Things to look for when buying a used boat

I am buying a 1995 Sport Nautique with the GT40 motor. The boat is in great shape with 600 hrs, Air boom tower, and other essential goodies. What should i look for when wet testing the boat?

Check it at all speeds for vibrations of any kind, listen to the motor, make sure steering is easy...transmission goes into gear forward and reverse silky...basic stuff like that.

Take a friend maybe that can be non-biased in case you have your boat goggles on.

^^^ All good advice. I would only add taking it to a good mechanic for a pre purchase inspection like you would a car. If they find anything, you can use it as a bargaining tool which could more than pay for the price of the inspection. If they find nothing, you just paid for peace of mind. That's worth something too.

Have access to internet.

See if they can produce any maintenance records. All it took for us was to have the guy we were buying it from to call the marina he uses. They printed up some receipts and that was that. Couldn't agree more with TIm C. Bring someone who doesn't know much about boats. Sometimes they'll be a voice of reason. They can be the ones to say, "is that noise/vibration/felling normal?". Good luck! It looks like a nice boat from the pictures!

When the boat is in the water make sure to check the trailer out. Buddy of mine bought a used boat about 4 months ago. Boat checked out. Amazing condition. Didnt check the trailer. The other day I just happened to look over at the trailer when in the parking lot while the boat was still in the water and noticed that one of the main tubes was barely hanging together by less than an inch of the steel in between the 2 wheels. Luckily I caught it and they got it welded up and trued cuz that could have been a very gnarly accident if it let go while trowing down the highway