Long Distance Boat Purchase

[Jamie M]

My wife and I were on a friend's Hydra Sports 22-foot Ocean Skiff, and we both liked the hull. It seemed like it would really suit our needs nicely, at an affordable price.

So I've been looking for several months. I found a hull with all the options I wanted, and with even more power than I was looking for, with only 175 hours of running time, and the price was right - $12,000. The boat has never been bottom painted, in fact, it has never even been in salt water. Unfortunately, the boat is in Texas.

Would you guys ever consider buying a used boat long distance? The problem is, if I have to go down there and do a sea trial, and pay someone to tow the boat back up here, it really adds quite a bit (percentage-wise) to the price. Towing it myself is really not an option - for that distace, I'd rather spend the $1400 and hire a pro (I've already looked into how much that will cost).

I'm going to have a survey done, and if it comes back clean, I'm not exactly sure what to do next. Would you ever consider buying the boat without actually seeing it? The dealer has sent me a thousand digital photos, and the survey should confirm that the photos are accurate. I know how this model rides (because my friend has one), but is that enough? Is there a lot of variation between how my friend's rig will handle and how this one will handle?

The main issue is, with a boat this cheap, I won't necessarily re-coup my travel expenses by knocking down the sale price - obviously, it's easier to do that on a $100,000 yacht than a $12,000 fishing boat.

There are some good Hydra-Sport dealers up here, but it's not like there are a ton of these hulls switching hands every day. If I pass up on this deal, I'm afraid it will be a LONG time before another clean, used rig in my price range comes along.