Why so cheap?

42 foot boat for $25k? Should I be suspicious?

http://smd.craigslist.org/boa/838154099.html

I do not know the houseboat market, but with a little searching this one may be price $10k low. Of course, we do not have all the info yet either. The first thing that comes to mind is age (no year stated) and engine condition.

The first line say, "great live-a-board." If it has been used as a live-a-board, that can often result in modifications that take away from the true "boat-i-ness" of a boat. Often the person living on it never intends to take it out to sea and focuses priorities on other things.

As an example, the sofa and refidge look like typical home units, rather than marine built in units. I suspect the will move around in rough water.

Other reasons: 1. Dockage is likely not cheap in the Chesapeake and dumping the price can often be cheaper than another year of dockage. 2. If he lost his place of dockage, having this boat hauled by crane and semi can be even more expensive.

The ad is likely legit.

no mention of propulsion etc.. Does it even come with an engine?

it also looks older than sin.. Carri craft(by internet search) made stuff from the 60's through the 90's..

There's nothing more expensive than a cheap boat...

well at least the nice thing about a house boat is that you wouldn't have to drive it all the time to enjoy it.

Ski-boats are dropping in price fast with the costs of fuel.

Boats depreciate at an enormous rate. Never buy a new one. Find one that's a year old, after the original owner has discovered that he hates owning a boat.

I used to work for a yacht maintenance company. Most first-timers have no idea what they're getting themselves into.

Since there was no mention of power, assume that it is basically a barge. Moving it will require a towboat. That will be in the thousands. If it meets your needs for a home, think about it, but remember that is no place you want to be in a storm. Dockage that permits live-aboards is very hard to find here in Ft. Lauderdale, probably the same there. Lot's of caveats here.

In L.A. there were frequently very nice 32-50' yachts for free. I passed on a 32' 1958 Chris Craft with flawless brightwork for free.

The owners would lose their slip at the docks and it had to be moved. They would try to start an engine that hadn't been run for 15 years and (surprise) it won't start, so they give it up.

I tried getting a truck ready to pull it and I had a place to store it, but the 10' width meant wide load permits. In L.A. it takes longer to get the permits approved than to grow a 20" beard so I had to pass.

C-List said:Deleted by author

Whew! One less thing to stress over.