Would you buy a game fishing boat? Advice please.

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sharlie4, Jun 28, 5:58am
Is he going to use it for game fishing! Has he got a 4wd to tow it with! Have you got somewhere to store it! It probably wont fit in your garage unless it has a high stud height. Good motor and looks reasonable, but cant see the trailer.

rsr72, Jun 28, 6:48am
#1 -. Don't we all.
A well fitted-up boat, will take you anywhere, and condition looks good but the pics are not very good. Think it's Aussie made!
Late model motor but hours are getting up. Should check on what regular servicing has been done,servicing records, and by who, and on trailer condition. You will need a good strong 4WD.

r15, Jun 28, 7:14am
try to convince his best mate to buy it, you will save shitloads

bigracket, Jun 28, 7:25am
Yip hours are getting up in my opinion, and that's prob why he is selling TBH. 55 k buys ALOT of boat at the moment. I recommend you have a good look at what that money can buy in terms of boats.

rsr72, Jun 28, 11:00pm
The bottom has dropped out of the boat market over the past two/three years.
Will be improving slightly next summer but there are bargains to be had right up to and including the very big gin-palaces.

cjohnw, Jun 28, 11:25pm
Agree. Wellcraft are American made hulls and not too bad. But the hull is not really the most important part of a boat, the engine or outboard is.
I would be asking a lot about how often it has been serviced and what maintenance and repairs have been done along the way. You will need to see receipts for any work. The hours are getting up and there COULD be some maintenance needed quite soon. Especially if you intend to go quite far off shore in it. And yes, the pics are crap. Go look in person. Good luck.

mudguts1, Jun 28, 11:56pm
600 hours on a 4 stroke!its not run in yet!personally im an etec fan but wouldnt let those hours worry me as long as it has a service record-after all ,how many hours have you been driving your car!if you have any doubts,ask on the fishing web site and they will put you right!i would think that motor would be good for at least 2000 hours!

rsr72, Jun 29, 12:00am
#9 - There is no criticism in this thread of the hours run up, but as is said, servicing and maintenance records should be checked, and what parts fitted if any, as should be done for any boat.

fishdoc, Jun 29, 12:26am
If he wants to spend that type of money I would suggest a well foundalloy/poontoon boat. Quite hard to move the big heavy glass boats on as IMHO they dont age well. Often where the fittings attach etc they get tired. I think that guy has had the best years from that boat. Offer him half his asking price and go from there. The motor should be good for a long time, but its everything else.

mudguts1, Jun 29, 12:28am
#10-then what do you mean by hours getting up!i take that as negative view!

rsr72, Jun 29, 12:31am
Of course not. Strange you should take it that way.

thejazzpianoma, Jun 29, 12:33am
Perhaps consider a secondhand "stabicraft" style boat around the $25K mark. They are low maintenance, cheap to run as they go well without a huge outboard, and are still very capable in quite large seas and surprisingly more than capable for catching big game fish.

nicolaas3, Jun 29, 3:24am
Nice looking boat but consider this:
Put the $50k in the bank. No maintenance, insurance, or wear and tear.

Then plan 5 epic fishing expeditions every year with a chartered boat. For $1000 per day you get a lot of hassle free fun. Walk on walk off someone else does all the driving and cleaning.

Keep your tinnie for the adhoc weekends out. You will never spend your $50k.

thejazzpianoma, Jun 29, 3:37am
I think you make a really good point and its really important to be aware of the costs of owning/maintaining a boat. However your math is wrong.

Assuming 5 x $1000 day trips a year funded from 50K in the bank, you would run out of money in around 11 years. not "never spend your 50K", unless you plan on croaking it in the next 11 years.

illusion_, Jun 29, 6:32pm
$55k buys an awful lot of charter fishing . and he'll still have the 14ft tinnie for inshore stuff

(and yeah . I have an expensive bit of "money-soak" sitting on the back lawn. Hindsight is a wondeful thing)

for_an_angel, Jun 29, 7:52pm
Epic adventures are $1200 per day now max 4 people. He's just got a new custom Senator and needs to pay it off lol. the old Epic Stabi is for sale on here for 40k if you find it you'll see what large engine hours those 4 stroke Yamies do.5000 and counting

neville48, Jun 29, 8:49pm
That 55k boat has too much clutter, are you out there to fish or look good. Acabin, what do you do with a cabin that realistically takes half your boat up. look at the internal freeboard, get that in the rough and stand up you are gonna fall out ,it seems to have a raised floor for self draining, where is everyone going to fish from. check out this serious bit of gear Listing #: 365464636. All business, small cuddy type cabin, plenty of free space,beggar all gadgets and lower maintainance. A real fishing boat methinks.

thejazzpianoma, Jun 29, 10:18pm
I accounted for compound interest, tax and inflation when I worked it out, as stated you will struggle to get 11 years before you ran out of money. Like I said its a good concept to explore but the math is not as forgiving as you would think when you actually grab a calculator.
I agree $1000 is a pretty good days fishing though.

gadgit3, Jun 29, 11:12pm
$1000 is an expensive day on a mussel farm snaper day. but I'd like to see ya get on a game boat for less and I get the impression the OP's husban is after something a little better then a snapper experrence looking at the kind of boats their after.

carstauranga001, Jun 29, 11:19pm
A couple of years ago about a dozen of us had a day out in a 55 footer with catering for 2 grand. No cleaning and just took alcohole. Rods, bait and sky TV supplied. Big cabin to sit back in and sip a beer when it got too hot in the sun. That's my kind of boat, someone elses for $150 a great day was had by all.

nicolaas3, Jun 30, 12:31am
When I said 5 epic days per year, thats a hell of a lot of premium fishing, plus your normal inshore 14' tinny stuff. In all reality it will be hard for the average punter to actually do 5 big trips per year, hence my statement that you will never spend the $50k.

geedubu, Jun 30, 12:46am
Buying a boat never makes sense in financial terms; but owning a boat has feel-good factors.Otherwise we would all charter.I worked out that the cost of marina berth/antifouling/maintenance on my no account tub would probably buy me a classy charter several times a year - probably more hours than I use the boat.BUT my tub is there when I want it; I can dream about going out fishing on a wet night. Or whenever.I can mess around with it.What the heck.Boat ownership makes no sense but we all do it.

74caro, Jun 30, 1:09am
I would take a long hard look at that one. Its a nice boat for the money, priced about right. Downsides are that its not a NZ made boat, which works against its resale at a later date. Upsides are that its a nice big mother, so you feel safe when the going gets snotty, four stroke yammys are fantastic engines, and it will be family friendly in the gulf when the sun is shining and the fish arent biting :-) I'm in the market for something like this for the same reasons (no, i wont buy it, havent got finance in place yet) and I would take a good look at this one, thats for sure!

automan5, Jun 30, 4:00am
A new boat gives you the two happiest days of your lifethe day you buy it and the day you sell it !

rod525, Aug 16, 12:40pm
The day I sell my boat will be the saddest.