With a broker the seller eats the commission, so as a buyer you're not paying it directly, but it's obviously priced in somewhere and it means the seller has a floor they need to clear, probably limits how far they'll actually come down. In exchange you get a real purchase agreement, escrow, help with survey/sea trial logistics, someone tracking down paperwork so it doesn't stall out.

Private sale, no commission, in theory more room to negotiate, but you're on your own for deposit protection, title/lien check, transfer docs. Get that wrong and it's expensive. You do get more direct access to the actual owner though, for better or worse on the history side.

whats been your experience with broker vs private for comparable boats... did the commission change what you actually paid, or did it wash out once you counted your own time/risk on the private side? What' your over all recommendation?

We heard some clicking when backing the boat after filling her up with gas before we head out tomorrow. My dad sent me this and says we shouldn’t go because he’s worried we will break down on the highway.

How close to disarray are we? He claims we can’t tighten the nuts up but i haven’t tried myself (i’m not home currently). If I need to replace them and cut them with an angle grinder the boats gonna have to be in the water right?

Might as well take to lake and let one person fix it while the other is out or leave the boat docked?

WWYD?
Thanks guys!

edit: thanks yall, bought pb blaster and bigger breaker bar and im getting it done in no time. love the old man but anxiety has frozen him in his older years

We see a lot of first-time boat buyers automatically lean toward new, thinking it'll mean fewer surprises, a warranty, and less maintenance, but that's not always the case. On the other hand, plenty of experienced boaters will always buy used, saying that you can get more boat for your money and let someone else take the biggest depreciation hit.

Usually it really depends on your budget, how long you plan to keep the boat, and how comfortable you are with maintenance and the used market. Looking back, what made you choose new or used for your first boat? Would you make the same decision again, or do something differently, why? Pros and cons?

Because one wake boat can and will ruin an entire lake for a plethora of water skiers. That's why.

Greetings,

Bought a Lund Angler and an Xplore 9, and I have no idea how to wire this thing in. I'm decent with mechanics, but electrical eludes me. Would someone be so kind as to show me how I'm to properly wire this fish finder into my boat?

I recently posted for general mooring advice and have decided to go with mooring whips. Thank you all for your advice! Now I'm interested in optimal mooring line configurations for when we're at the boat/property on weekends and not around during the week. The lake is usually calm but on rare occasions sees 2+ ft chop in 30 kt winds. The boat is an 18 ft (2400 lbs) outboard, dock only 16 ft long.

With the new mooring whips, I want to keep docking simple since we'll have many different drivers with varying levels of experience. I want to use the fewest additional lines while the boat is in frequent use on weekends and fair weather. When we're away for a week or two at a time I would use more lines.

Do I need to use any lines with whips (aside from the whip lines themselves) during fair weather? We get distant wakes, no current, no tide of course.

When the boat is unattended for a week or two, what line configuration would you suggest? Bow, stern and two springs? Use the centre boat cleat? Any issues having two lines at a single cleat? I've got two ideas shown, in blue and in green. I'm not sure if the springs would work on such a sharp angle.

The comments were actually hilarious, I appreciate yall. I took the boat out of the water and had two mechanics check it out who don’t think it’s too low. Is it possible that it just appeared low because of the engine stalls causing water to collect under motor and because of the low speed the water was bubbling?

I definitely have a misfire so they’re gonna replace fuel filter and fuel line.

I took a picture and it appears cavitation plate is in the correct spot, should I still lift it a few inches?

The original video is the one where I got flamed (but won’t let me post it again) second picture is where the engine is out and appears to be at right height.

Looking for the best boat that I can fish in and also take the family to the sand bar. I’m looking to trailer the boat so 25-27 footer. Any ideas?

For the salt water guys, have any of you found a knife that lasts in the salt. I currently recycle old fillet knives to keep on my CC for cutting bait or whatever, but they rust quickly and need sharpening often enough that I consider it maintenance item. Anybody found something a little more stout that doesn’t require as much attention? Bonus points if it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg

Has anyone ever had this issue with their fish finder? Mine is brand new used it for about a month and now this is all I get when I turn it on…

Great community around these boats.

Been running lead acid forever and finally decided to switch.

honestly i was mostly doing it because i got tired of dragging those heavy batteries around lol.

litime battery showed up packed really well. install only took a few mins and everything worked right away.

took the boat out this weekend and it ran my trolling motor all day no problem. voltage stayed pretty solid the whole time too. wasnt really expecting much difference but i could definitely tell.

biggest thing for me is honestly just the weight. getting it in and out of the trailer is sooo much easier now

only had it for a little while so cant really speak on long term reliability yet but so far im happy with it.

anybody else switch from lead acid recently? hows it holding up after a year or two?

It's a 1982 SeaMax II, made in Finland, with a Perkins 1.408 49hp. Length is 7.2m (about 24'). Needs a lot of interior work, but is fully functional and I could just take it out to sea if I wanted to. Waiting for a friend to come back home from his trip so I have someone experienced with me to teach me how to operate this thing. Probably overpaid, but eh, wanted a cheap boat and this was local.

The trailer is super sketchy and isn't road legal. It's only for getting the boat into the water and back up, so I'll only use it twice a year. Should be fine for that use case.

Never owned anything but an inflatable dinghy, so I'm completely new to anything like this.

Any ideas? Bogging down and stalling, sometimes doesn’t want to start after stalling, won’t plane out. Replaced the throttle position sensor and now this is what it’s doing. Checked the voltage on the sensor and everything looked perfect. Strong smell of fuel.

As the title says there’s an outboard leak. I can’t tell if it’s premix or if it’s gear lube. (I’m new to working on outboards)

UPDATE:
After taste test can confirm it’s not gear oil. Which leaves premix. So I’m going to get rid of the reservoir and premix in the gas tank instead of chasing the leak. (Still going to check all the seals that everyone suggested)

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some help identifying the correct replacement part for my Johnson outboard motor throttle lock. Currently, the locking piece is missing, so I’m having to use duct tape to hold the throttle position, which is very uncomfortable.

My motor is a 1996 Johnson 15HP (J15REDS / J15RSD).

I found this web page that sells replacements, but I don't know which part I need to buy to get the problem fixed.

https://www.crowleymarine.com/johnson/oem-parts/outboard/1996/j15reds/steering-shift-handle?ref=23

Could you please lend me a hand? Thanks!!

I have the alarm wire and Guage wire on a single Temp sensor. I cannot find a clear answer if I need the dual sensor (49734A 1 - Sender Assembly) or the single (97258A 1 - Sender Assembly) sensor?

4.3LX SN# 0D388765

Rebuilt the fuel pump on my 89 Yamaha 8hp, got a little too excited to get it back together. Lucky I found a used OEM carburetor on eBay for a good price. How much torque would you recommend for a carburetor?

Can't wait to hit the lake again

it is 5ks 2-t 5CMH yamaha outboard from 2000.

I changed impeller already but engine still randomly stops water flow and steams out from cooling indication hole...then all of the sudden starts to pour out water like nothing hapened. I suspect on faulty thermostat. From google my engine should have thermostat but im not sure where to look for it. i Suspect it is behind this cylinder cooling cover i attached picture on but to open that i need to remove all the electronic and also fuel tank . So before i dig in i would love for someone to confirm that there infact is a thermostat in there. Unfortunately i cant find any videos on internet to guide me trough.