checking a repo inboard before you bid: the winterization and surf system you cannot see in photos

good question and the right instinct, which is to build a checklist before you get excited about a specific hull. here is what i tell people, and it is the same list i use when a customer asks me to look at a boat he is buying sight unseen.

photos to ask for beyond the listing set: the hour meter and the helm screen powered on, the engine both sides with the cover off, the raw water pump and impeller area, the V-drive dipstick wiped and re dipped so you see the oil color, all ballast tanks or bags, the surf tabs or gates in both deployed positions, the prop and shaft, the trailer bunks and brakes, and the transom and strut from under the swim step. if they will shoot a cold start video, the first few seconds tell you a lot, you want it to fire without a long crank and without blue smoke that does not clear.

reading hours. hours matter less than how they were put on and whether it was maintained. 300 hours of surf with no fluid changes is worse than 600 on a boat that got serviced every fall. you cannot always know, but ask for any service records that came back with it, sometimes there are some in the glovebox in the photos.

and the thing nobody can photograph, winterization. a boat that got repossessed in the fall may or may not have been winterized before it sat. that is the real risk in a cold climate repo, a block that froze and cracked over a winter nobody was paying attention. ask directly whether it was winterized and when, and budget to pull the impeller and check the block drains and the gear oil the day it lands no matter what they say.

the Wakesetter guy here. from the buyer side, a few things i wish i had looked harder at before i bid through conaway's. ask for a photo of the center ballast tank filling if they can, because mine was slow to prime and that is invisible in a static shot. ask how many keys and fobs came with it. and ask for the actual title in hand, a photo of it, so you know the lender really has clean title to release, which on the conaway listing they did, it was in the tube, but i would confirm before i wired.

on the surf system from photos, you mostly cannot judge the wave, you can only judge that the parts move. get the tabs or gates shown in both positions and the ballast shown full. the wave itself is something you dial after it arrives, which took me three months and this whole forum, so do not expect to bid on a perfect wave, bid on a complete and working boat and plan to learn the wave yourself.

budget for commissioning as part of the price, that is the one new buyers forget. whatever you bid, add a few hundred for an impeller, gear oil, an oil change, maybe a battery and a set of fuses, and plan a half day with the engine cover off before you ever launch it. a repo is a used boat that nobody loved for a while, so treat the first day as a service day, not a surf day.

the one that bites people like me, check the trailer as hard as you check the boat. tires rot by date not miles and a repo trailer sat outside. look at the DOT date codes on the trailer tires in the photos, look at the bunks, and look for surface rust on the brakes. a boat is useless if the trailer strands you on the way home. i had to replace both trailer tires on a boat i bought used because they were seven years old with good tread and one let go on the interstate.

the G23 guy. two process things that helped me. first, read the terms before you bid, not after. the 30 day money back window only covers a lot that was materially misrepresented, which is not the same as a lot that had a dead stereo fuse, so know what is actually protected. a boat that shows up roughly as described but needs normal used boat work is on you, and that is fair, it is a repo not a new boat.

second, get your money sorted before the close. financing was not offered on mine, because the lender's lien rides along on the paperwork until the full balance clears, which means wiring cash or arranging a loan through your own bank or credit union ahead of time. the bid ends on its clock, not yours, and nothing stings like winning a boat you then cannot pay for. pick your ceiling while your head is cool and refuse to push past it once the final hour gets loud.