Looking for some advise please

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Tam1

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I am thinking off buying a 1991 cruiser international holiday powerboat it has a 5.7l merc engine the seller wants £12000 for it the boat needs a good t-cut and polish and a good clean inside it it doesnt go into neutral because he said it needs a micro switch but there is no service history with the boat, are these boats any good are they worth that amount off cash (the seller said i am getting it for peanuts at that price) is there anything i should be looking out for ? ie something that commonly goes wrong with this model off boat and engine ?
all the best and thanks in advance
Tam
 
er

Your asking loads of questions at once, any boat can have problems,either now or later , that's why we get a survey done, or a knowledgeable friend to look at it. I would ask to see it running, and why has he not fitted the switch , a boat that will not go into neutral is dangerous in my eyes, so at present the boat is unusable.

Volvo Paul or Col off the forum may be able to help with the engines.
 
Some Mercs have a micro switch that momentarily stalls the engine to help get it in (?) and out of gear - something to do with the clutch, which I believe is somewhat medieval. Failure of the micro switch is a relatively common fault and fairly easily rectified but I wouldn't even start purchase negotiations until it has been fixed and you can evaluate whether or not the engine works ;)

You should certainly get a survey done and might well be advised to get an engineer to cast his/her eye over the machinery as well - there are several people on here (including Volvopaul) who have been used - and highly spoken of - by other forumites. "No service record" could mean that it's been badly maintained or it could mean that someone's lost all the invoices. Mercruisers are very commonly found in small powerboats, and based on a (?) GM block, so spares and expertise are widely available, though not always cheap.

£12k doesn't sound particularly cheap for a smallish, twenty year old boat; I'd go in with an offer of about £9,750 and aim to settle for £10,500 - £11,000. Make any offer subject to a satisfactory survey and sea trial.

Finally, don't be seduced by a particular boat. There are lots of similar craft out there for sale at the moment so if this one doesn't measure up, move on to the next one....
 
OOPS! pressed the wrong button!
To continue---
The bigger 265 ish, had hull issues so I would be very carefull if it is.
The micro switch does momentarily'stall' as it where but there could be lots of other issues with an engine and the outdrives with a boat that age
Sounds too highly priced to me
 
Although a survey may be a good idea on a high priced boat, it may not help you much as most surveyors are not able to comment on engines / outdrives. Paying a mechanic with mercruiser experiance may be a better idea and he would be able to have a quick look over the hull. It does sound a bit expensive for a rather neglected boat of that age, so if the engine / sterndrive check out OK, try a low ball offer, say 8k ish.

Good luck mikej
 
A very big thank you to every 1 off you i am amazed at how fast you all got back to me superb the boat is about 26-28feet i would think she does go into gear just not neutral easily i just dont know what to do the layout on it is amazing 1 guy told me it was a bargain worth £20,000 another told me to leave well alone
all the very best
and thank you all very much again
Tam (Glasgow)
 
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