First boat

 Hey guys I am looking at buying my first boat and am after some advice. My price range is around the 6-7k mark am hoping for something I can fish offshore with and do the odd rotto trip with. Is there anything in particluar I should be looking at ? Also how many hours is a lot for an outoard? I’m currently looking at a 19ft guardian with a 140hp 2001 Mercury outboard. Any advice would be great 

cheers 

Tim


Faulkner Family's picture

Posts: 17835

Date Joined: 11/03/08

 get whatever your looking at

Wed, 2018-02-28 20:01

 get whatever your looking at thoroughly checked out. transome , hull etc. we bought a 7k boat and it cost us a whole lot more to fix up in the end.

dont rush into getting one as you may get bitten. as far as hours goes it depends on the condition of the motor, you can get one thats 15 years old with only 100 hours and can be worse than one thats done 600 hours. 

____________________________________________________________________________

RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together

Vinesh87's picture

Posts: 2751

Date Joined: 02/04/11

 7k is not a lot for a 19ft

Wed, 2018-02-28 20:10

 7k is not a lot for a 19ft boat unfortunately

 

If going glass make sure the stringers are not rotten! 

 

In terms of motor i have seen well maintained private 4 strokes doing over 2000hrs and commercially over 7000hrs. My last 2 stroke had 700hra on it and still goinf strong!

 

Have a good look at the trailer these can cost big bucks to fix up also!

 

Good luck!

Posts: 246

Date Joined: 24/01/13

Cheers for the advice, I was

Wed, 2018-02-28 20:49

Cheers for the advice, I was originally looking at something a bit smaller around 16-17 ft but the 19ft guardian on gumtree caught my eye because of the outboard which the guy reckons only has 400 hours on it.

sea-kem's picture

Posts: 14833

Date Joined: 30/11/09

 The one thing to consider

Wed, 2018-02-28 21:54

 The one thing to consider there is the weight of the boat and the amount of fuel she'll drink, won't be cheap to run.

____________________________________________________________________________

Love the West!

pelagicyachts's picture

Posts: 1293

Date Joined: 23/02/11

some good advise above - I

Thu, 2018-03-01 08:10

some good advise above - I will chip in with - what are you towing with?

there are some good value older boats forsale - link below is a Penguin Phantom - good little boats and this one has a late model engine and good trailer on it asking 4500
Remember the asking price is just that - never make an offer with asking first "what would you take for it " sometimes the answer is surprising!
Any hull you are looking at I would ask the kangaroo court (that's this forum!) for an opinion - lots of good knowledge and experience on here

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/armadale/motorboats-powerboats/penguin-fibreglass-17-ft/1176561673

Cruise Control's picture

Posts: 970

Date Joined: 03/11/10

 Plus 1 for the phantom,

Thu, 2018-03-01 10:00

 Plus 1 for the phantom, great little boats but need to make sure stringers are not rotten. Also 60hp 2 stroke IMO is underpowered. A mate had one with 70 on it, good for 29 knots. I had one with an 85 good for 34 knots, a 60 might struggle.

pelagicyachts's picture

Posts: 1293

Date Joined: 23/02/11

poss a bit under but not by

Thu, 2018-03-01 12:48

poss a bit under but not by much - not many days you can hit 29 knots on the ocean in a 16 footer :-)

Faulkner Family's picture

Posts: 17835

Date Joined: 11/03/08

 16 to 17 foot would be ample

Thu, 2018-03-01 10:54

 16 to 17 foot would be ample to go to rotto. we had an 18footer and fished 20nm out . so it is dooable. tow weight as mentioned is a big thing, if your tow weight on your vehicle is under the weight of the boat and an accident occurs your not covered. 

as mentioned the stringers and transome need to be checked thoroughly as well as the hull, look for any patched areas or repainted areas, not always but often it means there has been some damage somewhere along the line

____________________________________________________________________________

RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together

Posts: 246

Date Joined: 24/01/13

Cheers for the feedback guys.

Thu, 2018-03-01 11:10

Cheers for the feedback guys. I will be towing the boat with my dads toyota prado. Haven’t really thought much about fuel consumption I guess that’s something I should look at more. There’s are the two I’m looking at the moment 

 https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/wanneroo/motorboats-powerboats/1

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/beechboro/motorboats-powerboats/18-ft-mustang-price-reduced-6500/1176134168

Faulkner Family's picture

Posts: 17835

Date Joined: 11/03/08

 the mustang doesnt look to

Thu, 2018-03-01 11:15

 the mustang doesnt look to be a bad boat but the only issue i see straight up is the area in front of the motor seems a bit low and water could come up through in rough conditions. 

____________________________________________________________________________

RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together

pelagicyachts's picture

Posts: 1293

Date Joined: 23/02/11

id be more worried about the

Thu, 2018-03-01 12:52

id be more worried about the fact he has only had it 2 months...... ! why selling after such a short time??

Posts: 1097

Date Joined: 19/06/14

+ 1

Fri, 2018-03-02 06:55

 Go the Phantom . Great little boats. Mine got completely stripped down and rebuilt from the ground up. New ribs stringers , transom and floor ( massive job but well worth it ) Turned her into a centre console with a pod and a Yammie 2 stroke 90 on the back . Goes like a shower of shit....:) 

____________________________________________________________________________

 My wife understands why I clean my rods n reels in the shower....