Buying a boat.

[oldgit]

Anybody else have the feeling that buying a boat sometime involves more anguish and doubt than buying a perishing home.
First the depression of being unable to sell your boat, then the elation of selling it.
Next the worrying conclusion that you sold your present boat too cheaply when you start searching for the new one.
After that the frustration of viewing heaps of tired old rubbish miles from home and the gathering suspicion that all brokers are thieves,vagabonds and fibbers..
Finally finding something that half meets your needs, is probably affordable, then lying awake at 02.00 GMT wondering if your offer is too low and will be declined.
The joy of finding your offer accepted and desperate race round to get all your finances in a row all the time wondering if the seller is already rubbing his hands with glee and already transfering your hard earned to some obsqure russian bank and sizing up his next victim.
You want it. ....When !!!...... Sorry mate might be able to collect it next month.
Delivery day,.The low loader is already well overdue the hoist cannot wait forever and the lorry drivers phone is giving number unobtainable.
Were those temps a bit high and the oil pressures a teeny bit low on that test run.
O God what have I done.
Over to you.

 

[Murv]

Not when buying a T36!
OK, so old boat sold for pretty much scrap value, and good riddance.
New boat found, looks nice (well, obviously, it's a T36)
Boat thoroughly checked over by VolvoPaul so an assurance that it's not going to be a repeat experience of the first boat.
Can we afford to buy and run it? Nope? Well, buy it anyway...
Brokers were great, very helpful and delivery taken care of by an exceptionally kind club member.
Three years, 390 hours and around 3000nm later, couldn't be happier

 

[BruceK]

Cant say I had any problems with mine. My broker at NYA was uber helpful and accommodating. Ignorance was bliss tbh but I got a fantastic deal in hindsight

 

[Newbroom]

After the oh s~~t what have I done. How am I going to afford that.
How I am going to get it home
Now its home all those little jobs are turning into bigger jobs.
Bu##er why didnt I negotiate harder.
I don't care its a great boat

 

[KINGFISHER 9]

It's never as easy as you make it sound!

 

[Solent Sailor]

No, I love it all! In fact, there are times when I wonder that I don't enjoy the wheeler dealing and maintenance more than the actual boating (but then I cast the lines off any remember why we do this!).

I think I'm fairly unique that I've never lost capital on a boat or property sale or purchase so far. I've always bought at a good price and sold at a better one. I've lost money on incidental running costs and my own labour/time in improving boats but I've enjoyed the work, so I don't see it as a loss. Probably wouldn't make a great business model though. I've also always avoided brokers on selling - although they've invariably been a part of the purchase process, and I've met good and bad, and have sometimes made the process easier than dealing direct with the vendor would have been.

We made a fairly spur of the moment decision to sell our yacht last year - having only owned it for 12 months and having big plans for what we were going to do with it that season. However, the penny just dropped and we concluded that a mobo would suit our needs better and we're really glad we did. One fortuitous conversation led to another and we agreed a private sale very quickly avoiding brokerage costs and troubles! We then spent the following months trawling around Europe for the right boat, seeing a heck of a lot of rubbish and overpriced junk, and eventually making a couple of offers which we were glad weren't accepted in retrospect. We then found two examples of the boat we eventually did buy for sale at opposite ends of the UK (funny as there were only ever 9 of these boats built to the best of my research!).

The one we did buy, we are very very happy with and despite being boatless from April to June last year, the wait was worth it. I'd have to spend at least five times as much to buy any other boat that I liked as much as this one.

 

[oldgit]

It's never as easy as you make it sound!

then the bits start dropping off.

 

[Dazzajohm]

Sounds all to familiar.

Put my last boat up for sale last year as I had aspirations of getting something much bigger and hence more expensive which I already had my eye on thinking she won’t sell. Well she did and very quickly and was left thinking perhaps she was up too cheap even though I did make a few quid on what I paid for her (but as another poster commented I probably lost in the long run with maintenance and repairs).

Then it was several weeks of back and forth with the broker, survey, offers, counter offers, discussions about survey results and when around a month later I transferred my life savings over to pay for the new boat I was left thinking what the hell was I doing - I should have bought a flat instead and rented it out. But every time I go down the marina, even if it’s not to actually take the boat out I realise I made the right choice... so far ��

 

[maby]

We've always enjoyed boat purchase and have looked forward impatiently to the day that we take possession of the new one. On the other hand, we've never bought from anyone that was not willing to take our previous boat in part exchange - that does take much of the pressure off.

 

[gery w]

I to have also found myself to be in a similar predicament having spent the last four years enjoying my corniche and saying to myself I will never part with this boat I lept at the opportunity to buy an unused and unloved bargain phantom 40.
So now I find myself getting nagged on an almost daily basis by her indoors asking if the corniche has sold and why hasn’t it sold etc and often wish I hadn’t bothered buying another boat before I sold the first one��

 

[superheat6k]

Not when buying a T36!
OK, so old boat sold for pretty much scrap value, and good riddance.
New boat found, looks nice (well, obviously, it's a T36)
Boat thoroughly checked over by VolvoPaul so an assurance that it's not going to be a repeat experience of the first boat.
Can we afford to buy and run it? Nope? Well, buy it anyway...
Brokers were great, very helpful and delivery taken care of by an exceptionally kind club member.
Three years, 390 hours and around 3000nm later, couldn't be happier

I remember your nightmare before the Turbo 36 ! Not up for a Corvette yet then ?

 

[Hot Property]

I to have also found myself to be in a similar predicament having spent the last four years enjoying my corniche and saying to myself I will never part with this boat I lept at the opportunity to buy an unused and unloved bargain phantom 40.
So now I find myself getting nagged on an almost daily basis by her indoors asking if the corniche has sold and why hasn’t it sold etc and often wish I hadn’t bothered buying another boat before I sold the first one��

Try explaining to SWMBO the fact that I bought another boat before selling previous one then bought another one to replace boat 2!! I did sell both boats for close to what I originally paid for them but the storage fees at the boatyard eat into that...

 

[gery w]

I have yet to tell her that the mooring fees are due in April for both boats and that unless the Corniche sells she won’t get a holiday this year! I can hear her now....I hope the boat sells soon for my sake

 

[maby]

Try explaining to SWMBO the fact that I bought another boat before selling previous one then bought another one to replace boat 2!! I did sell both boats for close to what I originally paid for them but the storage fees at the boatyard eat into that...

That is the trouble, isn't it? I've seen people spend a couple of years trying to sell a boat for £10,000 which was on a marina berth costing close to £5,000 per year - they would have come out better off either giving it away, or towing it out to sea and sinking it.

 

[Murv]

I remember your nightmare before the Turbo 36 ! Not up for a Corvette yet then ?

No, not just yet, enjoying the T36 too much at present!

 

[ari]

Anybody else have the feeling that buying a boat sometime involves more anguish and doubt than buying a perishing home.
First the depression of being unable to sell your boat, then the elation of selling it.
Next the worrying conclusion that you sold your present boat too cheaply when you start searching for the new one.
After that the frustration of viewing heaps of tired old rubbish miles from home and the gathering suspicion that all brokers are thieves,vagabonds and fibbers..
Finally finding something that half meets your needs, is probably affordable, then lying awake at 02.00 GMT wondering if your offer is too low and will be declined.
The joy of finding your offer accepted and desperate race round to get all your finances in a row all the time wondering if the seller is already rubbing his hands with glee and already transfering your hard earned to some obsqure russian bank and sizing up his next victim.
You want it. ....When !!!...... Sorry mate might be able to collect it next month.
Delivery day,.The low loader is already well overdue the hoist cannot wait forever and the lorry drivers phone is giving number unobtainable.
Were those temps a bit high and the oil pressures a teeny bit low on that test run.
O God what have I done.
Over to you.

I think you've missed a step. What about the bit where your first offer is accepted, leading to the inevitable 3am conclusion that you've paid far too much, seller must be desperate to get rid so must have bought a basketcase, and what about that other boat that you discovered for sale after making the offer but before it was accepted - bet that's a better boat!

Other than that, spot on!

 

[oldgit]

and what about that other boat that you discovered for sale after making the offer but before it was accepted - bet that's a better boat

forgot that one ....and what about the absolute pristine bargain unicorn that was virtually being given away, you found a few months previously, unable to buy because you could not get a single soul to look at your existing boat.
Corse when you were able to buy it had long gone.

 

[alt]

We had quite the opposite experience buying a 37ft sports cruiser.

Went to the yard to have a nosy... asked a mechanic and next thing I had the owners number. Talking with the owner he told me to go ahead and have a look inside.

2 weeks later she's back in the water. Ask the owner if I could arrange a test run "Keys under the seat, work away" - didn't even want diesel money. Brought her out, rang back the owner.... a few phone calls later I was on to his mortgage provider to double check they had all the paperwork. All OK... transferred the remainder of the guys loan to mortgage provider, transferred the rest to the owner.

On the lifter, on the low loader.... few hours later she's back in my home club. Few days later, paperwork arrives from mortgage provider.

Did all this without ever meeting the owner! We're easy to deal with, us Irish.

PS. Now have the boat 6 (or 7?!) years, zero problems but spent a few €€€ on upgrades.

 

[oldgit]

Did all this without ever meeting the owner! We're easy to deal with, us Irish.

PS. Now have the boat 6 (or 7?!) years, zero problems but spent a few €€€ on upgrades.

Back in the mists of time and looking for our first proper Mobo upgrade.
Wandering around in a 99% yachty boat yard down in the Hamble, its freezing cold and the rain is horizontal.
Neglected in a corner and looking very sorry for itself is a motorboat with half its covers blown off but proudly sporting a damp faded real joke price sticker.
Six months later,still trying to sell my old boat and resigned to keeping boat for another season.
Receive phone call from an army major reading Boats and Outboards (dead tree version) at Stanstead airport, asking about my boat. He is waiting to fly out to Kosovo.
Explains he is looking for small boat to keep on the Broads if/when he returns but has a boat to sell, its located on the Hamble, Would I be interested in a P/X.
His boat turns out to be the boat we had previously viewed several months before.
Make a cheeky offer of my boat and cash which he accepts.
He never came to see the boat he bought and accepted my description over the phone.
A week later my new boat is sitting on its mooring and old boat is on a low loader up to Brundall
Last communication with buyer was a message to say he had returned safely from his tour of duty and was very pleased indeed with his new boat.