Used boat listings have a vocabulary. Most of it exists to describe a problem without naming it. None of it is deliberate fraud, mostly. It is just what people write when they want the thing gone and would rather you found out later.
The engine phrases, which are the expensive ones
On a boat the engine is most of the value. A $15,000 boat with a dead outboard is a $4,000 hull, because a repower runs $15,000 to $30,000 depending on horsepower, and that is frequently more than the whole rig is worth. So the engine phrases move the price more than anything else in the ad.
"Ran when parked." The engine ran at some point in the past, and the seller is not claiming it runs now. Assume it does not. Fuel systems gum up, cylinders rust when they sit with the plugs in, and impellers turn to biscuit.
"Turns over but won't start." The starter works. That is all this tells you, and the starter is the cheap part.
"Just needs a tune up." Sometimes true, and sometimes a way of describing an engine that has never been diagnosed. If it were a tune up, it would be running.
"Needs carb work." Often genuinely a carb rebuild on an older engine, which is a real but survivable job. On a multi-carb two-stroke it stops being survivable quickly.
"No compression", "needs a powerhead", "lower unit issue." The seller has already been told what is wrong. Price the hull and the trailer, and treat the engine as scrap with a core value.
The practical rule: if any of those appear, stop pricing the boat against running examples. Find what a comparable hull with no engine sells for, add the trailer if there is one, and start from there. That is the number, and it is usually a long way below the ask.
A dead engine does not discount the boat. It changes what the boat is.
The structural phrases, which are worse
Engines bolt on. Structure does not.
Every boat in this state started as somebody’s project. The phrase in the listing was usually “solid hull, just needs finishing”.
"Soft spot in the floor." Water has got into the deck core. The repair means cutting the deck open, and the honest version is expensive.
"Soft transom." The part the engine is bolted to has rotted. This is the single most serious phrase in a boat listing.
"Stringers need attention." The structural spine. On most trailerable boats this is where a project becomes a donation.
Flippers avoid these boats, which is a useful signal in itself. When a boat sits unsold for two months at a keen price, structure is often the reason.
The paperwork phrases
"Bill of sale only", "lost title", "title in my dad's name." Resolvable, usually, but it is a delay and a discount, and the process varies by state. Note that the boat and the trailer normally carry separate titles, so "has title" may only cover one of them.
"No trailer." Not fatal, but it is $1,500 to $5,000 you still have to spend, plus the immediate problem of how the thing gets to your driveway.
The phrases that cut the other way
The same vocabulary works in your favour. These raise what a boat is worth, or how motivated the person selling it is.
The other end of the same vocabulary. Recent service, a newer engine than the hull, and both titles in hand.
"Repowered 2021", "new to me motor." An engine newer than the hull. A 2006 boat with a 2021 four-stroke is worth more than the year in the title suggests, and this is the most commonly under-priced situation in the whole market.
"Compression tested", "service records", "just serviced." Someone has done the work and can prove it.
"Trailer included, both titles in hand." No friction. You can pay and leave.
"Must sell", "moving", "storage fees are killing me", "make an offer." Motivation. This is where the discounts actually come from, and it gets loudest at the end of the season when the storage bills land.
The claims to treat as neutral
Two phrases show up constantly and mean almost nothing on their own.
"Freshwater only." Sometimes true and genuinely valuable, because salt is what kills boats. Also unverifiable and repeated by people who heard it from the last owner. Go and look at the engine mounting bolts, the trim tabs and the trailer frame. Salt leaves evidence.
"Low hours." Meaningless without a number, and an engine that has sat unused for eight years is often in worse shape than one with steady use. Roughly speaking, under 100 hours per year of age is normal. Very low hours on an old engine is a question, not a selling point.
Why this is worth automating
None of this is difficult. It is just tedious, and it has to happen fast, because the well-priced boats go the day they are listed. Reading forty listings a day looking for the phrase that changes the maths is exactly the kind of job you eventually stop doing properly.
That is the whole reason DockSnipe exists. It reads the description, pulls out the engine, trailer and title facts, and shows you the red flags alongside the green ones on every single boat it sends, including the ones it scores well. A tool that only tells you good news is a tool you stop trusting in week two.
