Dreadful photos of boats for sale (please contribute examples)

Greenheart

Greenheart

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Photos add plenty to a description, so image quality must be half the reason why potential buyers decide whether or not to get in touch.

Dark or blurred photos, or those that do not identify which way is up/down or forward/astern (or what exactly is shown) are a daft missed opportunity.

This one made me wonder if the galley is on a slope, or if the door-jamb is out of plumb...and how hard it would have been to take a better one. ?

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Dreadful photos are probably honest so you won't waste time and money on looking at the boat, so no need to get hot under the collar.

On the other hand I have traveled a few hundred miles to view boats on the strength of a good set of photos only to find that they were taken years ago when the boat had just been refitted/launched. The reality was often a dirty worn out mess. Two boats had greasy frying pans left in the sink and lots of other nasty finds.
Another had the head lining stripped out of a cabin. Its owner said he did not bother with a sail cover as the main sail needed replacing (I wonder why?) and was not interested in negotiating the price, which just might have been justified for a recently refitted boat ready to go.
I remember finding a horizontal groove worn in an alloy mast at boom level and a torn sail cover showing a tan sail bleached white by the sun. I refrained from poking my finger through the UV rotted sail.

There is a lot to be said for buying through a broker who should give an unbiased description of the boat and current photos if you ask.
 
srm said:
Dreadful photos are probably honest so you won't waste time and money on looking at the boat, so no need to get hot under the collar.

On the other hand I have traveled a few hundred miles to view boats on the strength of a good set of photos only to find that they were taken years ago when the boat had just been refitted/launched. The reality was often a dirty worn out mess. Two boats had greasy frying pans left in the sink and lots of other nasty finds.
Another had the head lining stripped out of a cabin. Its owner said he did not bother with a sail cover as the main sail needed replacing (I wonder why?) and was not interested in negotiating the price, which just might have been justified for a recently refitted boat ready to go.
I remember finding a horizontal groove worn in an alloy mast at boom level and a torn sail cover showing a tan sail bleached white by the sun. I refrained from poking my finger through the UV rotted sail.

There is a lot to be said for buying through a broker who should give an unbiased description of the boat and current photos if you ask.
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Had an experience not dissimilar to that despite the boat being with a major brokerage. Photos showed a beautifully polished blue hull and immaculate boat. Reality was something essentially abandoned on its mooring and covered in bird plop, mould everywhere inside and the hull a chalky white with blue patches.

broker didn’ t actually turn up on the day but sent an apologetic lackey. I wonder why.

about six months after I bought my boat, I discovered another broker recycling pictures from the ad for my own boat in order to advertise another of the same model! They’d clipped the interior pics, presumably because the vessel on their books was in something of a state of inner turmoil similar to the pics posted above.

brokers and private vendors are all just people, and the problem is you can’t trust people at all.
 
At one time we were looking for a Westerly Storm. The pictures of one we saw were pretty awful but the spec was good with new engine and recent instruments and a keen price. Thinking that it would want a really good clean up and probably a bit spent on new canvas and stuff we went to look at it.
The photo's didn't do it justice, it was even worse. We walked away pretty quick. Had a nice pub lunch on the way home though. :)
 
Laysula said:
The photos didn't do it justice, it was even worse. We walked away pretty quick. Had a nice pub lunch on the way home though. :)
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? Even if one later regrets missing an unbought boat, the intelligence of not buying always ought to be celebrated.

It hadn't occurred to me that rotten photos may be intentionally obscure - I thought they just showed incompetence.

Given how easy it is to take a perfectly adequate photo, I'll remember to be highly suspicious when they're poor or unclear.
 
Although my boat was in great condition when I sold last year, I was living aboard so there was "clutter" and lots of books. Everything was put away neatly but it looked "lived in".
My broker gave me excellent advice on how to present it and what photos he required. I spent a weekend stripping out personal effects (including all the books) and taking new photos. Broker assembled these over the week and "published" the ad on a Friday evening. Boat sold to first viewer the next day in truly awful (30kts, torrential rain) conditions.
A good broker will guide an enthusiastic seller and with the right price (especially in the current market) they should find a buyer quickly.
 
At least they're honest - or is the word I'm looking for naïve?

When we were house hunting, I came to the conclusion that the best simile for lying was to lie like an estate agent's photo. Hid I been boat hunting, it would probably have been a broker instead of an estate agent.
 
V1701 said:
...brokers [cannot] be blamed for the states owners leave their boats in...
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I don't mind if the state of a pictured boat is repellent, as long as the photo doesn't misrepresent that fact.

What I call lousy photos are, I imagine, provided without any intent to deceive: when the proximity or angle from which a view is captured, leaves the reader wondering what (and where) he's looking at.

It's rarely too difficult to introduce something that shows the scale or whereabouts of the item in the view...but most photos don't.

Another daft thing, apart from relying on a weak flash that can create a worse picture than the unlit gloom, and the awful habit of holding the device at eccentric angles to capture something, despite the fact that the image will be seen 'upright' giving a very odd and unexplained perspective...

...the other daft thing is failure to include the view of a cabin from as far back as possible. So, we get a close-up of a cooker, and another of a VHF, a sofa cushion and the inside of a locker, but no single shot shows how they share the space. Layouts may be found online, but one good picture would help.

I think it's because people insist on seeing what each photo will capture before they press the button, so they stand behind the device, which prevents the image being taken from a farthest corner or bulkhead. Digital photography allows hundreds of images to be captured without waste or expense, so there's no need to inspect each view as in the old days.

It could also be that the seller, or their representative, doesn't give a damn.
 
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My friend has just bought a new boat (new to him) over a hundred thousand pounds. In the words of his wife, it was minging when she saw it. :). However plenty of elbow grease and it is now immaculate. The broker told him that he did tell the vendor, if he payed a valeting company a thousand or so to clean it up, he would probably have got another ten thou for it.
 
dancrane said:
I don't mind if the state of a pictured boat is repellent, as long as the photo doesn't misrepresent that fact.

What I call lousy photos are, I imagine, provided without any intent to deceive: when the proximity or angle from which a view is captured, leaves the reader wondering what (and where) he's looking at.

It's rarely too difficult to introduce something that shows the scale or whereabouts of the item in the view...but most photos don't.

Another daft thing, apart from relying on a weak flash that can create a worse picture than the unlit gloom, and the awful habit of holding the device at eccentric angles to capture something, despite the fact that the image will be seen 'upright' giving a very odd and unexplained perspective...
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Perhaps they have been watching Homes Under The Hammer where every agent valuing the finished house seems to be leaning at 30 degrees to the vertical!
 
In principle it is fabulous that nowadays everybody can take good (or adequate) photos without needing cumbersome kit or careful consideration and preparation of how they compose the picture, in order to avoid wasting film and time...

...the downside is that this freedom also admits the witlessness of people pointing cameras straight into the main light source, or holding a 'portrait' screen to capture a 'landscape' scene...

...let alone their dreaded angular 'artistic' notions. ?
 
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