Boat for sale...buyer beware?

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Rowdyroady

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I am strongly considering a nice used Sea Ray Select 220. 2005 with almost 500hours. It has all the features I want. It looks like it has been extremely well maintained but....it has spent a few years in Brackish water. Seller says it has never been in Salt Water. How concerned should I be, and should I move on? Here is the detail:

This 2005 Sea Ray 220 Select is in pristine condition. It was fresh water kept from 2005 - 2012 and has been in brackish water since feb 2012. Boat has a Merc 350 MAG MPI Bravo-3, I/O, 300 HP, with 480 hrs, tops out at 56 MPH, and has plenty of power for skiers or wakeboarders.

Anyone? If I go look at it it will be a several hour drive each way.
 
" How concerned should I be"

Concerned about ... what?

A well maintained boat is, well, a well maintained boat. While fresh and salt water boats may have different issues, they ALL have issues.

Best I can offer is: before you buy ANY boat, get a survey. The rule in boating is caveat emptor ( buyer beware )

It could be a wonderful boat, and a great deal; it could be a hole in the water into which you shovel shekels. A through inspection is always a good idea and usually a necessary idea.
 
The key would be that if it was RWC, then you want to replace the elbows at 10 years - brackish or no brackish.
 
Technically the Hudson is in brackish water. The further north you go, the more fresh it becomes. I have been boating for over 30 years in "brackish" water and have never experienced n ounce of issues that you would see in salt water. I am up the river about 25 mikes from Manhattan.
 
Consider, a good marine surveyor and sea trial engine mechanic should know what issues to look for and could provide multiple handy negotiating points that could save you purchase $ or improve the condition if you are in love with the boat
 
According to NADA guides, retail on the boat is $18,000 to $21,000. I am not sure if that warrants a full on marine survey. If you have owned other boats of this type, then you should be able to make the decision by doing some research, looking at it, and test driving (sea trail) it.
 
I would survey even an $18,000 boat. Wouldn't too expensive since most surveyors charge by the foot. You have only one engine and fewer systems than a larger boat. Regradless of the purchase price of the boat, repairs are expensive. A new engine or drive is expensive regardless. So are hull problems.
 
Most surveyors will not get into the health of an engine. They may take an oil sample but that is the extent unless you direct them too. They will also supply the usual disclaimors that avoid them of any responsibility. They wil not pull the heads, etc....

As Stephen said, RWC (Raw water cooled hudson) or FWC (anti-freeze and a closed loop system).

Is this your first boat ??
Are you mechanically handy ? That will come in very handy on a 10 yr old boat.
 
Great responses like I expected. I have been on this forum for about five years but when I sold my 32 foot Chris Craft 328 in 2013, haven't been by as much. I used to have an anchor by my name, but I guess you need to donate yearly to keep that? :)

This would be my fifth boat and third Sea Ray runabout. So I am fairly mechanically handy. I am sure this boat is RWC. I have always been told to avoid salt water boats. "Brackish" is still not "fresh water." So the general consensus is that as long as the boat is in good condition, runs well, has had all the usual maintenance and everything the "brackish" water concerns should be fairly negligible? Oh, and replace the elbows regardless (any rough idea of what that would run?). Anchor Management, do you need to flush the engine(s) out when you run in the Hudson?
 
Good luck with the boat. I have had raw water boats here and never flushed. Brackish is a general term so I suppose it is where the boat was run. Up here in the Hudson we really follow fresh water rules as it is by far more fresh then salt. If your water is closer to ocean, that could be a consideration. Sorry I can't be more exact.
 
I think elbows are under $150 each for that engine. Sierra sells them. Not hard to replace yourself. Then after both are replaced, take and record a temp measurement for each elbow with an IR thermometer. Keep it for future use.
 
If the elbows and risers (if there is a set of risers) fail, the results are catastrophic. Think of the Merc design as a square "tube in tube" set up where the hot exhaust gases are in the middle tube headed over board and the heated sea water is in the outer jacket or tube. They are separated by a thin 3/8" thick wall. If that wall or gasket area corrodes thru you will ingest sea water into the cylinders and hydrolock will occur. You will be buying a new engine, here comes Big BILL $$.
Yes, It has happened to me. Ugh
 
Good advice here.

Every boat I have owned lived its life in salt water. That or brackish would not deter me. Get a good survey including the engine and go from there.

Personally, I would then replace the elbows/risers and inspect the manifolds. In addition, have the drive serviced and the transom plate inspected/rebuilt. Replace the mercathode and use the proper oem annodes for where you will boat (salt,fresh). Then you know you are good to go with the knowledge that everything was done properly.
 
I am wondering if it was bottom painted. That would cover up crazing of the hull due to rides on the trailer. Five hundred hours on an engine is no big deal if it was treated well. A compression test is certainly important as a part of the survey.
 
Find out how much skiing it did. That would indicate a lot of load on the engine. Also the type of lake it ran in. I used to find quite a few boats up there in speedo's neck of the woods that burned up engines from sucking up a bunch of sand. It was a good source of parts.:)
 
It's an MPI engine, so it should be easy to scan it and check history of hours run since new , at all the 1000 rpm increments.
 
Multi Point Injection I believe. I'm guessing such an engine should have an ECM that collects a ton of data. The amount of data my 2-year old Honda outboards contain and can send over NMEA2000 is amazing.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Rowdyroady

MPI, Sandy?

Click to expand...


Heh, Rowdy... you did mention it was an MPI (like mine) in your 1st post.

Just as Mixman notes, with a marine scan device( not just a simple code reader)and the proper engine cable-adapter, you or a Merc mechanic can hook up to the diagnostic connecter on the engine and see for instance if the engine has been run extensively above 4000 rpm.
Also lets you know if there are any present codes or anything else out of normal parameter range if you have a manual listing those ranges.
With engine running, it also lets you compare ECM dynamic data compared to what your dash gauges say (and even fuel GPH rate) , with the exception of oil pressure which it doesn't show.

Check Marine Diacom, MercScanTool and TechMate Pro to get an idea of what they can show, some of which a least is displayable via Merc Smartcraft and other NMEA 2000 displays as well.

http://www.rinda.com/
 
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