Appraisal: 1990 SUPER SPORT 13

[LuckyPenny]

[Thread moved to MARKETPLACE]

I [may buy] a 1990 13 Super Sport with an Evinrude 40 VRO. The seller is asking $3,500, and I think I can get the boat for $3,000. I won't have a chance to see the boat until next week, and I don't think I'll have the ability to take it for a test drive.

The seller bought it last year as a project boat. He made a fiberglass repair on the hull and re-gel-coated the bottom of the boat up to the water line. He left the rest original.

The seller had the Evinrude 40 VRO engine carburetors rebuilt, and he says the engine runs very well. The engine has tilt and trim.

The seller refinished some of the wood on the boat.

[Give me your] opinion on the condition of the boat, on whether it would be a good boat, and on the price. Thanks.

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[LuckyPenny]

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[jimh]

As seen in the photos the 1990 SUPER SPORT 13 appears to be in nice condition .

The 1990 SUPER SPORT 13 is a very good boat.

At $3,000 the price is very good. At $3,500 the price is still good.

For advice on buying an older Boston Whaler boat see

BUYING CLASSIC BOSTON WHALER BOATS
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/buying.html

[LuckyPenny]

Thank you for the information and the link. I will be reading through it so that I can make a better evaluation of the boat when I go to see it. The boat has always been used on freshwater lakes, but I do think that the owner before this one kept the boat stored on the water during the summer months. So I will do my best to look for signs of water absorption.

It's just me, my wife, and our 4 year old son. He will be 5 years old next summer. My parents have a 29ft performance boat so we go out on the lake with them and go for boat rides, but their boat is way too big to do any kind of water sport activities. I think this year we would like to spend more time pulling a tube with my son riding with either me or my wife. We thought the little Whaler would make an excellent "second" boat that we could take out along with my parents to have access to if we get tired of just swimming. We could jump in the little Whaler and tube for a while and then come back to my parent's boat. I thought it would also be something small enough an easy enough to operate that I could start letting my wife get comfortable with driving a boat and trailering it. Before, my wife was opposed to boats because she didn't feel comfortable enough to drive one up on a trailer and she did not feel comfortable with backing the truck and trailer down the ramp either. My thinking is that if we can get a few years of use out of this little Whaler, it will tell us whether or not we're ready for a little bigger boat or if we need to forget about getting a boat altogether. I've been a boater all my life. My parent's bought their first houseboat when I was 5 and had houseboats and cruisers up until I graduated from college. I always had a SeaDoo to ride and in college, I bought a deck boat that was a lot of fun also but wasn't much to look at. It was basically a floating party barge. But my parents have since left the houseboating scene and are now into somewhat performance boats. I'd like to test the waters so to speak and see if my family will also be a boating family or not. Thanks again!

[jimh]

Better go buy it. Even at this time of year, a nice classic Boston Whaler boat at a fair price will be sold quickly, especially one that only costs $3,000 or $3,500.

[dtmackey]

That's a great price. I sold my 1973 13' Whaler last year for $5K with a similar motor to yours (it was the same, but Johnson).

D-

[LuckyPenny]

Thanks fellas. I'm going to look at it on Friday. I'm a little concerned about the guy redoing the gel-coat on just the bottom half of the boat. I'm thinking when I zoom in on the photos, I can see that the color on the bottom half doesn't match the color on the top half of the boat. Is that a big deal? Is that a make or break? Is that something that I could (or should) have redone if I decide to purchase boat?

[jimh]

Your plan to make an in-person inspection of the boat will give you greater insight into the condition of the boat than anyone can make from observing a few low-resolution images. The seller of the boat should be able to satisfy your inquiries about repairs made to the hull.

For a 1990 model year hull to no longer have its original gel coat finish would be very unusual. Although a 1990 boat is now 29-years-old, there is no particular reason that the original gel coat finish would not be intact, in good condition, have a nice gloss, and show no signs of being top-coated with repairs, unless there was some prior damage that required a complete re-finish of the gel coat layer. Inquire with the seller for an explanation if the original gel coat finish is no longer intact and visible in major areas of the hull, particularly the hull bottom and running surfaces.