The Dark Side... Buying A Used Bass Boat
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.พ. 2025
- ☀️ 4 day Fishing Retreat
register here:
shopblat.com/p...
Join me on my fishing app👇🏾
⭐️ sufschool.com
💥 Download the SUF App here
Apple: apps.apple.com...
📲 Android: [play.google.co...](play.google.co...)
☀️ 4 day Fishing Retreat
- register here:
shopblat.com/products/straight-up-fishing-live-school-ticket-1?_pos=2&_sid=0d4a4f9bc&_ss=r
My wife said, "Don't buy someone else's headache, get a new one." I sure do love that woman!
@@meandean3754 you better!!!
Being that you married her and all 😅
I can respect that, but If you shopped around long enough you would have found a great unit that someone is offloading to buy a new one, just because they can, but that older boat might not have a single issue, but you'd save so much you could then reposer with a brand new engine and finance just that and drop another $1500 to fix/update any little thing you might want and have an awesome machine for 1/4 the cost of a new one.
Bass boats today are simply overpriced in every capacity. There;'s no way a bass boat has enough materials to cost what much larger boats cost. The industry has grown greedy to unimaginable heights.
👍🏾💯@@theINQBS
You better keep her!!
These are some of my favorite videos that you do. You already talked me out of buying a brand new boat, even though I can afford it. But I don't want someone else's used headache either. I'm months, not years, from getting a boat. Videos like this are instrumental in my buying process. ✌🎣
I just bought a 1987 bumble bee V154. 70hp Johnson only work it really needed was a new water pump, fuses and nice shine up. It's perfect for the next few years.
Dang BLat, we are talking about budget fishing. You don’t need a $4000 trolling motor, you can get a Minn Kota with spot lock for $1500. And not everyone needs a 250, my boat has a 40 Mercury, so I doubt a fancy jack plate will help me much. I just upgraded my trolling motor, electronics, 24V lithium trolling motor batteries, and added a micro powerpole for $3000 total. I have a 16’ aluminum Tracker, but it will do.
I never told you any brand to buy on anything. I told you what to upgrade.
@ understood, we are all in a different situation. I just fish for recreation.
Just got our first new to us 20 year old bass boat. 05 Champion 187.
We did graphs and a used bobs hydraulic jack plate. Trolling motor next.
I have a 2005 Bass Tracker PT 175 that I bought brand new! Still a great boat! I fished out of it in Anderson on your tournament a couple years ago!
Exactly what I thought great upload
Appreciate that!
January of 24’ I brought my first boat. A 2003 skeeter zx225 ox66 3.1l Yamaha. Motor was in excellent condition. Only thing I had to do was replace the seats and get rid of the a little oxidation and cleaned the carpet. It came either 2 gen 3 hds units and a ultrex 112. My upgrades: ionic lithium batteries, 3 used 12” HDs live units, used active target 2, and I rewired my electronics with separate 8 gauge wire to each device. And purko switches. I also upgraded my rims. Only thing I need now is anchors. My boat is immaculate. I live in Indy and went down to Louisiana (H&w marine) they wanted 13,500 I got it for 10,500. I’ve had people offer $25,000 for it. Nope I love this boat. I also learned how to do the maintenance on the motor.
I actually love the idea of fixing up old bass boats so much that I am looking to turn it into a business someday 🤙
It’s honestly a under valued craft
I bought a 2000 Ranger 518vx with a 200 Mercury on it and a minnkota ultrex with spot lock. It already had new pumps on it. Put a little money in the motor for injector cleaning and water pump. Recovered the seat. I caught a ton of fish out of it last summer. I love it. Will upgrade the screens this year and run the motor until it blows up. Plan on upgrading to lithiums, but it currently has 4 new batteries on it and they run for days, so I’m not too worried about that. All in I may have $15k into it total. Heck of a lot cheaper than a $100k+ for a brand new boat!
Upgraded are great. But please, check your lower unit oil, and water pump before you start fishing in your new boat, or you will not have it long!
Change the lower unit oil every year, water pump every 2 years. Ethanol free gas. Especially in carb motors.
I bought a 89 Stratos.
My first upgrade was wiring/pumps/fuel lines and an external fuel filter with petcock.
I bought a 45in minnkota 24v with spotlock for 900 brand new from a dealer take off, along with a set of 10in helix mega graphs for 1300.
Then they had some amg take offs for 120 per battery.
A lot of deals can be had for really cheap.
My first boat was a used boat and it was great after i had to have the whole thing rewired. Then saved money for a new one .
Very good Brian!
Got my boat used 2004 Skeeter tzx200 came with the best 2 stroke yamaha made. Cant complain!
$500 boat with $20,000 worth of adds
Got a nearly perfect, 1993 pro craft and never have had a problem will be upgrading to a 20 or 21 foot newer boat this year or next
Number 1 rule. Know what you can afford.
Then look at what engine it is and if there are parts available to fix it when it breaks. I say when, not if. You're buying an engine attached to a floaty thing.
Research the hell out of what you want from a boat. Know everything about it. Especially know if it has a wood transom or not.
Everything else is up to how much elbow grease you got. Work on things yourself and figure out how they work and are wired. Then be happy. Hard to be mad when you're on a boat.
ive got a 40 year old boat and it does pretty good. engine is a little hard to start first thing but after it gets warmed up it runs the boat almost 40 mph down the lake.
That sounds like DIRTY Carbs. An extremely EASY fix. Pull them off and soak them in acetone and possibly lacquer thinner to loosen up deposits that are almost as hard as epoxy and then run the pokers through every little hole in each carburetor (there are vids on TH-cam), brush and wipe everything clean, re-install and change your spark plugs & wires! Also, you might want to replace all your fuel filters (Some motors have 3) and they sell the exact same ones as the OEM ones on Amazon these days for waaaaay less!!!
Hope this helps.
@theINQBS done that a few times. Didn't fix that problem. Even had them cleaned by a service mechanic and still hard starting.
Hopefully in the next few years solid state batteries are going to start entering the market, which should be a clear better option than any existing batteries outside of cost most likely.
That's going to be a game changer!
I financed a 30k ranger rt178c , sometimes I wonder if a new boat was even worth it
Been there done that 😢
Something that needs to ve mentioned as the dark side of buying a used boat: transom and stringers. Older boats are going to have wood transom and stringers. This needs to be checked or just avoid getting a boat with wood altogether.
That was a major thing I looked at when buying my boat. I plan on redoing the foam/stringers and epoxy transom for extra strength when I install a jack plate.
A new boat don’t catch fish so why buy a new boat
Boring
Man I bought a boat off marketplace last year thinking I had good deal… find out I was finna have to dump 5k into fixing a lot of things on the boat that the guy didn’t tell meh
That's why you always take an experienced person with you and pay the $150 or so fee they'll charge. It's a lot better to have spent that $150 to prevent you from having to drop that $5K later.
@ I ended up selling the boat I ain’t put any money into it it wasn’t worth is plus it was a 1989 skeeter
Although the Materials for building a boat haven't changed over the last 60 years, the manufacturing process has most changed significantly over the last 30 years in the way of (and I know you love seeing me reiterate this time and time again Brian) CHOP GUNNING!!!!
A 20 year Old Hull is likely vastly superior ro a modern day boat BECAUSE today's boats feature deckles that are littered with INFERIOR CHOP GUN JUNK. I DON'T CARE WHAT BRAND IT IS, WHAT "REPUTATION" THEY MAY HAVE, IF THEY INCORPORATE CHUP GUN PRODUCTION IN ANY PHASE OF THE BUILDING PROCESS, THAT BRAND/BOAT IS IN FACT INFERIOR TO A BOAT MADE USING SOLID SHEETS OF GLASS, PERIOD, END OF SUBJECT!!!!! And that's not me hating just to hate, because ANYONE who has worked in the industry will tell you the same, unless they work at some of these brands.
Most Bass boats from 20 years ago will feature solid construction throughout and the main issues you will have are the exterior will more than likely need to be either buffed if at all possible (if there's any life left on the gelcoat), or repainted, and more than likely it will need to have the deck redone in either fresh carpet (the cheapest route), or cover it in Seadek to modernize it and have a superior deck to carpet. The other thing to look for is "IF" any wood was used in construction, what condition it's in, and how repairable is it in terms of ease. Then there's the Transom… If wood was used to build the transom, you need to inspect it greatly to ensure there is no separation/delamination of the fiberglass from the wood, but if seemingly in tact, you'll want to ensure that the wood itself isn't rotten or splitting. That said, repairing a transom is one of the easier fixes, and today there are Pour-in solutions that require you to simply remove any material that's rotted out, clean well, Swiss cheese the transom a bit, brace it and then pour in the transom material, let dry and done!
Upholstery and dashes, steering wheels and the like can be bought for a few hundred dollars for most older boats, so that's not too big an issue.
As for the motor, always bring a compression tester and make sure the motor's compression is at least 125 per cylinder and that they are all very even. Don't trust the seller and change the impeller and bottom end oil for less than $150 and make sure to CLEAN the carbs yourself to ensure it cranks right up and runs smooth. You'd be surprised how many engines seem to run like crap and people THINK the motor is on its way out, when in fact it's just dirty carburetors starving the engine of fuel.
Shallow water anchors… I have a mixed bag of feelings witht hem… While they are great, THEY CAN BE IN THE WAY IN A MAJOR CAPACITY!!! Personally, Spotlock is so great these days I think SWA's are overkill and an unnecessary expense. That said, if you live in Florida and can and plan to fish the flats, SWA's are for sure an excellent investment, even though they are insanely overpriced, due to fast flowing currents the ocean presents.
A Hydraulic Jack Plate is absolutely a must for small/skinny boats, AND THERE AIN'T NO BETTER JACK PLATE THAN BOB'S!!!
Brian is Spot on with the Batteries so spend the extra money on Lithiums as they are superior and you will be replacing regular batteries often enough that it'll cost nearly the same over the long haul, but lithiums offer several advantages, so why not enjoy those benefits.
LASTLY, No one really NEEDS FFS, and all you really need is a decent Fish/Depth finder with a good enough resolution to see structure accurately enough. If you've stepped up to the point you're investing in a boat, one is to assume you already know what kinds of structure and bottom hold bass. So a good fish finder doesn't entail dropping a couple thousand dollars. There are several options at around the $600-$800 range.
Awesome vid Brian, hope my post helps others ask ell.
Manufacturing process is the same. Nothing has changed. Chopper guns have always been used and it’s honestly the best way to build a bass boat.