Wow I am very fortunate with my boating experience, both buying and selling now my story is different and I certainly was not looking to spend 500 to 600 K. When I was shopping for a 19' bow rider to play on the lakes of central Florida in 2017, I looked for quite a while and most of the boats I saw were in terrible condition. Then I saw the add 19' Maxum bow rider in excellent condition Punta Gorda Fl, I live 3 hours away so I jumped in my truck and away I go with my wife. I drove straight to the boat yard so see this beauty, the guy wanted 9,500.00 for boat and trailer when I saw the boat I started laughing and thought the guy was making a joke!
No sir he was serious he was a young guy in his 20s and his father was with him, I was very angry to say the least the yard guy was there watching as well. The father pulled me to the side and explained his son was injured in a accident and his perception has not been right since his accident, he asked me to look over the boat since I drove al this way already. I cooled off and said lets hook it to the water muffs and see if she starts. They didn't know what I was talking about, but the yard guy drug the boat over and we hooked it up to the water supply.
The boat was filthy it had ripped upholstery in a few places and it had barnacles all over the hull and outdrive even the prop was worn down to about 50% of its new condition size. I have been around boats since I was a kid so although I am not a pro, I have some idea what to look for while looking at a used boat.
I got the engine running but it was running really rough it was a Mercruiser 3.0 so its a pretty simple engine to diagnose and repair, I spent time with them going over the boat and explained the boat is only worth with trailer about 3,000.00. that the barnacle's would need to be sanded off the boat,and bottom either painted or new gelcoat put on, the seats needed to be completely reupholstered, and the engine needed to be tuned and serviced and, it needs a new prop!
Oh and the tires on the trailer were dry rotted. Lol I left them at the yard and wished them good luck, the father called me about 2 hours later. My wife and I were still there because we booked a room for the weekend, the father asked if I would consider buying the boat as is and asked if I would call his son. Bottom line I bought the boat for 3,300.00 once I did all the work to the boat, I ran the boat for about 3 years on the lakes it turned out to be a great boat for us very dependable and economical to run. I ended up selling the boat for 9,500.00!!!
After looking at Trawlers for 1 year, I found a 43' 1982 Ocean Alexander in the water in Marathon Fl, the boat was filthy inside but after looking at different makes and models over the year I thought this boat might work for us? My wife agreed so I ordered a survey and once I received the survey decided it was time for a sea trial, the sea trial went fine I brought a diesel mechanic friend of mine with me on the sea trial and glad I did. The engine ran fine no over heating problems but she was smoking and needs a rebuild. I knew if I bought it it would be a project and take time to get through the boat, and learn all the different systems on board. My problem was the surveyor did a terrible job, and missed a ton of repairs that needed to be done before she was sea worthy. November will be two years owning the boat, I have made many repairs mostly the engine repairs, batteries exhaust, bilge pumps, shower pumps, new sanitation system and toilets, air in the fuel system took me a long time to find those problems. but now she runs great, very dependable with a single Ford Lehman 120 hp diesel and bow thruster. I paid a great price of 25K for my boat so I have no regrets at all, except for the survey guy I chose was terrible.
I am still running the boat around the keys, and always doing projects on her 43' is a lot of boat to deal with but I am getting there. she came with a generator, gps, water maker, polit minder, hot water heater, freezer and refrigerator, and marine air. It really helps that I do 99% of the work onboard myself, if If you cant do 99% of the work onboard yourself. DONT BUY A BOAT!!!