Bought a '06 Challenger today on ebay, Take a look...oh and Hi SeaDooForum members

[allaire1]

Hello everyone. Just joined SeaDoo Forms yesterday after I purchased a 2006 Challenger 1800 with a Buy it Now on Ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/261667723478

Looks great, called the owner and spoke to him first and sounds like he's representing the doo correctly but wont know till I make the 5.5hr trip to put an eyeball or two on it and go for a ride. All works out I'll be handing over the balance and bringing it home to the Pensacola area.

Not my first doo boat, had a 2004 155 Sportster that I enjoyed but sold when I moved in 2008. Also worked as a salesman at a PowerSports dealer that included SeaDoo PWC's back in 2004-2007, sold a lot of 4Tec PWC's as we were right across the street from the lake. Also grew up on FW lakes in the east and had my first motorboat by the age of 7.

We live right off the Escambia Bay in Milton Fl on a really nice bayou, wanted a boat to take the S.O. and maybe a couple of neighbors out to the sandbars, Pensacola beach, up some of our rivers, watch the Blue Angles practice over the I.C. and doo a little fishing on clam days in the gulf.

I have always liked the 4Tec's with their contained cooling systems, 4 stroke efficiency and manors. Will have to live with the IC Supercharger, seller says he has receipts for having the ceramic washers changed to steel. I sold some of the first supercharged seadoo's in TX and I well remember the first few that the washers shattered on....it was a mess and hart breaking for the owners and our uncertainty on what the solution would be. The steel washers are the work around but 100 hr rebuilds are something I'm sure scares away many buyers, kinda surprised there appears not yet to be a redesign to change this in new SC 4Tec's. Oh well at least SeaDoo did not go the Turbo route, we also sold Polaris PWC, when that Turbo came out and we demo'ed our first one after riding a GTX SC we knew SeaDoo was going to own the lake, I think the Turbo was the case of nails in Polaris's coffin for their PWC's, too bad as they had had some killer ski's. Got to give Polaris credit though they have one heck of a company, just take a look at their stock (PII), especially the past 5 years, they have over the years attracted and kept an awesome management team with an eye on the companies long term growth.

I'm doing some reading to get up to speed on this doo and the doo's and doo knots. Also double checking a pre purchase check list...any suggestions welcome. So hopefully next week I'll have a new to me doo back to the house for some fun.

 

[Coastiejoe]

Welcome aboard and thank you for joining..

I hope the boat does everything you need.. Always scary buying and unseen item.
The seller has no negative feedback, hopefully that is reflective of his character.

 

[brian lewis087]

says on the ebay page that it tops out at 45 mph isn't that slow for that boat

 

[Minnetonka4me]

Yeah that price seems a bit high...esp for Florida and being winter. But...nothing crazy. What matters is its as described and the paperwork.

I sold a 2007 Speedster non/sc last year for 9500. It was mint with an upgraded stereo, and under 100hrs.

Welcome to the best Seadoo site on the planet! If I can help with anything just let me know.

 

[Brian J]

Price seems OK to me for an 18' boat. I'd take it for a long test drive and GPS the top speed, compare that too what the top speed should be (I don't know what that is but an internet search should tell you).

The ad says "freshwater boat" ......that phrase is open to interpretation. Before you hand over the money I'd ask the guy in person flat out if it was EVER used in saltwater.

 

[allaire1]

Price seems OK to me for an 18' boat. I'd take it for a long test drive and GPS the top speed, compare that too what the top speed should be (I don't know what that is but an internet search should tell you).

The ad says "freshwater boat" ......that phrase is open to interpretation. Before you hand over the money I'd ask the guy in person flat out if it was EVER used in saltwater.

Well its not going to stay a FW boat thats for sure. Is there a particular problem with this boat and salt water, I'm familiar with the problems salt water and IB, Stern Drives and OB but not so much on 4Tec and jet pumps.

 

[Brian J]

No nothing with that model or engine.

Just that saltwater is hard on anything and requires additional maintenance. Did the guy do that maintenance or not.... Saltwater use is one of the biggest resale killers in boats.

 

[allaire1]

No nothing with that model or engine.

Just that saltwater is hard on anything and requires additional maintenance. Did the guy do that maintenance or not.... Saltwater use is one of the biggest resale killers in boats.

Quite true where boaters have a choice. Here in NW Florida salt water exposure is a given and its surprising to me that FWC boats don't seem to command much of a premium. The self-contained cooling system of the 4Tec's has always been a + in my book over the competitors raw water cooling systems. Salt water use here dose not seem to be a major factor in pricing.

 

[Minnetonka4me]

You still have a small open loop running thru the exhaust system.

 

[Coastiejoe]

The 4-tec is so easy to flush that the open-looped section is a breeze. Don't have to pinch any tubes or hoses. Thread the hose onto the factory flush fitting and go from there. I also feel the closed loop system is the way to go in salt water enviroments.

 

[Brian J]

Did you pick it up?

 

[Floridan surfer]

Did you bail out of the deal? I noticed the boat has been relisted. Can't miss that "Agusto Del Sol" decal.

 

[allaire1]

Just back from going to pick up the Challenger, Should have been a 6 hr drive each way, but I ended up with Jeep Problems, save that story for the jeep boards. Anyway my plans had put me to be at the sellers by 3pm for a 4pm test run. Did not get there till 6:30p (had made the seller aware I was going to be that late) So it was a screwed up trip right from the get go.

Seller had the boat in the drive way, I noticed right off in the reflected light that the topside side of the hull that I could see had a lot of light surface scratches. Knocked on the door and the seller came out. Nice young guy, probably 20 something. I got my high pwr led flashlight out, we started topside at the back of the boat, before I even boarded the boat I pretty well knew this boat was not going to be a 9.5 out of a 10 as in the sellers posted. Boarded the boat from the stern and opened the rear starboard storage compartment from the swim deck, the boat cover was in there, opened up the port cover and there was a new battery but what little of the bilge I could see was stained with oil. opened up the engine hatch and inspected the bilge and engine compartment. Looks to me that the compartment had been flooded, looked closer and saw salt deposits first on the air intake hose then in several other areas as well as oil stains throughout the compartment. I should have just stopped there because I knew I was not buying this boat even if I had to walk away from my $500 deposit...(That would have been a fight)

Then I looked in the other hatches, most seemed clean and little used, the cushions I looked at looked good under a flashlight. The latch to the glove box was broken, I turned the steering wheel and I could tell the cable had corrosion as it did not turn freely or smoothly. What the heck I'm here so might as well put the flashlight in the intake grate and check out the pump from both sides, well when looking at the grate I see the shaft has some heavy rust on about 20% of it, obviously not washed off after numerous salt water uses, the seal had some light damage from probably a rope being wrapped up in it, the impeller looked like a new solas, but I'm not sure, wear ring looked ok but maybe a bit to much clearance on the top side.

I'd really did not get into truly inspecting the boat to buy it as I knew pretty fast I was not going to be taking it home----ever--- so it was more of a casual look than anything else. Had no desire to hear it run so did not go any further. Also noticed that the hull bottom had alot of gouges (did not see any thru the gelcoat) from spending a lot of time on the beaches id guess.

Told the seller that I was disappointed, his 9.5 would be my 7 if it ran perfect, had perfect compression, no fault codes, ect... I could tell he knew this was coming. He ask what i thought it was worth, I told him I had no interest in the boat at any price. We discusses the deposit and he agreed to refund the deposit ( within 10 min of leaving his house I was notified by paypal the deposit had been returned in full) he also apologized that I had to drive all that way.....well that's on me kid, part of the cost of buying so far from home.

While we first looking at the boat I ask the seller about the boats history, he said he had only owned the boat for 2 months, a friend of a friend owned it and needed some money so he bought it, the seller said he may have been the 3rd owner? Said the supercharger washers had been replaced but I did not ask to see any paperwork.

So I'm still lookin. Was really not looking for the 1800 Challenger to start with, when I saw the listing it looked like something that would work for my wife and me so I bid/bought it. If it had been a 9.5 I would have been very happy to have paid that price and brought it home. However when researching the boat I had just bought(?) my eye also caught a Challenger 2300, its already sold but if I can get a good deal on one maybe I'll spend some more and get some more.

All in all the seller was a nice enough kid, maybe kinda unaware about boats and their maintenance needs and how to represent them correctly or maybe what a 9.5 out of 10 is to most, I'm not going to make any judgement here. I did notice he put the boat back on ebay with in an hour of me leaving. Changed the description leaving out "Freshwater Boat" and changing it from a 9.5 to a 8. Like always I hope whom ever buys it gets what their expecting. I have been buying and selling on ebay for 15 years, boats, cars motorcycles and a lot of other stuff. I've never not completed a sale or purchase before...oh well I've had a few, but very few fake bidders win, but very few, so I'm just checking this one off to the percentage's. That's why I always pick up my big items in person. I've even flown to NY from TX to buy a jeep off ebay, Worst case I'd have to rent a car and drive home.

Thanks to all whom contribute to this site, I gained a lot from it.

 

[Floridan surfer]

Sorry it didn't work out for you. Mine is for sale, if you're interested:
Sea Doo Challenger 180 boat 2006 Seadoo Sea-doo 12000

http://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/boa/4790718320.html

 

[Brian J]

You're handling that a lot better than I would, I would have had words with that kid about misrepresenting an item for sale after driving that far. Unfortunately it's par for the course in the used boat world, the term excellent condition is used WAY WAY too much. Kelley blue book says that less than 5% of used vehicles will fall into this category.

I once drove 45 minutes to look at two RXPs that were in "excellent condition" when I got there and saw them I asked why there was huge chunks of the fiberglass missing I got the response "oh they were in a storm and blew off the lift, then were banging on the rocks all night".

Thanks for posting, let us know what you buy.