I went to go look at a boat I was going to purchase from someone. The boat appeared to be in good running condition. The owner ran the boat with the throttle at 50% out of gear because it has to be run for a bit before it will idle. He only ran it for about 2 seconds to show it ran. We looked over the boat and everything looked good. I was there with two others for an hour or so, he said the boat was lake ready and ran fine. We purchased the boat and took it to the lake to test it. He never said the boat was "as is" if that matters.
The boat would not idle at all. The boat never left the ramp. I just let it sit on the trailer in the water trying to get it to idle, since it wouldn't engage I never even attempted to put it into gear. For the next few days I rebuilt the carb and did some minor tune up work and it was finally idling. The next step was to make sure the boat would run! When I tested it, the boat would not engage forward gear, so I took it to a mechanic and the forward gear was stripped. The cost to fix this is $550. This is the problem I have. I believe he knew it wouldn't engage forward gear the whole time, which is why he didn't let me lake test it before I bought it. He did say it was lake ready though. I believe, because the motor wouldn't idle, he would ram it into forward gear with some throttle in to get it to go forward, and did this enough times to strip the gear.
His story: Since the last time he took it out, he said he had the bellows replaced and the mechanic verified everything worked, so he says I must have done something to ruin the forward gear. There is no way that is the case because it was stripped which takes time and mechanics advised me there is no way this just happened, and nothing I did could have caused it because I never tried to engage any gears or take it off the trailer.
He sold me a boat that didn't work, and he will not help pay anything, so I'm considering taking him to a small claims court and was wondering if this was a valid case. I have also found out he lied to me about where he worked when he sold me the boat (he said he worked on base here), which really makes me think he's lying about it all. He lied about the job, which he used as an excuse to not take the boat out with me because he had to work. He obviously didn't have to work since he lied about his job. He also previously offered to pay $200, and set me up with a mechanic, but when the mechanic said $550, he stopped answering any phone calls until I left a message about taking it to court. I offered him to only pay half.
The boat would not idle at all. The boat never left the ramp. I just let it sit on the trailer in the water trying to get it to idle, since it wouldn't engage I never even attempted to put it into gear. For the next few days I rebuilt the carb and did some minor tune up work and it was finally idling. The next step was to make sure the boat would run! When I tested it, the boat would not engage forward gear, so I took it to a mechanic and the forward gear was stripped. The cost to fix this is $550. This is the problem I have. I believe he knew it wouldn't engage forward gear the whole time, which is why he didn't let me lake test it before I bought it. He did say it was lake ready though. I believe, because the motor wouldn't idle, he would ram it into forward gear with some throttle in to get it to go forward, and did this enough times to strip the gear.
His story: Since the last time he took it out, he said he had the bellows replaced and the mechanic verified everything worked, so he says I must have done something to ruin the forward gear. There is no way that is the case because it was stripped which takes time and mechanics advised me there is no way this just happened, and nothing I did could have caused it because I never tried to engage any gears or take it off the trailer.
He sold me a boat that didn't work, and he will not help pay anything, so I'm considering taking him to a small claims court and was wondering if this was a valid case. I have also found out he lied to me about where he worked when he sold me the boat (he said he worked on base here), which really makes me think he's lying about it all. He lied about the job, which he used as an excuse to not take the boat out with me because he had to work. He obviously didn't have to work since he lied about his job. He also previously offered to pay $200, and set me up with a mechanic, but when the mechanic said $550, he stopped answering any phone calls until I left a message about taking it to court. I offered him to only pay half.
