Looking for a Seafarer 1997 or newer

[KBM]

I am looking to buy a Seafarer. 1997 or newer. Motivated buyer here. Thanks.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

What is your location, are you willing to travel, budget, do you want a hardtop, choice of power, etc?

 

[KBM]

Hi, thank you so much for your reply. Would love hard top but not a deal breaker. Willing to travel and get survey. I’m in North Carolina and will use transport company. Also would like 4strk Yamaha. I keep looking on FB market place, Boat Trader and Boats.com. Huge thanks again for the response.

 

[Don Davis]

Hi, thank you so much for your reply. Would love hard top but not a deal breaker. Willing to travel and get survey. I’m in North Carolina and will use transport company. Also would like 4strk Yamaha. I keep looking on FB market place, Boat Trader and Boats.com. Huge thanks again for the response.

Wow interesting that you‘re in the State where Grady White’s are built, hopefully you find a local boat. I was cut polishing and waxing my Seafarer last summer and I noticed the old ghosted NC registration numbers on my new to me GW, I’m on the west coast on Vancouver Island. These boats are everywhere obviously due to their success.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

Hi, thank you so much for your reply. Would love hard top but not a deal breaker. Willing to travel and get survey. I’m in North Carolina and will use transport company. Also would like 4strk Yamaha. I keep looking on FB market place, Boat Trader and Boats.com. Huge thanks again for the response.

What is your budget? And no worries... it took me a year to find my boat, I bought it last October back out in Maryland, flew out, bought it and drove it 3,009 miles back to the Seattle area where I live. Prices are typically much cheaper on the east coast, of which a 2005 GW 228 Seafarer just sold out here on the Seattle Craigslist for $65k a week ago or so. It had Garmin's basic radar, a kicker motor and decent electronics but comparatively I bought my boat for $26.5k. Prices are still rather high on used boats with it being the summer and peak season still, and especially with Labor Day weekend being just a few days away. It might be something where you need to wait until the fall or winter, depending on availability, pricing and other competition out there. As always, I like to recommend the new purchaser have a marine accredited surveyor inspect the boat, motor, trailer and everything included as you're looking at potentially buying a 25 ish year old boat. Google "Marine accredited surveyor" and use the SAMS website to look up surveyors as well as I believe it's "marine survey.org", but both will pop up on the first Google page when you type that in. Also, early Yamaha 4 strokes had issues with a dry exhaust corrosion issue, I'd do a Google search on that and either have your surveyor, a Yamaha tech or even yourself could drop the lower unit to inspect and see if the boat you're potentially looking at buying has the issue. If it can be fixed, it's usually around $2k per motor for parts/labor and so forth, but that's if it can be fixed. Sometimes the issue is so bad that you need a new motor, which if you know that going in you can negotiate the price accordingly, as with other potential issues for the boat. I hate seeing people pay top dollar for something that needs a lot of money and time put into it because they didn't get a survey done, which they only typically cost $500 or so, depending on who you use. Good luck!

 

[Pighunter]

Wow interesting that you‘re in the State where Grady White’s are built, hopefully you find a local boat. I was cut polishing and waxing my Seafarer last summer and I noticed the old ghosted NC registration numbers on my new to me GW, I’m on the west coast on Vancouver Island. These boats are everywhere obviously due to their success.

Bought my 228 from north Carolina in 2020 and had it shipped out to California. I couldn't afford to buy one out here. It was cheaper buying it on line, ordering a survey, having new tires installed on the trailer and hiring a driver through Uship.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

This would be my #1 pick at the moment, especially with it being essentially in your own backyard but I‘m still not sure what your budget is. Besides the cockpit area being dirty, it looks like a nice boat, has the hardtop with canvas, 4 stroke motor with low hours, pictured with an aluminum I beam trailer but doesn’t say anything about it in the ad and there’s no bottom paint for those that don’t want it. If the motor and the rest of the boat check out, I’d say it‘s definitely a pretty decent deal.

Grady-White 228 Seafarer boats for sale - Boat Trader

Find Grady-White 228 Seafarer boats for sale near you, including boat prices, photos, and more. Locate Grady-White boat dealers and find your boat at Boat Trader!

www.boattrader.com

 

[KBM]

This would be my #1 pick at the moment, especially with it being essentially in your own backyard but I‘m still not sure what your budget is. Besides the cockpit area being dirty, it looks like a nice boat, has the hardtop with canvas, 4 stroke motor with low hours, pictured with an aluminum I beam trailer but doesn’t say anything about it in the ad and there’s no bottom paint for those that don’t want it. If the motor and the rest of the boat check out, I’d say it‘s definitely a pretty decent deal.

Grady-White 228 Seafarer boats for sale - Boat Trader

Find Grady-White 228 Seafarer boats for sale near you, including boat prices, photos, and more. Locate Grady-White boat dealers and find your boat at Boat Trader!

www.boattrader.com

Wow, thank you so much. I’ve been on boat trader 10xs a day and have not seen this! This is exactly in my strike range. A tad high on the price. Thank you again so much. I wonder if I could get them down to 28k.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

Wow, thank you so much. I’ve been on boat trader 10xs a day and have not seen this! This is exactly in my strike range. A tad high on the price. Thank you again so much. I wonder if I could get them down to 28k.

With an asking price of $33k, I’m thinking they probably won’t accept an offer of $5k less in the first couple of days of the listing. Or at least, I believe it’s only been posted for a few days now as I didn’t see it on BT earlier this week. Most private parties and even a decent dealer will likely be open to an offer that’s closer to their asking price, so maybe they’d take $31k? The other side of the equation is, are you willing to lose the boat for a couple thousand dollars? If everything on it checks out and with the boat being in the same state that you live in, you won’t have to potentially spend a couple thousand dollars to have the boat shipped to you, or drive thousands of miles round trip to get it yourself. Not sure where at in NC you are but the boat is in Morehead City, which even if you were in the western part of the state, that’s only around 400 or so miles each way, or 800 or so miles round trip at the most. Which that could be done in a day, or two at the most. I rented a U-Haul truck and trailered my boat back 3,009 miles from Maryland to just north of Seattle of which I would’ve much rather been in your situation where for an extra $5k the boat is basically in my own back yard as I probably spent around $4k or so just to get the boat back home. Although with buying the boat for only $26.5k, I wasn’t too upset about the transportation costs and minimal added expenses. I’d definitely consider calling today or tomorrow to see if the boat is still for sale so you can go look at it, if you’re serious about buying it because I don’t think it'll last too long at that price. Good luck!

 

[Don Davis]

Wow, thank you so much. I’ve been on boat trader 10xs a day and have not seen this! This is exactly in my strike range. A tad high on the price. Thank you again so much. I wonder if I could get them down to 28k.

Just remember to check the year of the outboard as that motor may have the exhaust issues even with the low hours. I believe the 2002 - 2005 Yamahas had the lack of anti-corrosion in the exhaust leading to potential issues. You may include that as a condition to inspect in an offer you make to the purchaser.
I remember looking at a Seafarer about 5 years before I bought mine that had a Yamaha 225hp on it within that year range and the seller had no idea about the exhaust corrosion issues. I offered him $5000 less than his asking price to cover the repair up here in Canada and he didn’t accept so I walked, to me it wasn’t worth the risk and potential cost.

 

[Natron]

Wow, thank you so much. I’ve been on boat trader 10xs a day and have not seen this! This is exactly in my strike range. A tad high on the price. Thank you again so much. I wonder if I could get them down to 28k.

New member here and just came across this post. I had a deposit on that boat and let it go. My advice is to get a survey done. It looks nice but it has some serious underlying issues.

More specifically water intrusion in the cuddy, and a cracked hull next to the pulpit. Almost all hoses needing replacement. The 225 has an odd amount of oily soot on the prop and exhaust ports. Reminds me of an old merc 2 stroke that I had.

If anyone wants the survey photos let me know. I can send them over.

 

[Ky Grady]

I've seen the pictures Natron speaks of. Very misleading ad on Boat Trader. Major issues are seen in the pictures.

Here's just one for your viewing pleasure,,,, one of the scupper hoses.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

Dang, that's pretty disappointing to hear and very misleading. Though it's pretty hard to tell the condition of a boat, car, home or anything else without looking at it in person, and the 10 pictures on BT are admittedly not very great. I was also wondering why it was still for sale as the price is pretty fair, and if the boat was in the advertised condition I figured it would've sold a couple weeks ago when I posted the link on here.

 

[Ky Grady]

Dang, that's pretty disappointing to hear and very misleading. Though it's pretty hard to tell the condition of a boat, car, home or anything else without looking at it in person, and the 10 pictures on BT are admittedly not very great. I was also wondering why it was still for sale as the price is pretty fair, and if the boat was in the advertised condition I figured it would've sold a couple weeks ago when I posted the link on here.

Looking through all the pics and lack of a trailer, $33K is way off,,, low $20's if someone wants to take on a project.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

Looking through all the pics and lack of a trailer, $33K is way off,,, low $20's if someone wants to take on a project.

Does it not come with the trailer that it's sitting on?

 

[Ky Grady]

Does it not come with the trailer that it's sitting on?

From my understanding and conversation with Natron, $33K is price with no trailer. That's probably a shop trailer to move boats around on.
He had a deposit on it pending the survey, and after seeing pics and what the surveyor had to tell him, he wisely walked away.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

From my understanding and conversation with Natron, $33K is price with no trailer. That's probably a shop trailer to move boats around on.
He had a deposit on it pending the survey, and after seeing pics and what the surveyor had to tell him, he wisely walked away.

Oh dang, yeah if that's the case and there is no trailer included then it's definitely overpriced at $33k. I figured the trailer would be included with it being in the pictures and nothing in the description of the ad saying anything to the contrary.

 

[Natron]

Starling Marine was very convincing that it was the nicest second hand 228 they have seen.

And Ky Grady is correct. $33k with no trailer. They are brokering it for an older gentlemen. The boat has been on a dry storage rack for the last year and has not been in the water. The moisture readings were very high for a boat that has been dry. It looks like it has lived a very neglected life.

I hired a local surveyor who said “I can’t tell you not to buy the boat but I would walk away unless you can get it for a steal”. Despite being sharp looking sitting on that Ibeam trailer it had way too many issues to consider. I threw them an offer of $19k and they refunded my deposit without a counter offer.

Here are the photos from the survey…for the greater good

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/46kdbzjc036hlc1blriep/h?dl=0&rlkey=iqkn3aufko4eiujbiddu8n4d1

This one is my favorite.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

Starling Marine was very convincing that it was the nicest second hand 228 they have seen.

And Ky Grady is correct. $33k with no trailer. They are brokering it for an older gentlemen. The boat has been on a dry storage rack for the last year and has not been in the water. The moisture readings were very high for a boat that has been dry. It looks like it has lived a very neglected life.

I hired a local surveyor who said “I can’t tell you not to buy the boat but I would walk away unless you can get it for a steal”. Despite being sharp looking sitting on that Ibeam trailer it had way too many issues to consider. I threw them an offer of $19k and they refunded my deposit without a counter offer.

Here are the photos from the survey…for the greater good

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/46kdbzjc036hlc1blriep/h?dl=0&rlkey=iqkn3aufko4eiujbiddu8n4d1

This one is my favorite.

Dang, yeah that’s definitely not a great deal then. If it was in the condition advertised and with the trailer included in the pictures then I think it would be a fair deal. Comparatively, I bought mine for $26.5k with the trailer, of which mine is 2 years newer, had no damage and everything worked on the boat. My max budget was $35k and I was looking at several boats, one where I, like you, had a surveyor go out and inspect it with unfavorable results. The boat had damage, higher than normal moisture readings and the outboard motor was rather skeptical. I ended up passing on that boat, and although it sucks spending $500+ for a surveyor on a boat you ended up not buying, it’s better than opening up a $35k+ can of worms. It sucks that the chip is in that spot as you’re going to get a good deal of moisture in the bow area there to begin with because of waves and so forth. Luckily you had a surveyor look over the boat with you and that you passed on the boat as well. Good luck, don’t get too discouraged and keep looking as it took me just over a year to finally find my boat. In the next month or two you’ll start to see prices drop down a bit with fall/winter and hopefully you’ll find a much better deal on a nicer boat.