Looking to purchase my first ski boat

Hey guys! I’m brand new to the forum (first post) but I have been lurking around for a little bit reading discussions and post. I have found and 1988 ski nautique 2001 for sale on FB market place for $3500 bucks. They have just a few photos and do not converse well. the boat has been sitting for the last 6 years under a covered storage area. They say it ran before it was last put up. It’s a 3 hour drive for me to get to it to inspect it (it’s in Gainesville Georgia) I know from reading here that the stringers are a concern and the hours on the engine are unknown. Outside of jumping up and down on it and bring a new battery and testing the engine for compression, anything else I should be looking for? The current market is ridiculous on price and this is a steal if everything is good. Let me know what I should be looking out for. Here is a link to the boat (hoping no one buys it out from under me)

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/535486034536605/

Thanks bro

Buy it.  Don’t walk…run. 

If you are serious I would go look ASAP. Looks like a deal. The upholstery looks really good from the photos which leads me to believe the hrs may be on the lower side. Could be replaced upholstery but looks original. Carpet looks good too and the engine is clean. Hopefully the hr meter shows something. Someone else can chime in on this…You may not have to start the engine to see if he meter works. May only have to turn the key and watch? As for stringers, at that price you can take the risk. Engine too. Hopefully one or the other or both are good. Compression is a good test. Also if you can get it running would be nice to make sure it doesn’t have freeze damage. Prob not in gainsville but possibly. Also looks like it had some gel repair on the chine…or it is just dirty. The color will come back with buffing or sanding. I would go for it. Negotiate harder if they won’t let you test and try to start it.

It's just down the road from me. If you message the owner and it's still available. Let me know and I'll go have a looksie for you. From the pics it looks like a pretty good deal and she'll clean up. If you map it, I'll be a stones throw from it as there is a classic boat owners gathering at Pelican Pete's at Port Royal Marina tonight. Kermit and I will be making the trip by sea to have a few brews and look at other old boats.

Just from the pics the interior looks like it's been taken care of!

So...what happened?  Did you buy it?  If so, how much?

Jonny Quest wrote: So...what happened?  Did you buy it?  If so, how much?

Nah I don’t really like dealing with people that are very vague with information. Didn’t feel right. I Just let it go. Plus the price kept going up.