Ok..here's the dilemma.

For many years my fishing has been limited to lakes and the inner sound (Shilshole, etc), and now over the last 2 years the focus has changed almost strictly to rivers.

The boat I currrently have is not suited for river fishing. It is a 1969 16" Glaspar with a heavy tri-hull design. It does have a very wide beam and is a superb platform for lakes and areas like Shilshole, etc. Cannon downriggers...the whole shooting match.

It had a Johnson 115 (1969) that lasted many years, but in the summer of 2002 it finally ate a piston rod at Chelan. Found a brand new, still in the crate, 1996 90hp Ocean Runner (Johnson) and had a shop install the motor and my dad and I did all the rest, installing the new controls, steering, etc.

The new motor has all of (maybe) 20 hrs. on it.

Problem is, it sits now, and I need a decent jet powered sled..

Called 3 Rivers today to check up on the upcoming seminar (28th) and spoke with a very helpful fellow (Dave) who suggested I could take the 90hp and add a jet drive to it. Cost seems reasonable, and it should handle a 16' - 18' aluminum hull ok. Not gonna a speedster, but that isn't what is desired anyway.

Ok to this point.

If this is the direction taken, I'll need to find a good conditon (or one I can clean up), reasonably priced used aluminum hull. These don't seem too common. Another issue is the sale of the old hull, that certainly has many, many years of great service left in it.

So, should I sell the whole boat, as is, and then take the proceeds and buy a used boat/motor combo, OR, take the new 90hp, add the jet unit and look for a decent hull to clean up and add the new motor too.

If opt 1, any suggestions on where to look for a decent hull? (used...can't afford new stuff after the $ to add the jet outdrive on the Johnson).

Hope all that makes sense...

Mike

Boy, that sounds a lot like work. A 90 hp powerhead wont' push much in the way of boat. I had an 85 on a 17 ft sled some time back, and it was marginal at best.

If it were me, I'd sell the one boat complete and buy another boat complete.

Ow, that's a tough one. In order to pull this off you'll have to:

1. rip out the motor and controls you so lovingly installed, probably did a real nice job
2. get some coin for the old hull -- that might take 6 months, or maybe forever, since it is a no-motor trihull after all
3. find an Al hull reasonably priced, no motor -- that might take another 6 months, and you're boatless during that time
4. drop more coin on the conversion to pump, I'm sure that won't cost more than a couple grand. Yeah, the guys at 3 Rivers will do a great job, but they are a business after all, and the more monkeying around you do, the more money comes their way.

Honestly, I think you've got a long uphill battle ahead of you going this route. If it were me, I'd fix up the trihull real nice (have it detailed, make it look all shiny) and sell it complete, then go buy the boat (with motor) that you really want. You may do real well if you start listing it in February/March, after the boat shows, where folks see that an 18' Trophy with a 90 HP Merc will cost them $20k.

Regards.

Finegrain
Woodinville

The Seattle boatshow starts next Friday. A lot of folks that go looking to buy a boat will go into sticker shock after seeing the prices of the new rigs. Everytime that I've been successful in getting a decent price for a boat it has been within a month after the boat show. If you wait too long to list you'll end up competing with all of the boats that dealers took in on trade for sales at the show.

Lots of things to look at before jumping in!! What can you get for the glassply if you sell it as is. I'm not familiar with your 90 motor but What I see is for 1500 to 2000 a pump is put on your almost new motor and now your looking at 65 horse give or take. Don't know your mechanical abilities but I know a guy can find a used or reconditoned pump and install your self an save some money. Now if you was to go an buy the same set up your looking in the neighborhood of $6000 plus Less the price of the pump can you get enough out of the glass ply to buy a new motor with pump. Does one pull the controls from the glass boat or buy a tiller handle which is going to cost a guess of 3 or 400? It all depends on what your looking for in a sled. With a lighter haul that motor will push a pretty good load up the river. The amount we can spend on a sled rather we sell glass only, fix motor and buy something else whats the end DOLLAR? Looking for used sleds doesn't scare me much But looking for one with a good motor on the back does. You didn't mention a kicker motor but thats another issue. If you do have one how is it going to fit on the back of the sled. Is the shaft long enough for the prop to ride below the boat properly? on the transmon or will you have to put one of those bouncing hanging brackets off the back a shaft extension is not cheap. As far as used sleds I think a guy could look at Stevens Marine in Tigard, Ore. 1-800-225-7023 I believe a search would give you a web site to look at used boats. Ask for Eric he's always treated me real good. You just as well ask about the pump and tiller handle while your talking. No Taxes in oregon I know its a little ways down the road but it might be worth the try. If they don't have a boat with no motor and you see one you like with one on it have take the motor off and put yours on it. Good LUCK

Mike, your boat is only worth what the motor will bring, sorry, way to many old glass boats for sale and the try Hulls have a bad rep,

figure out what the motor is worth and sell it that way and say free boat, then sell the trailer, seems anything that rolles is worth at least 400.00,,unless it is real rusty from salt dip's,

Then call Dave back and grind on him after you looked at all the other boats out there at the boat show, also before you by a sled run all of them on the river and find the right style that fit's YOUR style of fishing, Tiller,winshield,centerconsole,run them ALL! you will be marriad to what ever you buy. lastly power it with OMC or Yamaha, pass on Mercury.

Tell him "BudLight" sent ya, Bud

Mike,

I think you'll be better off selling your boat and motor as a unit. If the 90hp were already a jet drive, then maybe keep it and look for a hull.

Not everyone needs or desires a $20K jet sled. Don't know about you. You didn't detail your needs.

There are a lot of good alternatives. I had an old 50hp jet in excellent condition, so I put it on an end-of-the-season 16' Lund that is not usually powered by jet. This was a reasonable cost alternative and is working even better than I expected.

I think you have a lot of options on the Skagit. Your major dilemma is going to be if there is a wide gap between what you need and what you want.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

The two happiest days in a boat owners life are the day he buys it and the day he sells it. Seriously though, selling an old glass tri hull is going to be hard to do. In my opinion you'd be better off selling the motor and trailer and giving the boat away with the trailer if you could. I'm in no way knocking your boat but there are a ton of old glass hull boats on the market and I see some of them parked in various places with signs on them saying boat and trailer $400.00, or $600.00 which is the actual value of the trailer by itself. Basically, if the trailer is in good shape, it will sell, the motor is in good shape-it will sell, the boat is in good shape-it might sell, it might not. Remember there is quite a power loss when you put a pump on a motor so you have to buy bigger and you know what that means $$$ Just my two cents...By the way why are boat motors so expensive?? I can get a lot ponies out of a small block chevy 350 for $10,000- a whole lot.

Wow...great replies. Many, many thanks for the wisdom y'all shared here.

One of the issues is that we (my dad and I) have had the Glaspar for 20+ years...kinda like part of the family. His age and a bad hip keep him from doing much with it on his own, and it currently resides in Woodinville at his place and I'm way up here in Concrete.

He's only 70, and still loves to fish, so whatever I wind up with will suit him just fine, so long as it does the job intended.

The idea of selling the Glaspar is, without a doubt, the most logical choice. This hull, while only 16', is way too heavy for a river. The new motor, even if jetted, would not provide enough "poop" to safely manuver the boat in the river, anyway.

With all the goodies it has (Marinetek Depth/Fish finder), dual Cannon downriggers mounted, 7.5 h.p. Johnson kicker...etc, etc. my guess is it could be worth $5500 - $6000. Heck, a new Johnson 90 runs into the high 5k range (or more). This one has a whopping 20 hrs. (or less) on it.

$5500 won't get me into a "dream sled", but a "dream" boat isn't needed...just one that will do the trick, and when well maintained will be dependable.

I am thinking 17'-18', console steering, and enough motor to get it safely up and down the river. Extra goodies like a canopy for rain/sun I can do myself. Needs to be solid enough in the water to stand and fish from, and durable enough to be beached at night (no sense hauling it out every night if its gonna get used again the next day!).

Bringing up the old girl next weekend for a couple weeks of polishing, fixing little details, etc. - then on the market it goes.

Thanks again for the great tips...sometimes you got to bounce things off of someone else to see it from a different viewpoint.

Mike B

Try the 3riversmarine.com website. They have some good used sleds listed too. Plus they always want to work with buyers. They may cash you out of your boat, or consign it for you. And I think they finance too!!!

Take the steering and any other parts of value off and sell them on Ebay. Sell the hull standalone or with the trailer and sell the motor separate.

You can put together a sled for a lot less than you can pay a retail outfit. You just have to know what you want and be patient and scour resources. I am not into sleds but found one for a friend in Idaho. B Book was $21k and he paid $6500. The owner thought the motor was blown and sold it as such . There was water in the fuel it is like new.

Excuse me for asking a dumb question, but which do you like to do better, fishing or working on boats?

Howdy Bag 'em...

No such thing as a "dumb" question...

IMO, Working on boats is something one does when :

1. There is 5' of snow on the ground and the river is frozen..

2. No open seasons on anything, anywhere in the state. (or any adjoining state).

3. Your adding on the latest "toy" to your treasure.

4. Its too dark to see well enough to fish, and your halogen lamp is burned out, or its not legal to fish at night.

5. The %$#* thing won't run, and must be immediately attended to so you can get to Shilshole early enough to still have a parking spot. You can sleep after you get home, clean up the boat, fillet the catch, run fresh-water through both motors and clean/lube your reels.

NOTE : Polishing, cleaning and shining up your "baby" is not considered as "working" on your boat. The term "working" refers to getting dirt and/or grease on your person. This effort is often accompanied by a neighbor giving you advice on the workings of the internal combustion engine (although he's never even had the heads off of his 1968 Caprice,) and the utterance of several clearly pronounced colorful metaphors, typically shouted at the walls as you lick the blood off of the knuckle you just whacked for the 4th time as you tried to get a wrench on that stinking starter bolt that some very small person with fingers 8" long and the strength of Thor placed in a spot intended to frustrate all but the guy getting $75.00 an hour for removing.

On rare occasion (when all else fails), you call you local boat mechanic and shout............. !!

I love working on boats. So tell me, why do you ask?


Mike B

p.s.

Fixing up your old boat so it will sell well so's you can buy your dream sled is not working on a boat...:-)


Mike

Mike ...

Does not sound like labor of love. I'm in the "Same Boat" HAHA as your above reason #5. Some times I wish I had spent a little more so I'm not constantly working on the thing just so I can go fishing. I LOVE working on boats, NOT!