Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Old Starcraft is going bye - bye....

Got the old family yacht (18' Starcraft SS 140 I/O) last week. Ready for the water, the ad said. HA!!! No oil pressue, seized the motor, then I rummaged around, and found the outdrive was bad too. I was willing to replace the motor, but NOT the entire drivetrain. So much for the cheap ride. Got three rides out of it, a great riding boat, and to it's credit, it DOES float, but it's hell to paddle! Roof on my house just started leaking, and it looks like the daughter needs some financial help - boat has to go. Close - so close, but another couple of years, and I'll just buy a new one. Didn't even get to kill any fish!

sounds like my boating days, bender
When I lived on ( and in ) Lake Erie, I always had a boat
or a good friend or neighbor who had at least one.

I sold my Marinette and then used it MORE when my buddy owned it.
Hope you can work out a deal like that.

With a new 9.9hp outboard now costing over $2K, boating isn't cheap, I/O or outboard, and nothing on this planet depreciates faster when bought new.
Sorry to hear your Starcraft didn't last- they're pretty good boats. I bought my uncle's old center-console Starcraft that he bought new back in the 70's- it saw a ton of fish from Eagle Lake, Ontario to years on Erie, where it still sees use today. It still has its original 55hp Johnson and 15hp kicker outboards. He's 90 years young now and quit fishing years ago, but he and my aunt still get to see some fish go into their freezer when I come to visit.
When the time comes, I'm not so sure you should buy new- let someone else take that enormous depreciation hit that occurs the first year or two. Lots of good boats out there with very few ticks on the hourmeter.

Sounds like good advice. Finding something 2-3 years old is probably a better idea than new. I grew up on Lake Erie, and we sold Starcrafts. Built like a tank, and they function very well. Not the sexiest boat out there, but really a good boat.

If you are reasonably close to me, I might be willing to part with the 1977 18' Mark Twain we've had for a couple years. I/O Mercruiser 165 behind an inline 6. Runs great, looks good, floats and is pretty quiet. Spent some money getting what problems there were with it (not a lot wrong with it when we got it) and we just don't use it much. I think it's time for it to find a new home, although my bride will disagree.

You know, I always wanted a nice boat. Back in the day I found one that was priced at an even $10,000. I put it to paper and figured that if I used that boat 4 days for 8 months every year for 10 years, it would cost me $31.00/day of use. Then when you start adding in license fees, maintenance and repairs, fuel, etc.. it skyrocketed to almost $100/day of use. If you didn't use it the 4 days each month for 8 months of every year, the daily rate skyrocketed again.

It didn't take me long to figure out that no more than I would use it, I could rent a nice boat for $350/day and come out way ahead.

I did the numbers, too, but the wife didn't and won't buy into it, yet . All she can see is riding around on the lake and looking at the spendy houses.