Buying used 2006 SV211 - What Gotchas Should I Be Looking for?

[Bdillard]

Hey All! Sorry if this has been discussed. I've been on the forum for a while but haven't been reading up in about a decade since I bought my last boat (1990 Sport Nautique).

I'm looking to upgrade the old girl and move to a 2006 SV211. Photos show its in immaculate condition, about 350 hours, and stored indoors. Includes trailer which also looks to be in great shape. Seems to be selling only because they're younger sons are getting involved in travel sports and their weekends are shot for boating. Asking $31,500 for it. Its about 3 hours away from me, so I want to make sure I check out what I can from afar before committing a Saturday to driving out and test driving. The seller seems very open to sharing whatever I need as he understands the distance between us. So I guess my questions would be, what should I be asking about over calls/texts and then what should I be looking for when I go onsite for the physical inspection and test drive? I'm semi knowledgeable about boats but I'm no mechanic by any means.

On a semi related note...anyone interested in a 1990 Sport Nautique in pretty decent shape for a 35 year old boat?

Thanks in advance!

[SilentSeven]

So...there's a lot of information buried in the board how to inspect boats for purchase. I'd recommend doing some searches and general reading. I'm not familiar with this exact model so I can't comment specifically but here's a few broad considerations.

For boat this old, look for obvious 'pride of ownership' signals and follow your instincts. Unless you feel qualified to evaluate and rescue fix boats (like what NautiqueJeff does), better to stay away. I would buy a pride of ownership higher hour boat over a low hour abuse boat 9 times out of 10.

Here's a few things to look at:

1 / Engine and bilge condition - clean or oily? Oily suggest leaks which are expense to fix and possible abuse.
2 / Prop, strut and rudder - should be straight and tight. Wiggle everything. Prop all dinged up? Suggests an owner that doesn't care. New prop is $500+
3 / Run test - should start and idle smoothly. Check forward and reverse. Listen for odd sounds. Do a 0 to 30 test and see if you feel odd vibrations etc.
4 / Check the engine and tranny fluid levels and condition - clean and correct or low and dirty?
5 / Interior condition - closely inspect all the vinyl...it should be soft and supple. Any hard vinyl or micro tears around stitching suggest its on it's way to retirement. You can purchase factory matching replacement skins but they can be $200 to $500+ each before any installation costs. It's huge money to re-upholster a boat. Same for carpets.
6 / Gelcoat and hull inspection - faded / chips / cracks / blisters. Faded boats can be sanded and buffed out for a price. Small chips can be repaired. Stress cracks are cause for concern as they suggest impact or abuse. Sight the sides of the boat and look for odds spots that suggest significant fiberglass repairs. Look under the waterline for blistering or signs of beaching. Blistering is probably a walkaway condition.
7 / dash and gauges - turn everything on and watch carefully during run test - does it work as expected? There are well known gauge problems with the Faria factory gauges. New parts are NLA, a gauge replacement kit is like $1200. Is the sound system upgraded? Is it a nice clean install or a saber saw disaster?
8 / pumps and ballast systems - do all tanks fill and pump out as expected? Has the system been upgraded or hacked with additional ballast? Is it a quality job?
9 / trailer inspection - the most likely problems will be old tires or a non-functional braking system. During the tow to the lake, the coupler should not bang loudly and all the brake discs should be shiny and slightly warm. Grab each wheel and shake to see if there thunking which is excessive bearing play. Check the tires for dry rot or look at the age code. Look at the tires for odd wear patterns as odd patterns suggest a bent axle. Look at the bunks. Do they need new carpet? Sight the trailer to see if it the rails look straight or bent.
10 / does the boat have a quality cover or will you need to purchase one? Big ticket item - $1500 or more.

I'm sure other's can add more but this would be my starting checklist.

Hope it works out for you!

[bturner]

I looked at responding to this as well but I think I've done no less than 4 of these. Unless it's specific information needed most of this can be found with a simple search. SilentSeven Good post though!

[SilentSeven]

bturner - agree on having done this before....just needed a mental vacation to focus boats during the icy winter.

Hey NautiqueJeff, maybe we can develop a community sticky on boat inspections and point people to it?

[Bdillard]

Thanks SilentSeven - this is great! certainly appreciate the write up and I'll be taking the checklist with me this weekend when I check her out. The local marina we're meeting at is a Nautique dealer and I could get a compression test done on her for $150. I'll likely take them up on that. From what I've gathered, its not an end all be all kind of test, but would uncover some potentially costly issues depending on the outputs. Would you recommend that?

[bturner]

How much to do the full survey? There's a ton of stuff to check and these guys at the dealership have probably seen a great number of them. If you're that far down the road on this boat being the one it may be worth paying the extra dollars to sleep better at night.

[SilentSeven]

Compression tests for me a like an audible - will do it if I think it needs it. Here would be my general criteria.

- boat has significant hours. The 360 hours on your candidate boat are not what I could consider significant.
- boat engine shows signs of lack of maintenance or abuse. Dirty bilge, oil leaks, dirty fluids, owner brags about performance or hot rods your demo ride.
- boat runs oddly or the engine makes odd ticking or other sounds. Look for a smooth idle and power runs with no misses.
- boat has lower than expected oil pressure. When the oil in the boat is up to operating temp (can require like 30 minutes of a 25 mph cruise), you would like to see ~ 40 PSI of oil pressure at idle. If you see oddly low oil pressure...in the area of 20lbs...that might suggest a deeper dive. But oil pressure is tricky as it can vary by the type of oil used and how warm the engine is.

When I was looking for my 206, I did a compression test on a 1200 hour boat that had a history of ski school and salt water use. Results were not perfect but acceptable. I didn't do one on the boat I ended up purchasing - a 360 hour single owner fresh water boat being sold by a dealer. Just didn't see any need.

$150 for a compression test is quite reasonable.

[Bdillard]

Thanks again. this is all very helpful information. Here are a handful of the pictures I received from the seller. appears to be in tip top shape visually.

[Bdillard]

Results of compression test…are these numbers way low? This was first start/run since winterizing. Could that have any impact?

[jpwhit]

Not terrible, but also not great. A fair amount above the standard of less than 20% variance between cylinders.

Personally, I'm not a fan of an engine with too little hours. I normally like to see in the 30-50 hours per year range. With an average of 10 hours per year, it's likely the boat sat unused for multi-year periods of time. Unless the engine was prepared for long periods of non-use, you'll often get corrosion from moisture on the cylinder walls. These are pretty typical compression test numbers for that situation.

My next step would be to examine the cylinder walls with a borescope to see if there are signs of corrosion. You can also repeat the compression test, but this time, add a tablespoon of oil to each cylinder before testing. If the numbers rise and even out, then you have a ring, piston, cylinder wall issue. If the numbers don't change, then the issue is with the heads. Rebuilding the heads down the road is nowhere near the cost / time of pulling and replacing or rebuilding the whole engine.

I'm not saying I wouldn't buy the boat, and it may run well enough for years to come, but there's also a non-trivial chance it'll need some engine work in the next few years. But all things considered, it is a 35 year old boat / engine.

[Bdillard]

Thanks for the feedback and noted.

ive read a couple things that have me wondering if these readings could perhaps have been gathered from a cold start and no water…essentially just turning the engine over. Or at best, maybe on hose. Would that have any bearing versus performing the test on a warm engine? I plan to call the shop that ran the test tomorrow to inquire more about it and get their take on it directly versus the feedback from the seller.

[SilentSeven]

Agree you should learn if these numbers are from a warm or cold test. A warm test is preferred and should provide more accurate results. jpwhit gave some good guidance on next steps. You also now have an excellent negotiating point if you decide to move forward this boat.

[MN Ryan]

That looks a lot like my '07! I've just got red on the bottom of my hull, and the interior vinyl is slightly different.

[Bdillard]

Im told the test was done on a cold engine and they used a hose to run the engine. I am likely going to have my local Nautique dealer take a look for me at this point.

MN Ryan looks great!! I love the look of the 211 on the water! Really hoping this one checks out as it would be perfect for my fam!

[Bdillard]

Well...on today's episode of dumb things I've done (maybe...hopefully not though)...I pulled the trigger on the SV211. On the lake test, she ran like a dream. I was also able to negotiate a period of time to take the boat to my local dealer to really do a deep dive into the condition of the boat and set a repair ceiling where if the repairs exceed, I can return the boat to the seller. Definitely gave me the confidence to move forward. I fear the gauges are experiencing the issues noted in other threads and a few just don't work. But the boat is overall in great condition, as is the trailer, the where I felt it was a good deal even if I had to do a few things to it. Super exited for summer as are the wife and kids!