Fort Myers area 20ft Seafari

[Max_Florida]

Hey guys, found a 20 foot seafari on craigslist down here in Fort Myers, guy only wants $1000...

What questions should I be asking, and what should I be looking at? I am fully willing to put in a new transom and a different engine.

[DonV]

What questions should I be asking

Cash or is a check OK??

[cdavisdb]

The owner is all but giving it to you. Assume a new transom, and check the floors. Also a few seafaris have been used very hard, serious divers or fishermen, and the cap gets very wiggly and sloppy. Check the corners of the doors for a substantial crack, signs of lots of leaks in the hull deck joint. Fixing this probably requires pulling the cap.

Good luck with it.

[Max_Florida]

I think I'm going to go look at it later today.

What is the best way to check the deck?

As far as leaks in the hull deck joint... what would those look like? Sorry, I'm very new to boats and I'm trying really hard to not get myself in over my head, haha.(I know I probably will anyways, but I'm trying to mitigate as much as possible)

I really appreciate your guys help.

Also, if anyone is in the North Fort Myers area and would be willing to take a look at the boat with me, I'd be more than happy to buy you a few drinks and/or lunch/dinner.

[Ryank]

I saw the ad, looks a little well used, there is an aluminum plate on the transom, that is a sign of the transom will need replacing, though I used one for several years with a weak transom, and a plate and it never cracked or anything over 3 years of rough use.
The motor may or may not be worth a crud, never a fan of the older Force. Not a bad deal if the floors solid, if the floor is soft, could be a very pricy or time consuming resto job. Materials, supplies, new electronics, and a possible motor, think of what it would cost to do and double it, or just use it as she is and enjoy
Ask if you could run a compression check on the motor and do so they should be within 10% of eachother. Check for any big cracks in the transom and or bounce on the lower unit and look for excessive flex. Will they let you rtun it?

[cdavisdb]

Agree with Ryan.

Recognize that the hull will probably be the least of your costs, new transom, new engine, etc will get pricy and there is bound to be more, even if these things are ok.

I'm not the best guy to ask about the cap, but here are my thoughts. Look for substantial cracks, not just hair line in the top corners of the doors. Is the doorway still squared up? look at all the hull/deck bolts/rivets in the cabin for rust, water trails, looseness. Get a hose and shoot some water up underneath the rubrail. Any leaks in the cabin? Expect some small ones. Lots of big ones are trouble. Look at everything else around the edges of the cap and cabin, rot near the floor of the bulkheads, signs of movement.

Another sign of hard use: look at the floor forward of the divers seat, right at the edge of the nonskid. Substantial cracks there indicate a driver standing up, pushing the boat hard and can lead to deck failure. If damage is present but not too bad (no rot), you can reinforce under the deck through the stb cabin deck hatch(personal experience).

Floors: Jump and down all over the deck. If it is not rock solid,no softness, no flex, deck replacement is on the way. You may be able to get some more years out of it if the damage is small.

[Max_Florida]

I called the guy and he said that the boat and the trailer are both "rough" but "okay". He said that he bought the boat, put some money into it, went to put it into the water and it wouldn't start. Now he wants to sell it.

One of the leaf springs on the trailer is broken and is being supported by a wooden block(not drivable).

Right now I'm assuming I would need to replace the transom, the engine and obviously fix the leaf spring on the trailer before I could even drive it home.

I'm thinking it would probably be a bad idea to buy this boat. However, I think I may still go look at it and see what kind of shape the rest of the hull is in.

Just FYI, I've never owned a boat before, nor have I worked on one. I am very proficient with automotive repairs(something I taught myself) so I figure I can learn boats as well(I realize there is going to be a huge gap between the two).

My assumptions about getting this boat running are: I can buy an engine for $1000. I can get this engine mounted and running for another $200. I can replace the transom for $500. I will need to fix a bunch of other random crap that will probably total another $500. Assuming I do all the work myself...

What do you guys think?