posted 10-08-2009 03:39 PM ET (US)            

Come on, this is a legitimate challenge, Nick. Put your deal where your mouth is.

A 2000 or newer repower deal for less than $3000. Motor should be 70-100 HP and in decent shape. Fair enough?

posted 10-09-2009 10:58 AM ET (US)            

A "2003 40hp Johnson..." doesn't;t make the grade, it's less than 70 HP...a lot less.

A 1999 Yamaha 70 hp doesn;t make the grade, 1999 is earlier than 2000.

Your 2000 Johnson 70 does just squeak by with the minimum acceptable horsepower and just over the time line with it's OMC-going-into-bankrupcy model year and associated quality control problems and a price from last March, not today, when the market bottomed out.

This is a very long way from Nick's claim of:

"Plenty of used 2000+ engines out there under $3k"

or:

"...I post them ALL the time in FL. Shipping is pretty cheap."

Come on, I'm having some fun but this is NOT an academic argument. I'm looking for a deal so bring them on.

Last weekend I talked a friend into buying a nice 1984 Montauk on a galvanized trailer that was being sold with a deadn Yamaha 90 of the same vintage. The asking price was $4000 and he bought it for $3500. This was in Oregon.

I'd say the value estimates offered above are spot on.

posted 10-09-2009 02:29 PM ET (US)            

http://sarasota.craigslist.org/boa/1395260122.html

posted 10-10-2009 10:09 AM ET (US)            

My 2000 70hp Johnson was like new and I cannot determine by your redundant sentence structure in reference to it whether today's market is better than the one that existed last March. At any rate it meets all your criteria and yet you dismiss it as almost not worthy of consideration. This carbed motor had little to do with the quality control issues that plagued OMC FICHT motors during the bankrupt years and you know it. Your mention of such nonsense is merely offering a weak argument in defense of an indefensible position. This motor handily meets all your criteria, stipulate that and move on.

The 1999 70hp Yamaha is very close to your now rigid criteria and a Mid Atlantic low hour motor unlike the higher hour salty motors Toshib sees listed in Florida. I would offer that you could overlook the mere one year difference in the age by giving credit to the overall condition and low hours of the motor. Come on Professor Yamaha itself as a manufacturer doesn't even assign model years anymore.

The 2003 40hp I gave as an example indeed may be off your horsepower criteria but the newer year and the lower price than your set threshold certainly bears usefulness as a relevant example of the deals that are out there. After all there is a lot of gray amongst the black and white letters of the law.

Brian

posted 10-10-2009 12:14 PM ET (US)            

Oh, I think the market is better today (with the Dow flirting with 10,000) than it was in March when it bottomed out and it seemed there was no end in sight and folks were letting their toys go for pennies on the dollar. When examining values, it is very important to consider the dimension of time.

The criteria in this challenge is not mine, it is Nicks. Got a beef? Take it up with him.

I don't want to start of debate on the demise of OMC, but we all know the Ficht's were only one small part of it. Their demise the sum of a lot of really bad business decisions including the outsourcing of parts that resulted in inferior quality affected all the outboard designs, the good ones and the questionable ones. I am leery of any OMC model of this vintage.

posted 10-10-2009 08:49 PM ET (US)            

I can and will keep an eye out for any motors that fall within your criteria.

posted 10-11-2009 01:52 AM ET (US)            

This is NOT my criteria, it was yours Tom. You made the rules, I proved you wrong many times...suck it up buddy boy!

"Ha! Not even Clark Roberts would put 40 HP on a Montauk.
Come on, this is a legitimate challenge, Nick. Put your deal where your mouth is.

A 2000 or newer repower deal for less than $3000. Motor should be 70-100 HP and in decent shape. Fair enough?
"

posted 10-12-2009 11:38 AM ET (US)            

quote:

---

Plenty of used 2000+ engines out there under $3k so $7k is a nice package.

---

I'm sorry Nick, have I misattributed this quote to you? Did somebody else write that? Did I misunderstand what you meant?

Perhaps you were referring to the Chinese calender and were not really referring to a used outboard motor ten years old or less.

Perhaps when you wrote $3k, that really means three million dollars, not three thousand dollars. Or maybe you meant Canadian dollars...or Pesos; you don't really say for sure and I could have misunderstood.

Or perhaps you were just inserting a random comment, into a discussion of the value of a used Montauk, about any outboard of any size, instead of offering an opinion of the cost of finding a decent repower option for a Montauk. Did I misunderstand your meaning?

Or perhaps when we talk about power options for a classic Montauk, you were only referring to motors of 40 HP or less. I think most folks will agree that 70-100 HP is the typical horsepower for a Montauk, but again, here I am making crazy assumptions. Perhaps what you really had in mind was something like this:

http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/16-17/images/nauset495x305. jpeg

OK, I concede that for three thousand dollars, anybody can find a 7-1/2 HP outboard motor. They can probably even find a nice 40 HP outboard motor, maybe even one that is only seven years old.

But we're looking for a 70 - 100 HP motor and so far I see exactly two examples offered up. Out of an entire nation, culled from dozens of online data bases of used outboard motors, thousands, if not tens of thousands of potential deals, we have exactly TWO...old Johnsons.

That's your definition of plenty?

posted 10-12-2009 04:06 PM ET (US)            

I know it is old and not in Oregon nor Washington, merely squeaks by on the year, 2000 Yamaha's are suspect in quality, not a four stroke, a carbed dinosaur, Ed's sells them new for close to that, three cylinders idle funny, it is a weak 90hp, it is not a Suzuki, doesn't have smartcraft, the gear case is puny, yada yada yada ;-).

posted 10-12-2009 04:30 PM ET (US)            

Brian -- Thank you, that is a good lead.

I called the vendor and he sounds nice enough. He estimates freight to be $380 for the relatively light weight Yamaha 90 crated with a shipping weight of 325 pounds. A four stroke is going to cost more to ship.

posted 10-13-2009 09:23 AM ET (US)            

..SOLD a 70HP Suzi 4 stroke with controls last summer for $3650.. I won't tell ya what I paid for it..

..Just to list a couple. That's why folks pay me to help them buy & sell..

..So there are deals around if you're patient.. This isn't aimed at anyone in particular, but just 'cause you can't/won't find a deal, doesn't mean someone else can't.. Anyone who would pay $10k for that small of a repower is someone I'd like to meet when they're in a "buying mood" with cash in hand.. Hehehe.. And rigging a motor on these small Whalers is USUALLY schtoopid easy. Why even pay someone to do it unless ya just don't have the time (an hour or 2, tops?) and meager skills/tools it takes to do it.?

..But to answer the original poster, I've seen hull/trailer combos go for $1K to $4K around here.. I sold my not-perfect-but-not-bad '87 with a functional-but-ugly trailer for $1500.. d:^) Schneeky..

posted 10-13-2009 11:36 AM ET (US)            

2003 Merc 90hp for $2900:

http://miami.craigslist.org/brw/boa/1411445434.html

2000 90hp Yamaha for $2500:

http://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/boa/1408567913.html

And a 50hp Yamaha for the gas miser buyers:

http://miami.craigslist.org/brw/boa/1407416178.html

posted 10-13-2009 05:34 PM ET (US)            

...Now just find one in Washington for Tom.

posted 10-13-2009 09:00 PM ET (US)            

I think your specific question has been answered. The value of such a boat is perhaps $3000 - $4000.

It is interesting to note that out here in the PNW a nice used Montauk with good power will sell for $8000-$10,000 even one with original power from the 1980s, so long as it is in the desirable 70-100 HP class and in good shape.

Does it therefor stand to reason that the motor by itself is worth the difference between $3-4k and $8-10k? Not at all. It is rather paradoxical because, as Nick has demonstrated, such an outboard is worth far less than that.

It would seem that buying a motor-less Montauk and repowering it is the more economical way to acquire one.

And yes, the exceptional deals *are* out there, but you have to wait for them and be ready when they come along. Because one does, does not mean they are plentiful.

My last Montauk was a 1986 model with a 1993 Mercury 90, galvanized trailer, 1999 four stroke Suzuki 9.9 kicker, full Mills running canvas, Mills mooring cover, twin aluminum MIRAX fuel tanks and two new Scotty electric downriggers and some other goodies.

I found that boat here in the CW Marketplace forum and bought it for $5000.

posted 10-13-2009 09:11 PM ET (US)            

The larger problem is the buying of some large ticket item remotely. Things always look better in digital images that they do in person and you cannot inspect an outboard across country. The best you can do is rely on a proxy int he form of a knowledgeable friend who agrees to do the leg work for you.

posted 03-01-2010 10:56 PM ET (US)            

This weekend, my friend here in Washington, who bought a nice 1984 Montauk for $4000, bought a very nice used Yamaha C90 for $2500. It was found locally.

The motor is a 2000 Model and in excellent condition with very low hours having been stored for the last six years. My friend is very pleased.