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

[Still Afloat]

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.

 

[freeisforme]

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.

 

[Seafarer]

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.

 

[oilsmoke]

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.

 

[seahorse]

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.

 

[Still Afloat]

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.

 

[hoarder]

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.

 

[1pc@atime]

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.

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.

 

[barnfinds]

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.

 

[boatyard]

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.

 

[boatyard]

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.

 

[oilsmoke]

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.