New Owner and 2004 22 Cruiser purchase

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kayakbriang

New member
I finally found a 2004 22 Cruiser in great shape. I inspected the boat and everything looks to be pristine as far as my uneducated eyes could tell. What should I be checking in particular? Everything was solid and not a blemish that I could find, again not knowing everything I should look for.

Drained one of the tanks filled with fresh gas and the engine started up with hardly a crank. It was rough idling cold and cut out. Started up again same problem. The motor is a 2003 which is carbed so it might need to have the idle jets cleaned out. As far as I could tell the 4 hrs on the meter seem legit. I went in to the purchase expecting to replace rubber lines and a carb job.

Looked up the tire codes on the trailer and they are late 2003 manufacture dates and they still had the tire nubs so that supports the story of the boat never being used.

Here is the auction link for photos: http://www.ebay.com/itm/371398881736

I pick her up in less than a week when the finances fish up. Out the door I will have paid 41,000 (sales tax) for what I think is a brand new boat. Sitting here waiting to take her home I have a little buyers remorse thinking I paid too much knowing I need a kicker, all of the safety riggings (fire ext, anchor, ropes...etc), downriggers and other fishing gear. Did I pay to much for an unrigged cruiser?
 
Congrats on the really rare "barn find" C-dory. With only 4 hours on it at that! I'd expect it to run rough with such little use, and you may need to have the carbs rebuilt. It's possible that if you run a solvent mix through like gas and seafoam or chevron's techron you might be able to get it running better.

That's pretty cool it's essentially a time capsule boat that has stayed inside. The gelcoat should be all nice and shiny, unlike my 2003 that has spent it's entire life out in the weather.

I don't know what its worth, but its certainly worth a premium if its as pristine as advertised.
 
I bought a 2002 with 50 hours on the main engine, none on the kicker. The engine ran fine except for some weirdness at around 1500 rpm. I just figured to rebuild all four carbs as I settled on the purchase price. Brought it in to a really good Yamaha dealer, they did rebuild all four carbs, and it has purred ever since. BTW, looking through the receipts (before I struck the deal), I could see that the broker had paid around $600 for a "carb cleaning," which obviously did not do the trick. Now, could the Yamaha dealer have cleaned the carbs again/better and fixed the problem? Maybe. But I basically budgeted to take the engine in and have it brought completely up to snuff, maintenance-wise (of which rebuilding the carbs was a part). No regrets on that. Now I just drain the carbs if I'm going to be not using the boat for more than a couple of weeks. Takes about five minutes, and as such is about 2% of the time I take to put the boat to bed (cleaning things, the whole routine).

Okay, now to go take a look :)

Very sweet! I would have paid that no problem. But then it's the exact kind of boat I was looking for when I bought mine (which is similar in many ways). I like to add features my way, so a simple/not-much-done-to-it/cosmetically pristine boat is what I look for. If it's ten years old, that's no issue (I happen to like the features of the early 2000's boats best, although it seems that each year has some things I like better and some worse, so they are all good in their own way. Some folks might have a deal-breaker feature that demands or excludes a given year model.)

OTOH, I think the "best deal" financially is usually to buy a well-outfitted boat with everything already there, because you never pay full price for the add-ons, and you're ready to roll. Adding things yourself you do pay full price (and then some, especially if you hire out the work). It's still the way I like to do it though.

I like the Pacific trailer and they have great (and expensive!) side guides. I have a 2002 Yamaha 80, so basically the same engine as you, but slightly de-tuned.

Congrats on your new boat, and welcome!
 
PS: I don't know what type of kayaking you do, but I know at least a couple of us are/were (whitewater) river rats back in the day :D There are also some fairly dedicated flatwater kayakers (smittypaddler, for instance) and of course many who use kayaks to dinghy or explore from their C-Dorys.
 
I would say you got a decent deal.
They make an operable window for the door that I would recommend at a later date. That way you get better cross ventilation inside the cabin during the summer months.

Congrats and welcome to the family,
 
You did fine. A new boat would be in the $70,000 range--figure you saved $30,000. That new boat would need all of the goodies also.

I would start by running some carb cleaner/sea foam thru the gas mixture. If not then the carbs may need a go.

Welcome aboard!
 
welcome to the club. Did you pay to much you ask, in 2001 we bought a 1999 "barn" boat. We still enjoy the heck out of the old tub and I don't even remember what we paid for it. The point being these boats provide years of enjoyment and as the years roll by you'll get it rigged up just the way you like it and the purchase price will be distant memory.....and by the way....you'll never finish rigging it up :)

exciting times ahead for you, there's nothing like that first tow home
 
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