new utility boats on the showroom floors unless you want either a pond boat or flat bottom jon boat. The dealers have nothing but $15k and up boats fully decked out for big lake fishing and those are of very little use in a state that doesn't allow gas motors in freshwater and most saltwater really needs a lot more boat than a 500 lb aluminum can. Try coming in Barnegat inlet in November on an outgoing tide with a west or south west wind in a tin can in the huge waves and swells that we see there. Other than a few navigable rivers and a couple lakes its trolling motors only in NJ.

What you have to beware of is that a lot guys will use their freshwater boats to crab and fish the back bays and most never bother with adding any protection such as zincs or even doing a motor flush and wash down after pulling the boat out.
My neighbor found out what happens to a polished aluminum hull Tracker after two years in the back bays here. He spent all weekend patching the 300 pin holes in the bottom of that boat. Every last inch of that thing is pitted bad from the saltwater.

 

[upthecreek]

I looked at a 2012 1648 MV in Fayetteville at used car lot just off I95 earlier this morning, they wanted $9,500 firm, it had a makeshift four post canopy on it a planked floor made from cedar decking and a 1987 Yamaha 15hp two stroke rigged with electric start and a 'Stik Steer system up front. The hull was rough and had been brush painted desert camo. It had an older Eagle fish finder on the bow and an early to mid 90's 28lb trust trolling motor on the bow attached to a piece of angle with a 2x6 bolted to it. The forward seat was on a home built box with a swivel and the rear seat was dead center on the rear bench. The guy was pushing hard to sell it but I really want something with higher sides. The 1,010lb max capacity is nice but that boat already had 600 lbs of stuff in it. I suppose the wood deck and seat box added 300 lbs alone. It also had a 10 gallon fuel tank mounted in the rear with some crude looking hose and filler cap clamped to it. It looked like it came from a golf cart or something.

There seemed to be a lot of MV style boats down that way. I'm going to look a couple of V hulls in NJ and PA on Wed. I've been debating on whether to turn west and got through SW PA first because there seems to be more boats out that way but there's two in NJ and 8 in PA up near Scranton that look decent.
The shear number of boats with no papers boggles my mind. There's even cars listed with no titles up that way. How do you own a car or truck, let alone a boat and not have any proof of ownership and yet be driving it with tags on it? I l

 

[flatheadsteve]

If you buy one in PA make sure you get it notarized or your in for a rough time getting it titled in your home state.

 

[boatyard]

This post got me wondering what mine is worth. I am the original owner, the boat has always been garage kept. All paperwork on boat and trailer is up to date. Honda probably has less than 50 hours, we run it electric 99% of the time.
..........................

A boat like that would be a tough sale up here. Most tend to buy a hull, then a motor, and so on There's an '09 Tracker for sale in fair shape down the road from me a bit that the dealer is asking $11k for. He told me he'd take $9,500. Its got newer carpet, a Yamaha 20hp four stroke and a Hummingbird fish finder and bow mount trolling motor and its on a welded painted trailer.
I've seen far worse sell for far more but no often ass a complete package.

Most simply can't come up with that much cash and banks won't finance small used boats since the bank value would likely be in the hundreds at best. The typical buyer likely also doesn't have any collateral for a loan.

What happens is that the main value becomes the hull vs the package and the motor is no longer valued, nor is the trailer.

If I were to sell that I'd almost certainly break it up selling the motor first then the hull and finally the trailer.

Separate the motor in good shape should bring about $15-1600 or so, the hull maybe around $4k, and another $800 - $1,200 for the trailer. Then your left with the small items like the seats, swivels, fish finder, and batteries which will likely bring another $400-500 or so.

The small motor would be a tough sell and being a Honda doesn't do it any favors despite the, being very good motors there's nearly zero local support and almost no following here.

If it were mine, I'd list the motor at $2k in hopes of a fair offer, the hull at $8,500 and probably have to fend off dozens of lowball offers under $2k before someone finally turns up with real cash. The trailer woiud sell fast and likely for more than it sold for new.

One way to look at it is that as a whole package the motor has no value to a guy who wants it with a 40hp or a 20hp. Separate you may well find a buyer who already has a motor or trailer and just wants the hull. You also have those who only run jet drive motors in the shallows too.

MV hulls are best in smaller water and not seen much outside the rivers and small creeks, Most lake fisherman want a V hull and the max hp two stroke it'll take. Although four strokes have come a long way, the money jist isn't out there these days and most who are fishing are fishing for food not fun with the intention of putting some meat on the table.

 

[1pc@atime]

In some places if you sell it for over a certain amount as a complete boat you could be held liable for any problems it may have.

Keep in mind that most who fish are retired, those still working are working 6 days a week and don't have time to fish. Most retirees don't have tons of cash either. The last time I was out on the river fishing most of the boats I saw were 60's and 70's models that were well used at best. A good many were no better than those found abandoned along the banks and down back roads these days. Out of date registration is common followed by no registration at all. Why bother if there's no one out there to check. The game wardens seem to go after those fishing on bridges and docks, I've not seen one on the water in years.

The couple across the road from me bought a used boat for $400 about 15 years ago. It had 1986 registration stickers on it. They said the former owner told them it was all good and to just use the boat, They never knew any better. They've been running that boat for years with nothing but the 1986 registration card from the original owner who is not the person they bought it from.

It turns out the guy who sold them the boat bought it at an auction for $100 in 2003, ran it for a few years and sold it. It had been put into the auction by the people who bought the original owner's property but had no interest or papers on the boat. They just wanted it gone and out of the horse barn, The original owner is dead, no one knew or currently knows who legally should have sold or signed over that boat but its too late now and the current owners, having paid next to nothing for it just keep using it, They likely will do the same till it either dies one day or sinks where it will sit for eternity without recourse on any of them.
After I explained to them it needs to be registered they came up with some 'newer' registration stickers only a few years out of date vs almost 40 years out of date.

When that boat dies chances are they'll find another $100 to $400 boat regardless of papers or not and run it till it dies. They do the same with most of the stuff they own. The husband is a loan officer at a bank and the wife is a teacher two towns away so they're not your usual scofflaws but they got that boat with zero knowledge of boats or what it takes to own one and after being told what should be done they simply figured that if one day they get a ticket it'll be cheaper than having to had to pay for 15+ years of registrations or the cost of getting a legit registration through the courts. In some ways I can't blame them and its gotten to the point where most seem to do the very same thing. I see it here and over in Jersey as well. I suppose with all the other issues at hand these days family without a registration out on the river is low on the priority list.
A police officer buddy told me that he sat down one day and figured out that about 1 in 5 cars he stops on the highway doesn't have a current registration or insurance and about half of the accidents he responds to involve at least one driver without proper insurance or proof of ownership of the car they're driving not counting illegal aliens. People simply don't have the money to do things the right way these days and if its a matter of food on the table or tags for the car, the car runs just fine without tags but the kids have to eat and the house needs heat.

Maybe those of us who pay all this money for tags and insurance are the idiots for just wasting our money since our boats and cars run just the same without all those expensive pieces of paper.=

Even so I would never sell my boat for less than I could buy one for. If I sold my 14ft boat for $2500, I certainly am not going to find one tomorrow to replace it for the same money, either new or used,
The number one concern I'd have with any boat is corrosion and it having a title. All else is minor and can be easily fixes.

I listed my old 14ft boat, which I'd been hanging onto because I really liked that boat and it was super clean. A bare 14SF hull with no mods from 1979. I bought it new and only ran it with a trolling motor at the pond down the road. When they drained that pond the boat no longer had a purpose. Since 2011 they've been closing down various small ponds and lakes to fishing for some reason, All that's left is the river and one larger lake with a strong current that overpowers a trolling motor so the boat just sat in the garage, I listed it in 2005 for $1,499 cash on CL, I got zero real replies for over three years. I got a few scammers with various money order scams but not a single looker or serious inquiry, In 2022 I got the first reply, a guy who was visiting from Grenada said he was interested and had cash. He didn't care about the title or any papers since uts apparently not required there.

He paid cash and had a two truck pick up the boat. A month later he sent me picks of it resting on a beach down on some island.

A month ago I sold my father's old boat which had been hanging in the garage for 20 years. I had the title in hand. It was listed for 4 years on CL with only one person who bothered to look at it and they offered me $50 for a 14ft Alumacraft in perfect shape.
A week later someone showed up and offered me $1,800 and I took it. That buyer was from Wisconsin. It gave me back half of my garage so I was happy even though I likely couldn't buy a new one for anywhere close to that if they even have one in stock. (The local dealers are still selling 2019 models which have jumped in price every year now),
-

 

[Stevum]

In some places if you sell it for over a certain amount as a complete boat you could be held liable for any problems it may have.

Keep in mind that most who fish are retired, those still working are working 6 days a week and don't have time to fish. Most retirees don't have tons of cash either. The last time I was out on the river fishing most of the boats I saw were 60's and 70's models that were well used at best. A good many were no better than those found abandoned along the banks and down back roads these days. Out of date registration is common followed by no registration at all. Why bother if there's no one out there to check. The game wardens seem to go after those fishing on bridges and docks, I've not seen one on the water in years.

The couple across the road from me bought a used boat for $400 about 15 years ago. It had 1986 registration stickers on it. They said the former owner told them it was all good and to just use the boat, They never knew any better. They've been running that boat for years with nothing but the 1986 registration card from the original owner who is not the person they bought it from.

It turns out the guy who sold them the boat bought it at an auction for $100 in 2003, ran it for a few years and sold it. It had been put into the auction by the people who bought the original owner's property but had no interest or papers on the boat. They just wanted it gone and out of the horse barn, The original owner is dead, no one knew or currently knows who legally should have sold or signed over that boat but its too late now and the current owners, having paid next to nothing for it just keep using it, They likely will do the same till it either dies one day or sinks where it will sit for eternity without recourse on any of them.
After I explained to them it needs to be registered they came up with some 'newer' registration stickers only a few years out of date vs almost 40 years out of date.

When that boat dies chances are they'll find another $100 to $400 boat regardless of papers or not and run it till it dies. They do the same with most of the stuff they own. The husband is a loan officer at a bank and the wife is a teacher two towns away so they're not your usual scofflaws but they got that boat with zero knowledge of boats or what it takes to own one and after being told what should be done they simply figured that if one day they get a ticket it'll be cheaper than having to had to pay for 15+ years of registrations or the cost of getting a legit registration through the courts. In some ways I can't blame them and its gotten to the point where most seem to do the very same thing. I see it here and over in Jersey as well. I suppose with all the other issues at hand these days family without a registration out on the river is low on the priority list.
A police officer buddy told me that he sat down one day and figured out that about 1 in 5 cars he stops on the highway doesn't have a current registration or insurance and about half of the accidents he responds to involve at least one driver without proper insurance or proof of ownership of the car they're driving not counting illegal aliens. People simply don't have the money to do things the right way these days and if its a matter of food on the table or tags for the car, the car runs just fine without tags but the kids have to eat and the house needs heat.

Maybe those of us who pay all this money for tags and insurance are the idiots for just wasting our money since our boats and cars run just the same without all those expensive pieces of paper.=

Even so I would never sell my boat for less than I could buy one for. If I sold my 14ft boat for $2500, I certainly am not going to find one tomorrow to replace it for the same money, either new or used,
The number one concern I'd have with any boat is corrosion and it having a title. All else is minor and can be easily fixes.

I listed my old 14ft boat, which I'd been hanging onto because I really liked that boat and it was super clean. A bare 14SF hull with no mods from 1979. I bought it new and only ran it with a trolling motor at the pond down the road. When they drained that pond the boat no longer had a purpose. Since 2011 they've been closing down various small ponds and lakes to fishing for some reason, All that's left is the river and one larger lake with a strong current that overpowers a trolling motor so the boat just sat in the garage, I listed it in 2005 for $1,499 cash on CL, I got zero real replies for over three years. I got a few scammers with various money order scams but not a single looker or serious inquiry, In 2022 I got the first reply, a guy who was visiting from Grenada said he was interested and had cash. He didn't care about the title or any papers since uts apparently not required there.

He paid cash and had a two truck pick up the boat. A month later he sent me picks of it resting on a beach down on some island.

A month ago I sold my father's old boat which had been hanging in the garage for 20 years. I had the title in hand. It was listed for 4 years on CL with only one person who bothered to look at it and they offered me $50 for a 14ft Alumacraft in perfect shape.
A week later someone showed up and offered me $1,800 and I took it. That buyer was from Wisconsin. It gave me back half of my garage so I was happy even though I likely couldn't buy a new one for anywhere close to that if they even have one in stock. (The local dealers are still selling 2019 models which have jumped in price every year now),
-

Quote..."In some places if you sell it for over a certain amount as a complete boat you could be held liable for any problems it may have." - I don't know which area you're speaking of that has this rider on a private sale between two consenting adults. I always include on the bill of sale..." No warranty expressed or implied" Where I'm from in the Midwest the unwritten rule is I can't be held responsible for what happens after it's out of my possession. The best bet is to be completely transparent with any current issues large or small. Like Shakespeare said " Kill all the lawyers & kill them tonight"

 

[FuzzyGrub]

This post got me wondering what mine is worth. I am the original owner, the boat has always been garage kept. All paperwork on boat and trailer is up to date. Honda probably has less than 50 hours, we run it electric 99% of the time.

2011 Alumacraft 1648

2012 Honda 9.9 4 stroke

45 lb. Minn Kota bow mount trolling motor

55 lb. Minn Kota transom mount trolling motor

2 Deep Cycle batteries mounted in center seat

1 Starter battery mounted by transom

Minn Kota 3 bank on board charger

Hummingbird 597ciHD

Tempress Low Back seats

Bilge Pump

EZ Loader trailer
View attachment 124565View attachment 124566

An exceptionally clean boat! Very nice. It is almost a miracle to find one like that anymore.

Myself, if looking for a 1648, the bigest issue would be the 9.9HP outboard. I'd want to see a 25-30HP. I think Boatyard is correct, that the max $ would come from splitting it up.

 

[gillhunter]

In my area of the country,north Georgia, you can either fish on 50,000+ acre reservoirs, or 1000- acre reservoirs. There are no lakes. The smaller reservoirs are HP restricted or total electric, thus the 9.9.

 

[freeisforme]

Quote..."In some places if you sell it for over a certain amount as a complete boat you could be held liable for any problems it may have." - I don't know which area you're speaking of that has this rider on a private sale between two consenting adults. I always include on the bill of sale..." No warranty expressed or implied" Where I'm from in the Midwest the unwritten rule is I can't be held responsible for what happens after it's out of my possession. The best bet is to be completely transparent with any current issues large or small. Like Shakespeare said " Kill all the lawyers & kill them tonight"

People here expect to be able to return things for any reason like at Walmart. Even the fleamarkets insist that sellers accept returns if the buyer changes their mind.
I sold a motor to a guy two years ago, a Sears Gamefisher 9,9hp that ran like a top. Two hours later his wife is there demanding HER money back because her husband was NOT alowed to spend money on toys. She was flipping out, screaming and carrying on demanding that I give her the money back.
I told her I didn't sell her a motor and the only motor I sold was to a little old man not Magilla Gorilla in a drag.
She went nuts and ran up to the fleamarket office who for once backed me up saying a seller cannot refund money to someone who did not buy the item She stomped away tossing things on the ground off every table she passed. It was late in the day and I just packed up and left.

Five months later the old guy who bought the motor showed up there again with the motor saying he needed to return it.
The fleamarket said that returns had to be honored for the remainder of each season but after the winter shut down around the holidays it starts fresh again. I told the guy to pound sand, after what his pet gorilla did that day there was no way I was giving him a dime back. The fleamarket gave me grief and I didn't bother coming the nest few weeks but they called and asked me if I was coming back. Apparently they really needed my $20 every week more than they needed to enforce their return rules. I went back a few times but gave up dealing with flea markets and yard sales here. Between theft and belligerent people who think a 50 year old $20 item comes with a lifetime warranty its just not worth it.

 

[loosescrew]

"The seller of the clean one wouldn't get off his $1,500 price which is likely what the boat cost new in 1993 when it was new. To its credit though it is super clean with no corrosion or damage but its been listed for that same price now for four years with no takers."- Your quote. So you're saying he wants what you believe he paid 32 years ago. I would think that by the shape you say it's in that would not be unreasonable. What do you think that same boat would cost new off the showroom floor these days? You didn't mention the boats configuration, motor size & condition if included. How far could you have been off on perceived value? $200 - $300. Sounds to me you let your ego ruin what may have been a great buy.

The way I see it is if a seller is asking 1,500 he's really looking for $750. If he wants $1,500, he best ask $3k and let the seller bargain the price down. I was taught to NEVER pay anyone's asking price no matter how cheap it is.
I offered him $500 for the boat and he flipped out and said he'll crush it before he'll sell it for less than its worth.
It was a nice boat and likely the best price out there for a rock solid boat but if there's no room to bargain there's no deal. If he had put FIRM in his ad maybe I'd have offered him a bit more.

 

[upthecreek]

If you buy one in PA make sure you get it notarized or your in for a rough time getting it titled in your home state.

I normally do that anyway but usually FL doesn't ask for anything but a hand written bill of sale, notarized or not. Either way I brought my FL homemade trailer tag with me so I'm covered for the ride home

I did buy a trailer yesterday in NJ, it was listed as 'no papers' with a junk boat. The boat was free but he wanted $400 for the trailer. I offered him $100 and he took it. The boat is a rotten glass turd full of leaves but I found a signed boat title from MD in the glovebox of the boat.
The trailer tires look new, the guy said he had to replace the bearings to get it home and its got two new tail lights on it and new wiring. I stopped at a buddies place here and he's got an excavator that he said will make short work of the boat. I dumped it off the trailer out behind his barn, I suppose he'll blow it up or smash it to bits for fun. But the trailer is well worth the $100 and if I find a boat with a trailer I can always stack them. its long enough for a 16ft boat or maybe a bit longer. The load that was on it was 15ft and there was 4ft of tongue ahead of the boat.
(The boat had a neat patch on the bottom, a piece of 3/8" plywood about 4x2ft with a few hundred drywall screws and probably 20 cans of flexseal over it all. I think the boat may have been a Glaspar but there was no papers and the boat was trashed anyway.



I've going to look at a few today and but I'm finding many sellers aren't around during the day, or even during the week here.
There's a few that just popped up including one for $400 a few hours north of here but its at a shore town and the guy has pics of it out in what looks like the ocean so its likely a saltwater mess. I'm not sure if its worth the two hour ride to go look.
Two I looked at in DE were pure garbage, both badly corroded and full of patches and sealer.
A good many I've looked at that were decent had no paperwork or had wrong paperwork Two had titles with them for different boats. one guy had a 16ft Starcraft boat for sale but the title said 'fiberglass' on it and none of the numbers matched. One Grumman I looked at had a title that said Crestliner on it. The numbers were right but the number plate was issued by PA Fish and Game and had 6 digits. The boat was 14ft and the title said 18ft.
One boat yard had a 14ft Starcraft SF14 that someone had abandoned for sale. He said he had paperwork but all he had was a handwritten bill of sale for a boat that should have had a title.

This one just popped up on CL in NJ, its about 40 minutes from where I'm at now. I can't tell much by the pic though.

https://southjersey.craigslist.org/boa/d/newfield-1992-starcraft-sf16-aluminum/7833872803.html

This one caught my eye but its nothing I care to deal with
https://southjersey.craigslist.org/boa/d/haddonfield-starcraft-14-boat-new/7831458349.html
https://southjersey.craigslist.org/boa/d/haddonfield-starcraft-14-boat-new/7831458349.html

I guess you sit in the middle with a tiller in each hand? The motors don't appear to be linked together in anyway?
I would think that for the cost of two new 8hp motors he could have bought one larger motor and be better off weight wise too. The way I see it is that's 200 lbs of motor on a 14ft boat designed for about 100 lbs. of motor tops.

Nothing but the bare hull interests me with this one but I highly doubt he's looking to part the thing out.

 

[FuzzyGrub]

In my area of the country,north Georgia, you can either fish on 50,000+ acre reservoirs, or 1000- acre reservoirs. There are no lakes. The smaller reservoirs are HP restricted or total electric, thus the 9.9.

Understand. With plenty of places to use it over larger boats, that should help its value. Here it would be an under powered boat, and not of value to most experienced boaters.

I'm glad that 1000 acre lakes around here don't do the same. There is one res nearby that use to be a 10hp limit, and was raised to 25HP. You can still use your trolling motor with big motor not running.

Again, excellent condition boat. I would love to find one in that condition when looking.