Advice on selling a boat

[Stigomery]

N.B. this is not some ruse to get free publicity for a sale.

Hi all,

Looking for some advice, and excuse me if this is in the wrong forum (especially as it’s not a RIB/SIB). I ‘accidently’ bought my first boat on FleaBay at the beginning of the summer. On her maiden voyage the impeller went – no biggy I thought, easy enough to replace… I thought…

Long story short – all the bolts were seized and will now need drilled/tapped and replaced. Not a job for me (and I had a boat company look at it and they said best to get them machined out at a cost of about £250). To be honest that could lead to other engine problems I’m not ready to take on although the engine runs very sweetly, unusable without an impeller though!!!

So… I thought I’ll just sell the lot and having visited these forums and researched I am most likely going to buy a NEW Honwave SIB + Honda 20BF.

So… FleaBay has let me down twice now with buyers not turning up after winning the sale and I need to get rid of the boat. I’m now thinking, should I scrap the boat and keep the trailer for the SIB. Boat cost me £800 so would a new trailer so what’s to lose!??!

Do you have any advice on my options?
Could I realistically sell the boat and/or engine separately? (I don’t have time/energy to strip the engine and controls)
Could I sell the boat and engine without the trailer (sounds complex)? How?
If I were to scrap the boat and engine… how on earth does one go about that?

Sorry, I'm very new to this boating world.

Appreciate your advice… for 6 months it has been an £800 anchor round my neck and something for the wife to nag me about.

Here she is

Thanks,
Stig

[Fenlander]

Just finishing off a pm re Mersea but thought I'd reply re your speedboat here so others can agree or not.

It's all about price... a 40+yr old speedboat with an outboard that can't be run is not that desirable... particularly this time of year.

I'd list it as boat and outboard starting at £25 and let it go for whatever it bids up to... then you have retained some value in the trailer and have it to hand (for bunks conversion) if the Honwave outfit proves too much hassle for a daily setup.

If someone pleads to use the trailer to get it home charge a £250 deposit and then don't worry too much if you never see it again.

When you make a mistake buying something like this better to just clear the decks for whatever you can get and start again.

[Stigomery]

Thanks Fenlander, it was dropping that PM to you that made me think I could probably glean some valuable advice from you guys who have been around this boating malarky for a while...

£25... that makes me nervous, but I hear what you say. Will let the current auction run its course and then take a different approach based on the advice I get here.

[Poly]

Time to be harsh! If a "friend" of mine was planning to spend £100 on that "Package" I'd tell him to forget it! If you want to get as much back for it as you can then you need to split it:

Trailer - if its in reasonable nick should sell for at least £200 (maybe more).
Engine - in its current condition removed from the boat might fetch £100. Fixed it might fetch £300? If unfixable (economically) and split for working parts you can probably get best part of £300, depending how much time you are prepared to spend stripping and removing bits.
Controls - Steering, throttles etc should get £30+ if all in good working order.
cover and fuel tank - probably get you something like £20 if you clean them up and sell on Ebay separate from boat.
Hull - unless someone knows more about that particular hull I'd put it on ebay for £0.01 with no reserve to save the hassle of disposing of it!

So all together you might get the £500 you've got it advertised for - but not by selling it as a package of mixed scrap! I think you'll also find that whoever buys the bits wants the bits rather than sobering up and realising they just bit way more than its worth on a heap of hassle and so disappearing.

People like to believe they are getting a bargain on ebay so a lot to be said for the £1 starting price and no reserve - especially on stuff you just want shifted.

[Stigomery]

'Scrap'... that is harsh... that boat was my pride and joy for all of 3 minutes before the impeller failed

OK OK... I get it... maybe I'm dreaming if it'll sell as-is at that price...

I do not have the time to start breaking it up so will try the 'no trailer' approach first... that engine has got to be the guts of 200lbs alone...

[Sonar]

The Glastron is a classic boat 1960 s and to the right person a gift for the asking price...

However gumtree is stuffed full of speed boats most are either very overpriced or
a very very low price. and some have been advertised for so long they end up as free to whom ever.

I myself have the same glastron in storage as a project for a later date.. Mine was free...

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Stigomery

I do not have the time to start breaking it up

You see its that issue that rings alarm bells in buyers heads... ... What do you know (or not Know) that means this simple project is likely to grow arms and legs and cost 5x as much...

[paddlers]

I too have a 1960's Glastron.Bought the boat & trailer on eBay for £275 without an engine as a project a few years back and threw lots of hours and money at it because that's what most of us do.


Sold the trailer for £475 and bought an SBS trailer for a lot more. Depending on the boat and engine you have I'd be surprised if it made a lot of money as bare boats tend to be scrapped and engines with damage people generally just want the odd bit for theirs (flywheel, gearbox etc).

[paddlers]

Originally Posted by Sonar

The Glastron is a classic boat 1960 s and to the right person a gift for the asking price...

However gumtree is stuffed full of speed boats most are either very overpriced or
a very very low price. and some have been advertised for so long they end up as free to whom ever.

I myself have the same glastron in storage as a project for a later date.. Mine was free...

Sonar, I don't know how far you're going with your restoration but a member on the facebook group Classic Glastron Owners was offering replacement plastic Aqualift emblems for the side.

[Stigomery]

Originally Posted by Poly

You see its that issue that rings alarm bells in buyers heads... ... What do you know (or not Know) that means this simple project is likely to grow arms and legs and cost 5x as much...

That's the million dollar question. I bought it in the summer in good faith. And, to be fair to the guy I bought it off having not been started for 18 months it fired up and ran sweetly on the 3rd crank of the engine. Ran fine in the harbour too until the (as expected) impeller failed. I've not touched it since trying to remove the gear casing and the bolts sheared. I can only be as honest in my sale as I am knowledgeable to be.

@Sonar I'd love to spend the time restoring her, I've seen some beautiful Ski Flites, but alas the wife put the kybosch on that. And I quote, "you can &@#% about with restoration projects when the kids are in high school, get rid of it".

[Sonar]

Originally Posted by paddlers

Sonar, I don't know how far you're going with your restoration but a member on the facebook group Classic Glastron Owners was offering replacement plastic Aqualift emblems for the side.

The boat is in storage now and Yes I have been getting a few bits here and there but most of the parts are from the USA..

But many thanks for the information

[jeffstevens763@g]

Take poly's advice stigo get rid for what you can but don't expect to get anywhere near getting your money back, get your new boat and move on when you look at the 20hp Honda think it's 25 hp and thats where your £800 went and whistle.

Cheers

[9D280]

Hello.

As you may or may not know I have a habit of doing things with old boats!

Now, your bolts issue sounds a lot like the reason I now have a Merc on my transom.... I bought the boat with a Yam on the back, which suffered the same sort of thing as you. The rest you can piece together from my other posts!


If you don't have time to undo 4 bolts and disconnect a couple of throttle & gear cables to remove the engine form the boat then I would suggest you just stick it on & live with the loss. BUT... THe boat may be 60s, but the engine looks more like early 1980s to me. (one of the old 2 cyl premix jobs)

The time to get rid of a "package" (even a non runner) is Feb- May when people think it'll be a good wee project for this season". Can you live with it sitting there for 4-5 months? Put it in perspctive - I have found most of my "public sale" donor engines (or half engines) around this time of year, so for an hour or so to separate them.... (even if you are new to the game & it takes two half evenings - the engine is likely to be of interest to someone for the spares (esp. if it;s a working powerhead). You could then get a low HP working engine for £100 or less and sell the hull on as a "fishing punt" or "canal cruiser" - many will be put off by a dead engine.


Could you - Mail the Glastron Owner's club? someone might be willing to take the hull off your hands for the "fee" of removing the engine.... (which you then stick on your chosen mart site for spares)

The prop has to be worth £30 or so.




Now, being controversial, let's go back to your bolts.....

You say it's the impeller has gone. So presumably we are talking the bolts holding the gearbox to the leg? Could you (or your boat man) find a donor leg (off a seized powerhead) and combine the working bits? I bet that engine shared it's leg with a few other Hp Engines...... (My old Yam 55 of similar vintage I nearly got the leg off a 90 whilst trying to upgrade it to PTT!)


Or, buy a suitable sized engine, fit it, run it for a year and then punt it as a going concern. If your boat man deals in engines he will more then likely have a working trade-in suitable for that transom. I'll bet he charges as much or less to fit a working engine than faff with the one you have.

There's a place up here (Mtr Boatjumbes) bulk buys old trade- ins, gets the runners running & breaks the rest for spares. Granted not on your doorstep, but I got a working "classic" (i.e as old as me!) Aux off them a few months ago. he may have a leg or replacement engine.

Other famous places are Davie on here (totally reccomend). There's a place near the Humber bridge the name of which escapes me and the place that resurrected my 1972 Johnson with a new geartrain - Boating Mania in Upminster Then there are the Well known ones like and Bill Highman in Manchester..... and so the list goes on.
(Just be wary of one of your local "ebay shops" - see a long (#posts) long running (time) thread on here )

[Stigomery]

Thanks for your advice - maybe splitting the engine and boat is a good idea afterall.

So the outboard is 1979, 55Hp pre-mix 2 stroke - runs perfect, not sure how easy getting a replacement leg would be but this does sound like an excellent idea - one which I will investigate - not sure how readily I will find the part(s) but worth a punt.

I also like the idea of getting a second hand OB cheap and selling it as a running fishing punt or canal cruiser.

Stig

[Xk59D]

my tuppence....don't spend another penny on it, not another engine and not another gearbox. you will not get it back at the other end, you are going to sell this and not keep it remember. assuming you get a gearbox, it will be circa £250 and you need to hope you can get those bolts out.

your engine is an economical write off, very few people will buy it on a gamble they can do the job without further damage.

the most i would do is take the engine off, sell it for spares/repair and sell the boat/trailer on own. let someone else have the headache of it and put any money you get towards the new one.

i will be surprised if anyone bids on it at £500, if they do though then a wee brucey bonus.

[Stigomery]

Well, I took the good advice of everyone on this thread and got round to taking the engine off the boat.

Just sold it, payment received, got more for the bare boat and trailer than either of the attempts to sell it with the dud engine on-board.

So - many thanks again... I just have an vintage engine to sell now and the wife will finally be happy.

Stig