Quote:
Originally Posted by haoward
1995 17' Spectrum Dominator
any good? what to look for when buying? |
thats a nice "do it all" fishing boat for fresh or salt water and except for open water you have no limitations.
what to look for?
the motor should start easy on the first crank, if it spins a few revolutions first its a sign of wear on the motor as lower compression engines take longer to start up. its not a warning not to buy it but more of a FYI that the motor is well used and maybe in a few years you'll need a new one.
look for service history and reciepts for work done to indicate its been well taken care of. if there is no paper trail then you are having to guess how well its been maintained but while its easy to understand someone doing work yourself because is cheaper, you just dont know how often it was done or wether it was done properly (stripped threads and nuts and bolts can be the result of joe average doing his own maint on it.
for the boat look for sun fading telling you know its been uncovered out in the sun, while it may look ok now seat stitching gets rotten fast that way and you could have ripped seats before long once you start using it so assume things are worse then they look. also look under the console for hacked up wiring or mounds of loose hanging electrical tape under there indicating joe average doing his own wiring.
trailer look close at the boards if they are rotten or dry rot as well as look for cracking of the tires indication dry rot. tires can be trash but still look new so if you see shattered glass looking cracks when examined close then you need to replace them to avoid issues on the road.
what you see really is what you get with a boat so look very very up close at things you cant see easy, thats where you can find tips if there are any red flags.
last point before buying go fishing in it, just you and the owner because this is a buisness fishing trip so you dont want others distracting you from the "test drive" this is so you spend several hours in it and you can see how comfortable it is to fish in and the workings of the trolling motor and livewells and if all is working well but mainly so after a few hours you want to see it hasnt taken on any water from unseen tiny leaks somewhere.