1983 Bestway Labelle

My wife and I have been looking for a trawler for a while and came upon this 1983 Bestway Labelle 43 in Miami, we are going down to take a look at it tomorrow, any tips or advice in what to look for..thanx mike and deb

1982 Bestway Labelle Power Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

Can we assume there were fresh water tank issues? 50 gallons is awfully light. Probably had 200 originally. Is she there in N.Miami at the Volvo dealer? Engine hours? Are parts readily available for those engines.

Dockage is of value there if it has it. Use your nose first.
I just closed (selling) on my condo there in Haiti, I mean N. Miami today!! Good to be gone!
Best thing about N. Miami? The Chevron station at Ixora Ln (130th on east side of the Blvd) has mad good Cuban Coffee cheap, and Little Havana down the street has great food .

Greetings,
Welcome aboard. Seems like an awful LOT of boat for $50K. Use your nose and get a GOOD survey.

Yeah, something's not adding up. Most folks would price a boat like this at 6 figures to start. Maybe the pictures are from when they Bought the boat. Looks priced to sell tomorrow.

Remember, the only thing more expensive to keep up than an old Volvo diesel is 2 old Volvo diesels. That said, my single has always treated me well.(so far)

Based on those pics. Buy it with the help of the best surveyor you can find. Provided the engines aren't dead. Can't see it on the market for long.

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Looks pretty damn nice for the asking price, it makes me think of the saying "if it sounds to good to be true it probably is". A qualified surveyor is a must, it may be the deal it seems to be at first blush or it may have hidden serious problems.

Boat looks to be ok based on the pictures (pics are pretty much meaningless). I had a Volvo MD30A in my boat and these engines would be of approximately the same vintage. If you ever need parts for these motors you are going to be in trouble. The parts will either not be available or cost a small fortune. Volvo does not support engines of this vintage in any way. The marine bits and pieces for these motors were not produced in large numbers and there is no aftermarket support for them. They were well made reliable motors but they will break down sooner or later.

Thanx you all for your feedback. First of all the fresh water tank specs were wrong, it has a 200 gallon poly fresh water tank, engines run great, interior is in a condition of an 8, new electronics, some cosmetic work, but over all nice looking trawler. Some leakage in V berth portholes, to be expected and all the teak is in good condition. As for the price, in looking around at trawlers in our area Florida, especially in the trawlers of this vintage and size (1982-1986)the prices seem to vary between $50K and 80K. The owner just came back from the bahamas, was construction supervisor there, did do a lot of upgrades, rebuilt generator, new electonics, new rib, but wife is working up north, he has had it two years and is ready to go up with his wife. We are going to do a survey of course..again thanx for the feedback..mike

Watch for leaks in the teak decks and look at the CI fuel tanks, getting close for time to replace. Also the SS water tanks have known to start leaking at that age.
I had a 40 Label 15 years back, very nice boat.
Good luck

Wow - last time we were in that area we were going to look at that boat but just ran out of time. I'm a sucker for navy blue hulls. Nice that it checked out and you weren't shocked by the difference between the photos and reality. Pretty rare in my experience. I also have been on one of those and love the aft deck, big enough for a real dining table. Good luck with it.

Volva Penta TAMD40A parts

Volva Penta TAMD40A parts: I had posted before that we were in the process of buying a 1982 Bestway Labelle. We just had the survey done. It will need some cosmetics, window replacements, they are somewhat clouded for our use etc. Otherwise it is a solid boat. However in the near future, it will need some cooling system issues dealt with: one oil cooler, main engine exhaust hose, generator raw water intake hose, AC raw water intake hose, raw water pipe on port engine and port exhaust elbow, nothing too major, but in looking for parts, I found that they did not seem available, at least where I was looking, any advice? are there other volva pentas that have interchangeable parts, or generic parts that fit??? thanx mike

Bestway Labelle update: its now 7 months later and we lover our boat. I did have to replace or rather go over the teak paneling in the salon area as the wallpaper that had been installed covered up some leakage, looks great now, replaced alternator brackets, replaced all fluids and impellers, fresh water pump AND redid all the teak deaking using Cetol..came out beautifully. Runs great and looks great...and getting generic parts did the trick, a 2800 oil cooler by Volvo was replaced by a $300 generic part..life is good on the water with "Starry Night" her new name

Excellent! Glad it all worked out, now go enjoy your boat! Of course, new pics would be good too!

Here are the pics

The last two pics are Before..the rest are After, after putting on three coasts of Natural Teak Cetol and a finish coat of Gloss...

That thar's a good lookin boat!

thanx!!