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Thinking to buy a 1989 sundowner 205. your opinions?
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Author:  Sailor25462 [ Sun Jul 10, 2011 11:52 am ]
Post subject:  Thinking to buy a 1989 sundowner 205. your opinions?
A friendly hello from a german sailing boat enthusiast!

I hope to get some help and advice from you guys here if possible.

A 1989 sundowner 205 was offered to me for sale at a price of only 2000 eur.
Engine is a 5.7 omc, said to have run roughly 500 hours.
Boat is located on the balearics, so the overall condition is probably explaining the low price.
However, I was thinking if any of you have an educated idea about this offer and if I should honestly consider to buy such a boat or better not?

I am definitely not an expert on power boats, just sailing boats. I understand myself to have some good knowledge on how to refurbish boats, but this would cover only the "cosmetics".

What would be the weak points of this type of boat? Where should I look at, before I get trapped in repair costs that are 3 times highernthan the purchase price?

Long story short, any input from you experts would be highly appreciated!
Thanks a lot and kind regards

Jens
Author:  LouC [ Sun Jul 10, 2011 8:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking to buy a 1989 sundowner 205. your opinions?
I would not buy it because omc has been out of business since 2000 and some parts are hard to find. Also, many mechanics are not familiar with them. Finally, a 22 year old boat can have lots of wood rot.....
Author:  Sailor25462 [ Mon Jul 11, 2011 12:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking to buy a 1989 sundowner 205. your opinions?
Thanks LouC for your opinion.
I have had a Brief Look at the engine and I have to say that I expected it in a much worse condition. Although there is some corrosion here and there, I could not find any oil sweating out from the block. The tubing looks like it would need to be replaced sooner or later, but that doesn't look to be too painful.

The manager of the winter storage says that the boat was under his service for a couple of years now and that he would call the boat ready to go at any time.
Asked him about spare parts and he confirmed that parts basically are available but with pretty long lead time. However, he also said that many parts could also be replaced with more common suppliers like Volvo, etc.

For me just this incredibly low price is hard to understand.

Kind regards
Jens
Author:  LouC [ Mon Jul 11, 2011 12:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking to buy a 1989 sundowner 205. your opinions?
Price is low because its omc, and will be harder to sell than if it had merc or Volvo power. The are really no common parts with Volvo, unless you replace the whole sterndrive with a Volvo...very costly...

Make your life easier, get a merc or Volvo powered boat...and a newer one at that. Wood rot is


Very time consuming to fix....
Author:  Goostoff [ Sat Jul 16, 2011 11:17 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Thinking to buy a 1989 sundowner 205. your opinions?
That is the exact boat I purchased in the fall of 2009. I gave $1800 US for it with a locked up engine. Everyone told me not to buy it but I did anyway. I took it home, pulled the spark plugs, loaded each cylinder with WD-40 lube, screwed them back in, and left it sit over the winter. I put a fresh battery in in the spring and it took me about an hour of working it with the started and a large socket on the crank to get it free. I lett the starter spinn the engine with no plugs for a few minutes. After that I put new plugs in it, hit the key and it was running. I havent had to stick a dime into this boat other than a battery and spark plugs.

It could be a good deal, but I would look everything over real good first. I still need to do some seat work but it is useable as is.

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