Monterey 298 SC purchase without a sea trial - thoughts

[Swest 0]

I've been a boat owner since 2005. Always had new 24-26 foot open bows. Looking to move up to bigger boat. I've located a 2006 Monterey 298 sc with about 75 hours close by. Original owner with Volvo 5.7 Gxi DP. The boat is very well cared for. It's a brokerage boat not located at the dealer. I've contact a marine surveyor to complete an inspection but having difficulty finding a marine mechanic that will travel to the boat for an engine check.

Would appreciate your thoughts. It's January and 10 degrees so a sea trial is many months away. If an offer is written and accepted the dealer will bring the boat in for a complete inspection. Thoughts on the dealer completing at least a compression check on the engines? Offer will be written subject to satisfactory marine survey.

Thanks

[Rip5 0]

Do not have the dealar/broker mechanic do the engine check. Get an independent mechanic.

Have the written offer subject to satisfactory engine test, hull/structural survey, and sea trial in the spring.

 

I bought all 4 of our boats in the winter, and had those same conditions before we signed anything.

[Artemus 0]

Kind of risky to buy it without a sea trial, but here is what I would do:

 

In addition to a complete survey, and mechanical inspection on both engines and drives, I would have it worded in the bill of sale, that the seller states that all the mechanical, electrical, and the complete engine / drive train systems, are in good working order, and function properly without any issues. Furthermore if any issues are found once the boat is launched in the spring, the seller agrees to pay for any and all repairs to rectify any problems. A 5% to 10% "holdback" might be a good thing too, till after you determine there are no issues with it.

 

I had a friend buy a 34' Cruisers last Jan, and he did the same thing. Turns out one of the drives needed work, to the tune of about $5K, which the seller paid for.

 

Hope that helps.

[stephan 0]

sounds like you need to get dealer to allow your guy inspect/survey it at there location. that would help speed up the sale and also let you get a quality inspection

[GetAway 0]

I've been a boat owner since 2005. Always had new 24-26 foot open bows. Looking to move up to bigger boat. I've located a 2006 Monterey 298 sc with about 75 hours close by. Original owner with Volvo 5.7 Gxi DP. The boat is very well cared for. It's a brokerage boat not located at the dealer. I've contact a marine surveyor to complete an inspection but having difficulty finding a marine mechanic that will travel to the boat for an engine check.

Would appreciate your thoughts. It's January and 10 degrees so a sea trial is many months away. If an offer is written and accepted the dealer will bring the boat in for a complete inspection. Thoughts on the dealer completing at least a compression check on the engines? Offer will be written subject to satisfactory marine survey.

Thanks

 

Not sure why a sea trial can't be done unless the only areas are lakes that are frozen over. I had a complete survey done on my 2000 execpt a mechinal survey. This was in the month of Feb. All went well. We took the boat to the Columbia river and found the water pump was bad. The hull surveryer came along and listen to the engine as I took it up to full RPM's and speed.

 

The tailer tires were all weather cracked and one of the four treads fell off. There was one wheel that had a bad bearing. Before I would buy the boat these things had to be fixed and the owner did fix them

 

My 2000 5.7 GS doesn't have an hour meter so I have no idea how many hours are on the engine. You say the engine you're looking at has 70 hours. That's not many hours on a nine year old boat. Living in the Northwest boats get used, even the larger 32' and up boats, I'd say more than 75 hours in that amount of time.

 

It's your money, how much would it cost to repower this boat? Having just one 5.7l engine in a 29 foot boat, I'd think this is a bit under powered.

[jmartin606 0]

I just purchased a Montery boat and it was 15 degrees on the water when I did my sea trial. I would never purchase a boat w/o a seat trial unless your getting a warranty. If I ended up not buying the boat I would have had to pay to re-winterize the boat, but its absolutley worth the risk. Re-winterization is cheaper than a new engine. At a minimum buy a compression test kit ($30) and test the compression your self. Check with the dealer what is should be and all cylinders should be very close......

 

My opinion, hope it goes well...

I've been a boat owner since 2005. Always had new 24-26 foot open bows. Looking to move up to bigger boat. I've located a 2006 Monterey 298 sc with about 75 hours close by. Original owner with Volvo 5.7 Gxi DP. The boat is very well cared for. It's a brokerage boat not located at the dealer. I've contact a marine surveyor to complete an inspection but having difficulty finding a marine mechanic that will travel to the boat for an engine check.
Would appreciate your thoughts. It's January and 10 degrees so a sea trial is many months away. If an offer is written and accepted the dealer will bring the boat in for a complete inspection. Thoughts on the dealer completing at least a compression check on the engines? Offer will be written subject to satisfactory marine survey.
ThanksI

[Swest 0]

Thanks for all the feedback.

[Rip5 0]

 

Having just one 5.7l engine in a 29 foot boat, I'd think this is a bit under powered.

 

 

Uhhhhh, the 298SC only comes with twin engines. He will not be underpowered with twin 5.7's.

 

[Swest 0]

Purchase agreement included sea trial as well as full mechanical / marine survey. Thanks again for all the advice.

[Swest 0]

Just thought I would post an update. I started this thread in late January when the temps were below zero so it's nice to add to my original question. Last week I completed the marine survey and sea trial with the surveyor aboard. The overall survey went very well with some minor items that surfaced -- which the dealership is addressing.

 

In addition, the sea trial went well. The only item we noticed was a low charge on the port side engine -- mechanic is checking alternator as well as battery. The twin 5.7's sounded and performed wonderfully.

 

Completing a few details this week and should take delivery on Friday.

 

Thanks for all the advice.