‘98 2870 WA Purchase

[Shepp]

Hi all,

Jumped on the forum to ask the experts.

Looking at a ‘98 2870WA, re-powered in ‘02 with Yamaha 225 4 strokes (580hrs).

The boat looks to be a great deal based on what I’m seeing for sale out of FL etc. (I am located in Ontario).
Guy wants $48k CAD.

Here comes the catch: he doesn’t want a marine survey done, and we need a marine survey to even insure it against damage that may occur in transit.

We looked the whole boat over, no evident damage or repairs to the hull, minor stress cracking on the top of the gunnels. We also had him provide service records from Yamaha for the motors, it was serviced 2 weeks ago and checked out.

Any questions or comments are absolutely welcome.

Thanks,
Shepp

[gumshoe]

If it were me (it was, we just bought a '97), I'd strongly consider checking history on and/or condition of fuel tanks. These boats are notorious for having a lifespan on the aluminum tanks. Any surveyor should have one of those little camera gizmos to look at the underside, and I'd also consider a pressure test to make sure they are in tact.

Have the exhausts on the engines been inspected for the known issues with that model? I'd also want to know if they added any knee braces to the transom because in this era, boats were designed for lighter 2 strokes.

[Woodworker2001]

Personally I would say no way to a 45,000$ investment if the guy will not allow a survey. What is his reason for no survey? Seems like something is off to me. I would not spend that much without having condition checked by a sureveyor.