So what do you consider the most important things to check out on a used boat before you buy it?
How about a Top 10 things to check?
Go!

Transom and motor compression

Transom
Motor compression
Axle hubs
Tires
Trolling Motor
Everything electrical you can check (pumps, lights, electronics)

^^This plus is the title clean and ready to transfer

Spin the prop
to check for bent prop shaft

Hull blisters

transom integrity
water pump

Compression check on motor
Check Prop Shaft
Transom
Batteries
Tires
Pumps
Electronics
Carpet
Trolling Motor
Check For Stress Cracks In Every Corner
Look Under Boat For Gel Cracks
Good Luck on your next boat hope you find a good one.

http://basscatowners.yuku.com/topic/3077...at#.VTLFdRg8KrU

This is guidance providded by BassCat Boats.

As far as what to check everyone has given you solid advice. I'll tell you that I wasted a lot of time looking at craigslist and checking out boats with major problems. I wasn't expecting to find that local boat dealers had used boats IN THE SAME PRICE RANGE as the ones I was looking at but in far better condition. With a reputable dealer you know that a real mechanic has gone over the boat and the paperwork is a lot easier. (Registration, title, etc...)

Be SURE to have the boat and motor checked by a trusted, reliable, third-party mechanic.

Be SURE to have the boat and motor checked by a trusted, reliable, third-party mechanic.

Frankly, you'll find better maintained boats on here & BBC. People with trashed out, neglected boats don't sell them in places like this because the population base is to knowledgeable. They target Craig's List and hope a sucker buys it and they can pass along the problem. Make sure you KNOW the mechanic has no history/relationship with the seller. If they won't let you lake test, walk. Period. People who won't let you lake test are hiding something, plane & simple. Dealerships give you some peace of mind, but when buying a used boat without warranty, there are no guarantees. It's a black hole of money. Good dealers will work with you and try and help you if something goes wrong soon after the sale. Bad ones, will say to bad, so sad. Ask lots of questions. If the seller doesn't want to answer questions, they're probably hiding something. Don't fall in love with a boat based on color and things like that. Buy a boat based on sound principles like craftsmanship, how it was taken care of, what dealer serviced it, resale value, motor size comparable to length, etc. Take your time, don't get in a rush. Enjoy the process. When you find it, you'll know it.

Look at the hours and brand of boat. Pull cowling and look for wrench and socket marks on the motor. Any kind of non stock components. Also boats that are used often have less problems than the low low hour rigs.

I recently went through the process of looking at a lot of rotten boats before finding my current rig.

Thoroughly check the transom integrity, look for stress cracks in the corners. any flex or stress cracks in the corners of the splashwell, no deal.

Look for rot stains under all thru-hull fittings.

Check the bow and transom eyes are not loose.

Check the hull integrity everywhere. I looked at a Champion someone was selling that had an 8" gash near the bottom of the hull with wood rot stains dripping out of it. After I showed it to the owner, they proceeded to keep trying to tell me it was a good boat. All I could do is shake my head as I walked away.

Any boat with wood (generally older than 2000), get into every compartment, look everywhere, and thoroughly inspect the entire thing for any wood rot. Try to get your head inside compartments to look up at the bottom of the floor. Walk and feel every inch of the floor, feeling for soft spots. Soft spots in the floor could potentially mean bigger problems below. Even check side walls in compartments, and under batteries. Rotted areas can hide. Boats generally rot from the inside out. Any rot at all, no deal unless you're into restoring and rebuilding boats.

You may or may not be surprised at the number of times I was promised that it was always garage kept and I'd find leaves and other evidence then rot somewhere. I'd always ask the questions first even though I would find out the answer myself just to see what kind of person i was dealing with.

Compression check the engine. I'm mechanically inclined, so to me as long as compression is good, just about anything else can be fixed.

Be sure prop shaft is straight.

Check trailer tires for dry rot. You want to be able to get it home.
Surface rust on a trailer isn't anything to be afraid of, but holes from rust is cause for concern.
Ask about the last time the hubs and bearings were serviced.

Always lake test once you check it out if you're serious about buying it. Check functionality of shifting gears, steering, varying speeds from idle all the way up to wide open throttle running for a while.

This is a very short list of key things that are on my multiple page boat buying checklist I recently created.

Be very detailed and inspect every inch of it.

Awesome advice, I would love to see your list chuck

Yep I like working on boats so I'm not afraid to buy rats but this also opened my eyes to the reality of boats. Chuck is spot on even with boats claiming all composite water intrusion can still cause problems, water goes in but never comes out. Wet floatation foam will add weight and wet fiberglass can eventually delaminate etc. Boat builders aren't perfect there's going to be voids in fiberglass laminates, Basscat really attempts to build a void free boat with their vacuum bagging process they would be at the top of my list when looking for a clean used hull.

All it takes is an improperly sealed screw in the wrong spot and water's getting in. Even on a spotless boat that really is garage kept there can still be hidden problems.

Best you can do is look the boat over as best you can and bring it to a legit pro for a second opinion.

buying a used boat is doable frank the tank said it all_ take your time and you will find the one. most boats are far from used up most just sit around their whole life_ but some are used hard. find one in between and your golden_ get a good motor,thats prob the most important part!

Crawl all the way UNDER the trailer. I just bought myself a used bass boat for about 12k, but I failed to crawl UNDER the trailer. The other day, I was out there looking under the boat for another reason and noticed both cross members on the trailer are rusted out and the front brace has a hole on bottom I could stick my 4 fingers into, plus was developing a crack towards the top. That's a "you gotta fix immediately" thing requiring a new trailer. So that's a $4000 dollar thing.

Second, my boat has water entering it from some leak, suspecting the livewell plumbing. That's not assss big a deal, as I know it can be fixed without spending a lot. Other than that, the boat runs like a champ.

It's got scratches, stress cracks in the gell coat, rubs, some stickering is faded and coming off - none of that i'm concerned with.

I think it boils down to your budget. If you are in the 5k to 15k range, cosmetic issues are going to be there, plus the opportunity for other issues, like "old trailer issues", hacked up wiring from 5 different owners doing their own thing, fuel sending units not working, pumps that might need to be replaced, silly, nit picky things like things like these but they add up in cost, so consider them. a 12k boat might honestly need 4000 dollars or more in upkeep - but so might a 17k boat.

Once you hit the magical 33,000 dollar range, all of a sudden you start getting into some pretty fresh, much nicer boats. At 45k, you can find some almost brand spanking new boats.

For instance, there's a BEAUTIFUL legend le-21 for sale right now for 26k. A steal! The basscat pantera for 33k, a GREAT buy the way it's configured. (in the boats for sale section)

I agree that this board is a great place to look. I bought mine from a posting here - i know that once I work out the issues it will be smooth sailing for years to come.

Stick to the brands people want and you'll never have much challenge selling it. basscat, skeeter, legend, ranger (and personally, i know nitro takes a beating on brand name, but I honestly like them, specially the newer ones, i think they've done a pretty good job - but dunno about the resell)

I bought a procraft, mostly because I has some personal knowledge of the boats before hand, they really made a gooood boat!

Another thought, is this your first boat? If so, I like the idea of something you don't mind "beating up " a little, cause (and everyone says it) you WILL make mistakes.

You will 1) Run right over a dock. 2) Get stuck on 2 stumps at once. 3) Back it into the side of your storage unit 4) Run into a tree. 5) Slam into your trailer sideways once or twice.

One more tidbit, I spent just about 6 months looking. On craigslist, you find a lot of (not all) trashed boats using photos from when they were brand new. I drove all over the state to find totally leaf filled, flat tired, trashed boats.

I think most folks have covered the major things and offered some really good advice. One thing I found when looking that I didn't consider early on was electronics and trolling motor. These are easily $1,000-$2,000 a piece add ons these days. Keep that in mind when comparing similarly priced boats. If you have the cash you can buy a stripped down boat cheap and add on your own later. Or you may consider a year or two older model boat that's loaded with new electronics if your the type who wants to buy a "lake ready" boat. Also, consider motor HP vs boat rating. I'm telling you now. If it's rated for 250 and it's got a 150 or even 200 your going to wish you had more motor at some point. Same with the trolling motor.

Take it to a mechanic first before buying and have it checked out, lot of times you'll get screwed over on repairs it needs after buying.

Don't buy a boat from someone without the visible means to easily keep up with maintenance and repairs.

an excerpt out of the BCB list. Make sure the prop makes sense for the motor and hull you're buying. It might be innocent, but I've seen many times people getting advice about using lower pitched, more bladed props to get extra lift. If the problem is a waterlogged hull or a tired motor no prop is going to "fix" the problem.

not mentioned:

Steering cables stiff
big motor tilt motor

Lot's of good advice. I've owned several boats in my life time,only 2 were new,and fortunately none were lemons. Unless the seller can provide written proof you can pretty much plan on replacing the batteries and tires sooner than later. As one of the other guys said don't over look the trailer. We get caught up looking at the pretty metal flake, gadgets, and motor and forget one of the most important pieces of the whole set up. Look at the wiring, if you see multiple color's of wires used and a lot of electrical tape chances are you'll probably want to replace the wiring soon. All boat bunks will eventually need to be replaced.

Good luck in your search.

You need to "trust" who you are buying the boat from.
I bought my 2000 Skeeter right here off the TFF about 8 months ago for better than $13K.
From the Tractor Guy in Waco. Gave him $100 bills, drug the boat home. Never turned it on, fired it up or took it to the water. When I did it performed just like he said it would and I have been fishing out of it ever since. Runs and operates extremely good and no issues whatsoever.
Thanks Tractor Guy
by-the-way: I sold my Stratos the same way, the buyer never took it out. He paid me cash & took it home.
Haven't heard from him since, don't have his name......wish I did. I have a front seat here that belongs with the boat.

Good post, lots of good information

What to look for in bass boat
I put this together a while back, ended up kind of long but I think it has most everything one could need.

Compression test on the engine

And inspect it very carefully

And make shre to look at the details of the boat look at how they treated the boat (does it have big scratches) and ask your self things like that (what did they do to preserve the life of the life)