Presenting boats for sale

boatone

boatone

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29 Jul 2001
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Just a few cables from Boulters Lock
www.tmba.org.uk
We are considering a change of craft and have been looking around up and down the river.

Sad to see how many boats are not really tarted up to attract buyers. Dirty loos, broken hinges, and other minor problems that could so easily be rectified. Leaves you wondering how well the boat has been looked after.
 
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Unfortunately it was ever thus. Back in the early 80's when I bought my first I was surprised how many had more or less been abandoned by the owners when put up for sale. The same applies to houses too. No thought whatsoever about making it attractive to potential buyers.

I clearly remember one boat I looked at I tripped over something on the cockpit floor on boarding only to find it was a machete. It sticks in my mind as I actually ended up buying it! (The boat not the machete.)
 
Great news IMHO. You can make a nice low bid, as they don't really want it any more!

You try making a harsh offer on a mint example, it's usually not accepted!
 
It's beyond me why anyone would put a dirty boat on the market. First impressions and all that, it makes no sense at all.

Even if the owner doesn't care anymore, you'd think it would be in the brokers interest to give some of them a wash first.

From some boats I've seen for sale, it looks like that could also apply to the owners :D
 
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My friend has just sold a mint Marex280 in 2wks for the full asking price privately.
Had 3 couples look,all the wives went straight to the head for a look,all came out smiling and nodded at hubby,the couple that bought it said they had been looking for a while and it was the best they'd seen,all the others including the one at penton hook for 65k were dirty and the toilets hadn't been cleaned etc.
Why? It beggars belief!
 
Opened the oven on one boat to discover the carcass of a chicken, green with furry bits.

Checked the engine on another to discover the cylinder head was missing and some serious bore corrosion.

Both were described as being in excellent condition.

But the worst was a boat, a trailer sailor I traveled a long way to look at and did not even get out of the car. She was described as ready to go sailing with an excellent trailer. What I saw was 4 flat tires, the keel support was rusted out or broken and the hull was resting on 4 supports the rear one that I can see having caused massive deformation and cracking. I would not have minded so much but I had quizzed him quite hard about the trailer on the phone the night before as I had the cash in hand and if I had liked it would have hitched it up to drive home. He told me it was absolutely ready to go. First class condition recently painted etc.

I decided at that point that " There were liars, there were damned liars and then there were people selling boats. "
 
If only owners would clean and present their boats well, it would make things so much easier!

Good, clean boats that smell nice (v important) sell for a good price, dirty, unloved ones don't.
 
Having looked at lots of boats for sale around the country over the years it seems that some ares are better than others in terms of presentation and cleanliness. Huge generalisation I know but south coast has tended to be better than many areas and the Thames has always been the worst by far in our experience. I have no idea why that would be the case but it has been fairly consistent, so much so that we would think twice before travelling to the area to view.

No offence intended to anyone currently selling their boat on the Thames :)

What are you thinking of getting Tony? You will have to look long and hard to get a better looking boat than your Hardy :)
 
Greg2 said:
You can do a lot worse :) Very good boats but I guess you know that already :)
Click to expand...

Did very briefly toy with Broom Crown with rather ancient Perkins or Fairline Brava, the problem with the Brava is the KAD42 Turbo/Supercharged engines.
The absolute racket they make when under way really has to be heard to be believed.
A nice pair of lazy olde 41s will do me just fine.
Problem as always is finding the right boat. :)
 
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