Boat Buying Blues

[Spoonie]

This insurance unavailability seems to be a uniquely American thing.

No it's a problem here too... Especially old boats on moorings, surveyed or not.  Might be better now I don't know but after every storm here it seems like the insurance goes up as random mooring minder X washes up on a beach and takes a few more expensive boats with it.

 

[AnotherSailor]

Sorry, you did what? You paid a couple of grand without anything in writing? You don't have her DL # or anything else besides a CL ad? And now you want to fuck with her by having your lawyer family member write her a letter?

It is you who has been fucked with. 

 

[huwp]

Bad advice 

I don't know about there, but here you usually need a survey to get insurance, esp if the boat is 20+ years

 

[loneshark64]

Don’t give up. Get a broker, buy a boat, fix what’s wrong with it, go sail. All of these used boats are fucked up. It shouldn’t take a year and a half. Pull the trigger. And whatever you do don’t tell the sellers you have been looking for a year and a half.

 

[Steam Flyer]

Don’t give up. Get a broker, buy a boat, fix what’s wrong with it, go sail. All of these used boats are fucked up. It shouldn’t take a year and a half. Pull the trigger. And whatever you do don’t tell the sellers you have been looking for a year and a half.

This

FB- Doug

 

[Rain Man]

Do they have small claims court there?  By the time the lawyer writes that letter, you already paid more for the letter than you lost in the deal.

 

[Capt. Andy]

Don’t give up. Get a broker, buy a boat, fix what’s wrong with it, go sail. All of these used boats are fucked up. It shouldn’t take a year and a half. Pull the trigger. And whatever you do don’t tell the sellers you have been looking for a year and a half.

Good advice. I've been looking for "problems" that help me eliminate potential boats rather than seeing the potential of older boats that need work. And I'm going to focus on broker's listings and work through them.

Also, I received a cashier's check for the deposit. In the future I have to be a bit smarter and have a written offer sheet with basic information and agreement.

 

[Parma]

I still think you should just go and take it.

 

[loneshark64]

I still think you should just go and take it.

I am game for a cutting-out expedition.

 

[loneshark64]

Good advice. I've been looking for "problems" that help me eliminate potential boats rather than seeing the potential of older boats that need work. And I'm going to focus on broker's listings and work through them.

Also, I received a cashier's check for the deposit. In the future I have to be a bit smarter and have a written offer sheet with basic information and agreement.

Sounds like a plan! I learned so much from buying a 35 yo boat with a survey that was sailable but weird and needed a bunch of work. 

 

[Bull City]

I have been looking for a 30' sailboat for the past year and a half. Traveled hours to see "excellent" boats that turn out to have black mold, wet decks, bad engines, and rotting bulkheads. Except for yesterday when I checked out a really nice Catalina that the owner had put lots of time and care into. I put down 10% deposit and will purchase pending survey. I get home and email half a dozen surveyors and get one who can see the boat early next week. Today the owner calls saying she's talked with another buyer who's basically offering cash now sight unseen and since I hadn’t put down “earnest money” She’s going with the other offer. (Isn’t a deposit “earnest money”?) I told her to tear up the deposit check, well she’s already deposited it and would have to send me a check. What the fuck.  I get that it’s a sellers’ market, I get that she wants to sell fast but her telling me she loves the sailing community because it’s a ”real community that helps each other out” and that she wants to sell to someone like me “who will learn on the boat” is sounding a bit like bullshit. In the end it’s about the cash. As I told my wife before driving up to the boat, this is the last boat I’m looking at. And it was.

Call Rudy G. Sue her.

You should at least have a letter agreement with dates, conditions, etc. If you don't, drop the Captain from "Capt. Andy" - a real captain wouldn't make such a rookie mistake.

 

[ropetrick]

Congratulations!!!  Ya' got your money back.

Never confuse luck and skill.

 

[Grande Mastere Dreade]

and    .....    never fall in love with a boat until after you buy it..

 

[h20man]

Yes. In retrospect I would have done things differently. At least note a drivers license #, confirm it's her name on a title, and something in writing. But still, if she's a scammer would it matter? And if a scammer why would she call the next morning telling me she's selling to someone else? Whole thing doesn't make sense. And it's still listed on CL without a "Sale Pending" notice. I did make a complaint with  the Sheriff's office.  If I were a diver, I'd dive the boat to make sure the zinc's are on good and tight. Turn the bolts counter clockwise is my understanding.

NO NO NO..... 

FOR NEPTUNES SAKE .. that is all wrong...

Ensure you have several  slightly old cucumbers (wrapped in cling film) and old potatoes.

To make sure the boat is safe... and the seacocks do not leak you insert (whilst diving) the cucumber then the potato into the seacocks.  .. use a hammer if you must..

The most important one is the engine intake.. then gen intake..  then the discharge seacocks...

I am a very conscientious person.. and I have done this for my Neighbors in se3cluded coves when they remind me that they did not do the preventative maintenance due to the generator and loud music running all night...  Since I can't sleep.. a quick dive with cucumbers, potatoes..  works wonders...

I find that noisy Neighbors tend to appreciate my subtle gesture, as not long after they shut the  generator down and the music stops.. and  I can sleep.

It pays to be nice.....

 

[axolotl]

But insurance companies are becoming less and less interested in insuring 30 year old fg boats.

Cry me a river.  Try insuring a 49 year old FG boat.  The only reason I'm still insured is I've been with the same independent agent for 32 years and he's switched carriers several times as the market for ancient boat insurance evolves.  And it's gold plated agreed value insurance,  pricey @ $1,400/yr because agreed value is about double my guess at market value.  Mariner's knows boats and last time I visited with them I asked why they're still insuring me with such an inflated AV Frank said I've paid premiums up for a total loss over the years & +32 years of interest has been huge profits.  Not to mention my boat was slipped in sight of his office windows for a decade,  we used to do lunch and race against each other in local stuff.

A good insurance broker is well worth the premium.

 

[axolotl]

If a boat's worth over $50,000 after the owner guided tour at the slip if I'm interested I'll never deal with the owner again until signing ceremonies at the bank.  I'll hire a broker who will take the boat off the market through the earnest money process, subject to an out of the water survey I pay for (if no recent one is available) and if satisfactory a sea trial maybe with the owners.  Only then through my broker I will a make a counter offer listing deficiencies and respond to their counter, etc.  If we can't agree I get my earnest money back and offer to release my survey at a discount to facilitate their future efforts.

It works pretty good.  I looked at 15 boats of the genre I desired (took a year) and dismissed the overpriced junkers, earnest money deposited on two and paid for surveys,  one revealed big problems the other had a clean bill of health so after negotiations concerning price mainly concerning whether the dinghy was part of the boat, deal.

 

[Monkey]

Boat buying can be weird. I’m currently on a verbal deal, but thankfully the current owner and I get along great. It helps that even though I didn’t know him well, we have dozens of mutual friends. Even so, we agreed I’d put a deposit down and we’d sign a buyer’s agreement before I have to start spending money  (survey, get a cradle built, etc.) It’s just better for everyone.