[Public-list] Re: missing engine

[Gordon White]

Lack of an engine is a BIG minus in selling a boat as few out there want 
to go through putting in a new one. My son left his $22,000 ski boat in 
Norfolk while he was in the Gulf (he's a Navy commander) and failed to 
put antifreeze in the engine, it froze and cracked at least the 
manifolds. He took it to a shop when he returned,  to have it repaired. 
The shop pulled the engine, then went bankrupt while my son was on duty 
elsewhere. When he came home he managed to retrieve the boat but not the 
engine (which he had, unwisely, paid for replacing.) He was off again to 
Japan and I sold the hull for him on e-Bay. No one around here, marina 
or individual, would touch it. (lower Cheasapeake Bay)

    I got $3,500  for it from a Maryland dealer who apparently had a 
boat with a similar engine that had had severe hull damage. And felt 
lucky to get that.

    In short, not having an engine can  reduce the value of a boat by 
more than the cost of replacing the engine.

- Gordon White