5 boats on boatsales that have motivated sellers

Nowhere is that more apparent than the listings on boatsales that contain those magic words: “must sell”.

For whatever reasons, these are owners who want to close a deal on the boat they’re selling and are probably more than happy to help the sale along.

We sniff around in a few different categories to see what’s out there that catches our eye this week. After all, boats priced like these won’t be around for long …

How does 11.3 metres of US-made flybridge cruiser sound for less than $100,000? Pretty good in our estimation.

We stumbled on this Silverton 322 that looks in tip-top condition for its age. When the New Jersey boatmaker launched this model it featured a revolutionary design, featuring a full-beam saloon and access to the bow via a walk-over bridge deck rather than side decks.

The result is a boat featuring a lot more interior space than you’d think. Downstairs are two cabins and heads, the saloon – finished in cherry – is claimed as the largest in its class, it has an aft cockpit with a bar, and upstairs is a flybridge deck that adds more outdoor living space.

Powering this Silverton 322 are twin MerCruiser 5.7 inboard engines fed by a 750-litre fuel tank giving decent cruising range.

The price? As seen, $99,000.

The words “price drop” are often a sign the boat’s owner is keen to sell, so it’s a search that’s high on our regular trawl of the classifieds.

Something that stood out is this Australian-made 18.3 Riviera flybridge cruiser – a lot of boat for not a lot of money.

This is the enclosed flybridge version of the 53, too, so it can be used in a much wider range of climates than the more open models. Even today it’s still a pretty fresh model, as the 53 Enclosed launched in May 2011.

The Riviera 53 Enclosed Flybridge features three staterooms including a full-beam master with a king-size bed, a huge flybridge deck and twin Volvo Penta D11 engines connected to pod drives and three separate joystick controllers for manoeuvring the boat at low speeds.

This boat also comes with radar and night vision, a barbecue, a full aft galley in the saloon, a hydraulic swim platform with drop-in railings, a watermaker for extended offshore trips, a washing machine and dryer, an AB Inflatables tender powered by a 30hp Yamaha outboard engine – pretty much everything you need just to step aboard and spend a weekend or more away.

The boat is currently listed at $1,749,000, a huge discount on a similarly sized new Riviera flybridge model and available now rather than waiting three years for your boat to be built.

Someone moving house is also an opportune time for someone else to pick up a bargain.

The owner of this Stacer 539 Sea Runner is shifting house and isn’t keen to take the boat with them.

This half-cab boat is perfect for launching in enclosed waters and even heading offshore in the right conditions – something this owner obviously does given the boat is fitted with an EPIRB – and with enough cockpit space to give everyone on board enough room to drop a line over the side.

Being an alloy boat, it’s light enough to pull behind a mid-size family car, too. It does come with a trailer that, importantly, looks well-maintained.

This boat is fitted with a mid-range 90hp Honda outboard engine with a decent number of hours on it, but there are those magic words – fully serviced.

The listing includes a bimini and full clears that give the helm good weather protection and a storm cover for when the boat is laid up on the trailer in the driveway. 

What also makes this boat attractive is that it’s something of a blank canvas; fit it with the chartplotter/fishfinder of your choice, add a rocket launcher, install an anchor winch – the choices are endless and go only as far as your pockets are deep.

Flipper is a brand of family boats built in Finland, a country with a large archipelago of islands and plenty of open water. It should know how to build a boat, then.

The Flipper 600 Sport Top is built as a boat that the entire family can enjoy. Its fit-out reflects this, with comfy seating focussed on entertaining, a dinette, a comfy cuddy cab forward, and styling that makes the boat pop on the water. 

That styling includes a forward windscreen sitting over the cuddy, and featuring a hardtop extending from its trailing edge to the front of the console, flooding the space with light and protecting the helm while underway.

Flipper’s boat range is sold as a luxury fibreglass trailerable boat, and at 2.2 metres beam, it’s road-legal to haul to your favourite weekend destination.

This boat we found in the listings features a maximum-rated 150hp Mercury FourStroke outboard engine with less than 30 hours on the clock, making it nearly new. 

The listing includes the words “urgent sale”, so there may even be a bit of wriggle room left in the $91,000 that the owner is asking for the package. No trailer is mentioned, but this is a perfect-sized boat for anyone keen to dry-stack their ride in between weekends out on the water.

Add a trailer to slip under it and you can even park the boat up at home in the garage.

How’s this for an absolute bargain? This is a proper 11.4-metre workboat that will easily stand out from everything else down at the marina.

This boat is more than 40 years old, and looks it. The hull is a rich patina, it features a skegged keel, and inside the wheelhouse … well, it looks all the world like it’s had a hard life and is rather low on comforts.

Hand over $55,000, give it a lick of paint, though, some new electronics and a smarter-looking fit-out and you could one day have something that looks quite imposing.

Of course, a tugboat this old is more than likely to be at the end of its working life, so a full inspection from a professional service will be a must before pulling the trigger on this one.

Powering Sea Horse is a 230hp GM V8 diesel, but no information is given as to how well it is running.

The internet is awash with tug boat conversions, so if the budget is big enough this old tub could be your new weekender.