If you look closely you can see my wife is the "Skipper" that is, until it get's honky. But for your considerations, my best friend is a power boater and has had several, I spend much time on his boat and have been to a lot of look overs with him, and spent way to much time in discussion.

What we have found is Bayliners are basically good boats. But there have been exceptions and at some point in the line they are considered throwawys, that is they do the 20 years.

The pictures, it looks clean and in good shape, but they all do. Hire a surveyer and have it inspected and sea trialled, worth every cent. It it's Merc, all the better.

IO's are, in general, less hassle until they go bad. If it's clean with little corrision you are better off. It looks nice and it's of sufficent size and ammenities to provide you a nice weekend cruising experience.

Thing about boats is they are built to 2 different markets, fresh water and sea-worthy. Folks on lakes even big ones, don't often experience the conditions of off shore, in nasties. We regularly race our boat in 25 plus mph winds and 5-8 foot seas, you don't see that as much on lakes. So boats are built to 2 different standards based on where they think they will be used.

The boat you are looking at is a very popular model and I'm sure there has been plenty written and available about it. Check Soundings, they may have reviewed it. Look to Boats US for any problems with it.

It's not a recomendation to buy this specific boat, but if it looks and proves to be good, you will disscover a whole new world of experiences. In boating there is an old adage, If the wife goes along, go for it. In the end many a guy fights the wife over attention to her or the boat. if she is "on board" 3/4ths of the battle is won before you even have an adventure.

Picture is of my wife driving in a race off shore in 25 plus winds and the sea's had just deminished from 4-7 foot. It took a lot of years to get her there, but she has begrudgingly enjoyed most of the ride.

WOW SoC...... she is a great skipper!

Thanks for such great advice, I will use it, thanks!  

Shot of the engine, fuel tank, and below deck system eyeballed.

I once had a Mercruiser 4 cylinder 170hp I/O. That engine leaked coolant from every joint on the engine. It was "half" a v8 engine,  Ford I think, but it could have been a Chevy. I got rid of that thing quickly. Subsequently, I heard about major engine troubles with that engine, I think I dodged a bullet.

This was around 1985 but I do remember lawsuits against Mercruiser because of repeated engine failures.  The one I had ran beautifully but I knew enough to tell that it was going to be trouble.

You replace the decks and transom ,what were they? plywood incased in that wonderful fiberglass? if the plywood had been painted first with epoxy ,they would have never needed to be replaced as they would have been protected from water /rot.  fiberglass hides damage ,where metal and wood damage can be seen and more easily repaired . but to each is own.

well your right there aren't many old  wooden boats around but " Old Ironsides " will be 221 years old on Oct 21 of this year.