Looking to buy a boat, what's a avg price for a good starter boat?

you can get a fine serviceable boat in that price range.

First things first: find out the towing capacity of your vehicle, and make sure you stay within it (unless you're planning to buy a new truck, too).

If you're handy with tools (and you better be if you want to own a boat), I highly recommend investing in a factory shop manual for whatever engine you end up with. Every time it goes in the shop will be costly, but get a merc, evinrude or johnson late 70's & later -- easy to work on & parts aren't that bad. You don't have to be a mechanic to do all your own repairs.

General rule, outboard will be more durable and much easier to work on than inboard or I/O.

The boat in your link is way underpowered with 60hp, you will not be happy with it *at all*. I bet it's rated for more than 125 hp.

Find the Coast Guard rating plate and make sure it has, at a bare minimum, 75% of the max recommended HP; anything less will be seriously lame.

Don't buy without at least doing a compression test -- if the worst cylinder isn't within 5% of the best, walk away (or subtract the cost of an overhaul from your offering price).

Ask the owner to start the engine; if he does so without supplying water to the lower unit, walk away -- he doesn't know how to take care of a motor. It only takes half a minute of dry running to ruin a water pump impeller.

Boat on trailer, motor tilted full up, get a good grip on the lower unit and give it a good shake. Don't try to tear it off the boat or anything, but be firm with it. If the transom flexes at all, walk away -- a rotten transom has to be replaced and that is a *major* project.

If you live in a state that titles boats and/or outboard motors, and the owner can't provide you with clear title, walk away. Most jurisdictions, getting a replacement title for a boat or motor is way more difficult (if not impossible) than for a car. In my state, I have separate titles for the boat and outboard, but boat trailers don't have titles. Do your research.

I strongly suggest you don't buy without a lake test (or sea test). The motor should start quickly and idle smoothly for a long time, accelerate smoothly and plane the boat out fairly quickly, and run at full throttle for a long time. Give it a good workout. I realize that's not always possible -- so keep in mind that even a motor that'll run all day on the trailer might still crap out when you get to the lake and put a load on it. So the compression test is crucial.

Accessories (bilge pump, nav lights, horn, etc.) are pretty basic 12V DC, so anything not working can pretty much be fixed in an afternoon or two if you're so inclined, so I wouldn't consider any of that to be a deal breaker. The boating environment is really tough on electrical stuff.

Make sure the trailer is road worthy.

There are many questions one needs answers to in order to answer your question: Where are you storing the baot when not in use? How are you towing the boat? what kind of boating experience do you have? a 17-18 foot bowrider i nthe 6-7 grand range would be fairly new (4-5 years) so if you average 20 hors a year, about 100 hours. Not a lot of time, but over that time frame, of inactive use, many failures can occur. The biggest issue will be impellers and hoses, they will need to be inspected, the lower unit should be leak free. Look for damage and repair to the lower unit, to see if it has been hit, that will tell a lot of its use/abuse. Cjheck all through hull fittings, to make sure the look tight and no visible weater entry at that area. Look for water in the bilge, does it look like it is always there? Is the bilge area clean or very black? A sign of water entry. Look at the electrical. make sure it all works. If it comes with a trailer, make sure the hubs on the wheels haven't rusted solid. And this just scratches the surface. There are tons of buying guids out there, i would read one or two to get an idea on what to look for. Good luck.,

Think something needs to be clarified a little here. If you are speaking of the boat in the picture as being a "speed boat" please note that it is not. The actual classification would be a "day boat" or "small bow rider" and not one built for speed...especially with a 60 hp engine bolted to the back. With the boat pictured you would probably hit a max speed of 40-45 mph and that is with a tail wind and calm waters.

The link below is taken from craigslist here in Washington, DC and show what could be considered a "speed" boat:

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/boa/1001646...

Granted, the price of this one is a little more than what you and your bud were looking to spend but if "speed" is what you want then be prepared to pay more than what you posted. Speed usually means you'll have multiple engines and that means more $$$ needs to be spent.

Good luck...happy boating...and have fun shopping around!

you should be able to find a good boat for that amount. What I like about that boat is the open bow with the walk thru. that feature makes your boat twice as large with more space for the girls to sun bath and is more fishable. just a reminder and dnt forget this. When you get your boat be sure to pull the wheels on the trailer to inspect the bearings. a lot of people neglect this and end up on the side of the highway and not at the lake skiing. 60 hp might be a little light on the power depending on the wieght in the boat and the skiiers.seems 60 hp is not what it used to be for some reason.

Yes You can get a decent boat for your budget, especially in this economy. My starter boat was a $10 12ft wooden skiff that I bought when I was 12 yrs old. A boat like the one you are looking at came along a bit later .. unless the engine is toast and the interior is dry-rotted and in need of upolstery, It looks like a pretty good deal ,... knock $500 off for the crappy economy and gopherit.

I worked my way up through various fish boats, runabouts, commercial fish boats, switched to sailboats after about 25 yrs and now sail a 38ft boat.

Sailing/boating is life! Happy Boating !!!

You can buy a decent boat for that price.

I will make one suggestion though. Before you buy the boat get permission to take it to a reputable boat mechanic and tell him that you are interested in the boat and want to find out if it is a good buy or not.

Last time I done this it cost me $50 and its worth every penny. He will look for obvious problems and check the compression and alot of other things that you may miss.

Money well spent and you will know what you have BEFORE you buy the boat.

Good luck

You should be able to find a good boat for what you want at that price. Leave the beers until you get back home. Saves everybody a lot of grief.

Speedboat for your starter boat is not a good idea. What does used speedboat actually means? It mean that previous owners "over-used" it - because its all about speed you know.

So it will be better for you to find out a good sailboat if you're boating rookie. Here are some cheap sailboats for you - http://www.yachtcouncil.com/vessel-list.aspx?Vesse...

The important thing to consider is the engine. Make your purchase subject to a mechanic checking the engine and the results ARE TO YOUR SATISFACTION. By the way, that 60HP Merc won't get you much speed.

realtor.sailor