Looking for some boat advice

[BullDawg]

A friend of a friend is selling a 1989 22’ SeaHawk for around $10K. It has a hard top and is pushed by a 150 HP Evinrude. It is rigged to pull 8 rods, 2 off the roof, 4 on the sides and 2 off the back. The trailer is only 4 or 5 years old and is a tandem axle trailer, electric winch, equipped with surge brakes. I am trying to figure out if this is a good deal. I am told that the motor runs very good although I haven’t seen this for myself. The electronics aren’t much to speak of - a marine radio and a cheap depth finder. Right off the go, I will need to add a Sitex fish finder and GPS/Loran. All of the wiring, gauges, wind shield wipers, bilge, and lights seem to be in working order. The hull is solid and there are no soft spots in the floor. There are 4 large captain chairs all in good shape except for a little bit of cleaning. It comes with a couple of life jackets and a good heavy anchor.

I hooked the diesel up to it today and trailered it home. It pulled very nicely and I don’t see any problems dragging it down to Oyster to do some flounder fishing. Tomorrow night I plan on taking it out for a test to see how the engine performs and what the boat will do.

I haven’t owned an Evinrude in many years. My first two motors were Evinrudes but they were only 15 and 25 hp motors. Other than busting a shear pin at an inopportune time (what are rusty nails for), I never had any problems with them. They ran great and needed little maintenance. I currently have a jon boat that is pushed by a 50 HP Honda which really makes it scream, but I have had no experience with the big Evinrude motors. So if anyone has any experience with the big Evinrudes I would like to hear about it. What kind of problems did you have, how cold natured was it, how much cussing did you have to do to get it started, etc... I plan on using this boat year around so it needs to run good in the winter. It has a lot of room and is open in the back and would be great to take sea duck hunting.

Does this sound like a decent deal? I’m thinking of offering $9500 if the motors runs as good as I’ve heard.

[Capt Brady]

I've already introduced myself as a professional fishing guide and I've been using Evinrude engines for fifteen years, and getting them serviced right here in St Mary's County by Guy Bros. Marine in Clements MD.

Nobody who knows the Guy family, or had any business dealings with them will dispute, their candor, honesty, and that they operate one of the best outboard engine shops on OMC/Bombarier products in this country.

So, with that in mind, I would have either Francis Guy or Chet Bowling examine your used engine, and give you an appraisal, including problems that they see, that might crop up in the near future.

I give Guy Bros. Marine an unqualified endorsement. Give them a call at (301)475-9774 and get on their schedule.

[BullDawg]

Thanks Capt'n. Good advice. I took the boat out this evening. It hadn't been started all year so I hooked the garden hose up to it and it fired up on the 3rd shot. I took it down Howling Point and dropped it in. It ran awesome. It couldn't of run any better. We cruised down to the three legged bouy just outside of Solomons. There wasn't anything waves bigger than a 1 foot swell so it was hard to tell how it would handle rough water. I ran through a couple of boat wakes pretty hard and it seemed to handle that with ease. Me being pretty tall, I did whack my head on the roof of the cabin with a good wake. I got to keep that in mind! I was able to trim it up to just under 5000 RPMs and we were running about 37 MPH. I found it to cruise best around 3800 RPMs which was around 28-30 MPH. When we got back, I filled up the tank and it only took $20. I was expecting it to take at least $30. We were cruising around or a good 2 hours tonight. Needless to say, I bought the boat.