Is it just me or.....

Bassplayer

Bassplayer

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Hi to everyone here and thanks for an interesting and entertaining forum. Now, I have been around boats of the motor type for many years on and off. Now I am looking for another cruiser around 36-40' for about £30/40K or so. I have enquired after a few and it seems that I have to make an offer before anyone will even consider putting a boat in the water. Now, I know there are a lot of timewasters around, but how is one supposed to find out if you like the way a boat goes/handles etc out of the water? One broker suggested that I pay for launching and recommisioning at "around" £500 to see if this particular boats engines were ok as he didn't know; and he wasn't keen on picking me up from the local railway station even if I make the 5 hour journey! Bit of a chicken/egg situation really. Oh, one seller decided to sell his boat to someone else as soon as I mentioned a full survey - pity I had flown to Gibraltar to find that out!
So, you brokers etc on here, please let me know the protocol on this. I am willing to pay towards launching - but it might get a bit expensive looking at half a dozen boats!
 
You have partially answered your own question early on - there are simply too many people who would take the opportunity to go for a joyride if it was protocole to test drive a oat before any comittment.

Lets face it, most production boats are going to drive fine. A planing hull of 30-40ft has very little difference from one to the other. The biggest thing that affects them is weather - what would you like to do? Take a demo in the flat calm, and a F8, and go acros the channel and test all weathers? In reality, how much info will you really get from a 1 hours spin in benign weather (cos its likely in anything rough insuance would be an issue and I wouldnt blame someone for not putting to see in an unkown boat with unkown crew anyway).

I think its reasonale to do the math - look at hull profile, engine size age and the wealth of performance info on the web for most production boats and decide whether or not that adds up to your requirements. If it does, check condition of that model and accomodation. If that all adds up, then it reasonable to arrange a seatrial to confirm that that particular boat matches the specs and performance expected. I would expect to pay for the launch and fuel for any seatrial, but then I would also expect the cost to be taken off the sale price if I buy the boat - I think that is the fairest way to do things for both parties.

As for the broker not picking you up from the station, i agree thats a little non-helpful. But then you dont say the distance from the station to the broker, if he was on his own or had an office full of staff etc etc. Circumstances might have dictated it was posible rather than he wouldnt do it.
 
In the past I have been critical of brokers who make no effort to tidy up a boat they have on their books, especially if the owner lives a long way away, even just to air it before an inspection.

But, I don't think that estate agents habitually pick up prospective buyers from the train station, so I am not sure why a broker should.

With houses, cars and boats, tyre kickers are hazard of the job.
 
Yes I agree with the other comments. You have to go see a boat first, if you like it put in an offer. If the offer is accepted then you get a sea trial and then you have the boat surveyed. Should the survey come up with a number of problems, you then have the right to withdraw your offer or haggle the price down to take into account of the cost of the problems.

Good luck with your search

Barry
 
Medskipper said:
Yes I agree with the other comments. You have to go see a boat first, if you like it put in an offer. If the offer is accepted then you get a sea trial and then you have the boat surveyed. Should the survey come up with a number of problems, you then have the right to withdraw your offer or haggle the price down to take into account of the cost of the problems.

Good luck with your search

Barry
Click to expand...


Nearly there Barry, if the offer is accepted then the buyer puts down a 10% deposit subject to survey and sea trial. If the survey comes up with some major poroblems then the buyer can rescind his offer and get his deposit back.

Trust me nothing shows the buyer is ernest more than a deposit.

If the seller authorizes a sea trial prior to a deposit then theres nothing to stop the "buyer" having a free trip on the boat then turning round and saying erm no thanks I found one cheaper up the road, thus wasting everybodies time. I recently had a seller do this, against my advice, the guy had two sea trials, went away saying he would be back and never returned, meanwhile we had turned away other interested parties at the request of the seller cos he trusted this guy to proceed.

Again recently I had a buyer for a trader, which was also on slae by another broker. The buyer informs me that the other broker had a buyer, how had paid for a successfull lift and survey. Then his wife changed her mind, and they pulled out. Guess what...... the broker had not taken a deposit. When I get back to my customer to say the boat was back on the market he had gone elsewhere and bought another boat.


PS both the aforementioned boats are still up for sale
 
Thanks guys. I know what its like to have timewasters in my business. I am gratefull for the fact you can recind the contract after a bum survey. No broker told me this. The point I was trying to make that while I am willing to pay for sea trials etc I have been disappointed by the lack of interest by the brokers. Maybe the brokerage on a £40k sale isnt enough to get them excited!! I would have thought that any sale in a cold wet recessionary February would be welcome. Anyway, onwards and upwards..... I will bore you further with how I get on.
 
Bassplayer said:
Thanks guys. I know what its like to have timewasters in my business. I am gratefull for the fact you can recind the contract after a bum survey. No broker told me this. The point I was trying to make that while I am willing to pay for sea trials etc I have been disappointed by the lack of interest by the brokers. Maybe the brokerage on a £40k sale isnt enough to get them excited!! I would have thought that any sale in a cold wet recessionary February would be welcome. Anyway, onwards and upwards..... I will bore you further with how I get on.
Click to expand...

Sorry, bit late onto this thread...
I guess we are discussing second hand boats:
As Whitelighter mentioned, you can do a fair bit of research and get a good boat match to your requirements.Some boats/marques will specialise in sea keeping, or speed, or maybe accomodation etc. After that however, you cant then test drive a boat, like you can with a car, except maybe a new (and expensive) one. However, unless your requirements are at the extremes, its probably fair to suggest most boats that you narrow down on a list,will be ok.
A survey has some typical arrangements, but buying a boat is an agreement between two people only, and only succeeds if those two people work to make it succeed. To that end, as a buyer, you can make a survey subject to anything you like IN ADVANCE-, but the more unreasonable the requirements, the more obstacles you might be putting in the way.
There are different views on the deposit- both in terms of the size, even the necessity, and the conditions for it to be re-imbursed. My take is that the survey needs to show material faults, and that you and the seller cannot then agree a solution. IE, you deciding you simply dont like the boat might put your deposit at serious risk. Also, DO NOT part with any money until you have seen- and I mean with your own eyes-all the paperwork that you are expecting to be delivered to you. There are far far too many "in the post" stories, and once you have paid your money, its game over.
You need to be aware that buying a boat isnt as simple as many things in life. I expect RYA has some help on their web pages, so please make yourself familiar with the process beforehand.Most purchases go through without a hitch, but plenty of after sale problems crop up bcz people dont understand the process. There is no need to assume everyone is a crook, but do not be palmed off.. its your money, lots of it, so please make sure you are totally comfortable before even handing over a deposit.Do not assume its as easy to get it back, as it was to pay it.
Just a quick word on brokers.. as with anything, there are some fantastic ones at one end, and some others at the other. The seller is paying them commission, not you, and while outright lies will land them in hot water, I wouldnt assume you are always getting neutral advice.
And do not rush in. The first boat is highly unlikely to be the right one ;)
So, do your homework, make sure you know the process, treat people fairly but dont be naive and do do do look at several boats.
Best of luck;)
 
I cant see just what sort of Mo boat your going to buy at 36/40 ft for 30/40 grand.

If it goes at all, it's got to be a bonus. Surely it's going to be a seventies boat, when sea keeping was not great. You cant take builders figures into account, because it's doutfulif it ever achived it. If it did it was on minimal fuel and nothing else aboard.

So if you get above 12 knots, your probably doing well. If you can hit a mile per gallon your doing about £1000 per tank full., which can be used in a day. course you dont have to this, but that just means you are not going far.
 
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I find myself in similar position to OP - the internet's great in providing access to lots of sales info very quickly so you can narrow things down but there comes a point where you've got to start looking. And what do many of the brokers websites say? Look at as many boats as you can before making any purchase decisions. Obviously this is sound advice but it does mean that they are setting themselves up to deal with a lot of traffic. It's not like buying a car imo, apart from the scale of the expense there just isn't the same emotional attachment, - I guess most car salesmen do genuinely perceive every enquiry as a potential deal. Dare I say boat brokers probably see everyone as a potential timewaster? It's hardly surprising then that brokers may come across as a little diffident, I wouldn't blame them at all. Having said that, surely the size of the purchase isn't relevant - anyone who runs a successful business knows that you treat everyone the same regardless of how much they're spending, only a fool would do otherwise.
 
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