I have a friend that's giving up the fishing buiz on the rivers. He's got a custom made 20' open aluminum sled, Zolotone, floor is outdoor boat carpet, and the foredeck is diamond plate Aluminum. The boat is set up Skagit style (console is forward and on the starboard side), has rod trays, FF, dual batteries, 12 gal fuel, anchor, and 10' fiberglass oars. Powered by a Johnson 150 aftermarket jet, oil injected with pro rebuild this spring using a 175 head, and a 6hp Suzuki kicker. Motor runs very strong. It comes with the full assortment of gear, and is in resonably good shape. Stored under cover. The boat is probably late 80's early 90's in vintage and I would imagine the motor is the same. Comes with trailer too.

He's asking me to make him an offer. What is the general consensus on resonable offers?

T.C.,

If I were to buy it I wouldn't pay more than $4500. for. In my opinion if it's a no name custom built boat it devalues it by about 50%, and mid to late 80,s motors would take take a big hit for age. Hope this helps, just my 2 cents worth. Good luck!

If the kicker is relatively new, and the trailer is in good shape, I'd say $6,000 to 7,500

Look at it this way.

Trailer, 500 to 1,500 (if in good shape)
boat, 2,000 to 3,000 (though it undoubtedly cost him a lot more)
Big motor, 1,000 to 3,000 depending on shape
kicker, 400 to 1,200 depending on condition
oars n stuff ??? fiberglass oars are 150 each, new

Usually you'd expect the package to go for a bit less than the parts.

I would say the pkg. should sell for about $5000-$5500.

Well, good feedback, and a lot lower than I thought. I'm not good at this since I'm jaded as he's a friend and all. He's asking $10k for it from me, and said if he put it on the market he'd likely ask $15k for it but would probably get $13-14k. I kind of thought that was high but I've seen this guy sell ice cubes to eskimoes before. Breaking it down the way Silver Hilton did makes logical sense - that's how I work...

Any other opinions?

Not really an opinion, but a thought. Why don't you show him this discussion, and let him respond? My analysis, for example, could be way of on the value of the boat and the big motor. He may have good data as to why. That could let you establish a fair price.

I'd suggest getting a copy of the sunday Oregonian. For some reason, the oregonian lists lots more sled style boats than the washington papers, and that can give you some data to compare to. You can get the paper at a Barnes and Noble or similar bookstore.