Well, unless things are very different in Louisville than the rest of the country, I'd suggest the seller realize that it's a buyer's market.

Our 32' Sedan is a 1989 with Chrysler 318's. My friend and I bought it in 2002, when it was 'only' 13 years old, half the age of the boat you are considering. We had a motivated and honest seller who was very open about every issue he felt was important regarding the boat. Note the key word: "felt".

We hired a top notch Marine Surveyor who spent 8 hours on and in the boat with us, including having it hauled and pressure washed for a hull inspection and also a sea trial run on the Potomac River to test operations while underway. His firm does not do engine surveys and we found a guy who we hope is no longer doing "surveys".

He ran compression tests on two of each of the engines' 8 cylinders. We knew from the sea trial that we couldn't get full rpm's but laid it off to tuning issues. Needless to say, one engine had two bad cylinders, which were not among those tested. So we ended up having two rebuilt engines installed two seasons later after spending countless hours bolting on new parts in the hope of getting the originals up to spec.

Don't get me wrong, I love this boat and have tons of faith in the 318's. But after 25 years, things wear out. The genset and engines are getting more and more difficult to find parts for.

Due to the nature of aluminum and water in the presence of electrical leaks, you MUST test for proper isolation and that can only be done when the boat is wet and that means not just splashed, but in the water for at least a week to allow everything to balance out.

Everyone on this site can tell horror stories and love stories about our Marinettes, but I personally would never consider buying one that has been out of the water for so long without having the best surveyors I could find AND a supportive seller. If you move forward with this, you can't find a better group of people to share your questions and experiences with, but enter the deal with your eyes open.

You didn't mention $$, but I assume you consider the asking price to be somewhat reasonable. Make your offer rigidly dependent upon satisfactory surveys and subsequent required repairs and enjoy your new boat.

Rule #1 If the owner is unwilling to remove the tarp or whatever and allow a complete survey on the vessel then walk away!

Rule #2 Most insurance companies will require a survey prior to providing converage

Reul #3 Old boats will require updating and on an on. I spent 20K on mine after the sale and that did not include any major electronics, or rebuilding engines.

As to wet vs. hard. Both are preferred but may be difficult. It is the buyer's responsibility to pay for survey haul-out for hull inspections etc. I would prefer a wet survey and sea trial over just a dry dock inspection.


I bought mine on the hard but...
I spent 2.5 days going over every inch and every system.
I had a professional survey performed. (Mine was better!)
I negotiated some work after the survey. (needed new cutlass bearings, batteries, marine charger)
Sale was contingent apon a satisfactory compression test and the engines were run on the hard.

Now with all that I got a great boat but I also was prepared to replace engines since they 25+ years old.

After five years engines are still running well but could crap at anytime but that can happen even to a new rebuild. Just ask Jeff.

safe boating,
dave

I'm on BoatTrader.com right now, they currently have 9 - 32' Marinette Sedans ranging in asking price from $19.900 to $39,900. There's one at 19.9 at Catawba island, OH and one at $28K in Pataskala, OH., Chatanooga, TN for 35K. Sorry, I haven't looked at the map, but freight isn't usually a deal breaker. When we were shopping for ours, I had a quote from Niagara Falls, NY to here in Virginia for $1,000.

No debag, no sale.

-Karl

Ok when I fell inlove with my 32 I looked at it from the road for a year.The guy had it in his famely for 13 years "it was his dads boat" He wanted 10k for it at the time, scrap was around 1+ a lb so after testing compresion on all 16 cyl test run the twins on the hard genaral apperance of the boat. I got it for 10k. after 2 bad ex manifolds blige pumps oil and filter changes. some other small stuff Ive got a nice 1973 32 on lake Erie that I took on a 400 mile round trip encounterd bad wether on it with no trouble. a bit crazy but you only live once. so my .02 is if you arn't permited to check out what you are about to envest some $$$ into its only worth scrap if the engins ,trans,hull,wiring,shafts cutles brng,ect are all good then you are ok. But price all the above then ask seller if he would pay 20 k or better for a chunk of aluminum with a couple of old 318s for parts and a few s/s deck parts. And be happy? if he says yes send him to me Ill sell him 8K lbs of scrap alu and a couple of blowen long blocks Ill toss in a couple of turbo 350s and Ill come out smelling like a rose. I love the big Ms but they are only worth their weight in scrap if every thing that makes them a boat is shot and if you have to pay some one to work on her you might just as well go buy a 250k dollar 25footer and not do any work on it, just ride around in it . PS mine was dry for 2 years when i first tested it