Considering a sale

[jorgeinmiami]

I am considering selling my 20MA and purchasing a 23 Contender with a 250 yami and full electronics or my brother in law's 21 Sailfish with a 150 yami and all the bells and whistles,
Both are about at the same price point but the Contender is a little older.... The Sail Fish I know all about it and it only has 174 hours on the engine and has been mainly used to go to Elliot Key and back. I don't want to go much bigger so I can pull either one with my current SUV
Reason I'm considering selling is that I would have some work to get mine to the condition that the other boats are in and then they both have much newer power and also that the summer is here. Also the Contender is a little bigger that my 20

I could send the boat out to some one and get it done and then add new power but that would take months to get done and the final bill would be about the same.

I have no idea what my boat is worth either since it does need some finishing and accessories

[DonV]

A lot of Contender folks seem to think because it's a Contender you can run the crap out of them until they die, I would be very careful when looking at older used Contenders. One of those where you really need to double check the hull, stringers, etc. My two cents. Good luck.

[jorgeinmiami]

That's why I am leaning to the Sail Fish.
It's owned by my brother in law and it has never been run hard and fished maybe 4 times in the last 5 years, plus the engine has extremely low hours and at least 30 of the on the trailer.

It just needs a small upgrade of some electronics and redo some of the upholstery

But what to ask for my Seacraft? I want to be fair for both me and the buyer

[ct9amr]

Jorge if you want any info on a 23 contender let me know.
I have had mine for 4 years and have not had any issues. She is a 1996 vintage so not young but very solid.

Like everyone else I would like a little larger boat mainly to have a lager console for a changing area for my wife and the kids. We make due with what we have as it is paid off and has all the goodies I need.

[jorgeinmiami]

Going to see a 98 Contender 23 tomorrow with Yamaha power

What do you advise that I look for?

I would like the engine to last awhile so the boat is what I plan to look at the most

[ct9amr]

Ii would make sure all the other accessories are in good working order.
Mine already had a new Garmin GPS/Sounder and radio installed.

I did add a second bilge pump and float switch and about a year into ownership a windlass.
Contender puts quality hardware on thier boats but I did replace the deck latches with locking units.

Mine also has the rear bench seat that folds away. It comes in hany for extra guests or for my wife on rougher rides home.

There is an inspection plate for the tank under the leaning post if you want to polk around in there.
The Bilge hatch is huge so you should have no trouble looking around in there. The bennit trim tab control unit should be in there if you want to check for leaks.

If you are serious you may want to have a marine surveyor check it out.
The 250 2 stroke on mine taps out around 46 - 48 mph at 5500 rpm with a 4 blade prop.


The 23 open hull is just finished its production run with Contender, so the hull has been around for a long time. They now have 2 newer models replacing the old 21/23 open boats.

[jorgeinmiami]

So after looking and going over the pro's and con's and the budget I am going to send the 20 to get redone.

1st I am going to have someone redo the floor. Not that my VERY ROOKIE job was terrible but it not to my liking. So I am going to have someone do a similar job that Mr Robertson did by removing the skin off the floor replacing all the wood, glass it back, paint and non skid. And paint from the rub rail in

The console is too wide to add a t-top and be able to get around it easily, so I plan on getting a new skinnier console to replace the stock one, plus it will save some time getting back in the water
So if anyone is looking for a fairly redone console it's for sale
Now I have seen others replace their consoles and would love some feed back on what they have used. I think some have used a Pathfinder console, but I'm not sure.

Also I want to raise the transom to be 25" so my engine may be for sale.

lastly I need to open a new thread in the repair section

I need some input on options for the console

[Mikem8560]

George if I was looking for a t to with more room to get around id look into one that mounts to the console leaving the floor open

[jorgeinmiami]

true but I would spend more on the mods that just going new
Marine Liquidators has a new path Finder console for $595 that would fit nicely

But my son came up with another good point ...If I start work now when will the boat be done? End of the summer?

[strick]

The pathfinder counsel will need some backing plates mounted more then likely if you are going to mount a t top to it. They are very nice and functional. There may be some blemishes on it. I think they are factory rejects?

Strick