Some very odd questions asked when selling a boat.

[Malo37]

These are some of the odd but genuine questions I have recently been asked by potential purchasers of my boat:
'How many miles has the boat done'?
'The mast looks awfully high, does that make her top heavy' ?
'Would she be too hot in the Med'?
'Could she cross the Atlantic'?
By phone - 'Is the boat big enough to have parties on board'?
'How long will the boat last do you think'?
Referring to the full size double berth plus single in the aft cabin - 'Is there a bigger bedroom anywhere'?
'Do you have to use the sails or can you just use the engine'?
By phone - 'Is the boat dirty'?
By phone - 'How many sails do the boat have"? Answer - 'Main, Genoa and jib.' Then - 'Yes but exactly how many sails is that then?
By phone - 'What draft is the boat'? Answer - 'One point eight meters'. Then - 'Is that more or less than six feet'?

 

[johnalison]

Classics, though I would have to think for a second about the last one.

 

[PeteCooper]

When I was selling my Intro many years ago a guy phoned and asked if the fixed fin could be converted to a lifting keel.

 

[prv]

asked by potential purchasers of my boat:

I don't think the people asking such questions were really potential purchasers though, were they?

A chap who thought he wanted to buy our 24' gaff yawl asked in all seriousness whether she had a dishwasher installed.

I advertised a GRP dinghy on eBay, with a title of "7 foot dinghy", eBay's boat-specific form filled in including the length box, and the length also clearly stated in the description. I still got some idiot emailing me to ask how long it was.

(I didn't reply; if I had, there was a risk he might have bought the thing.)

Pete

 

[haydude]

Where these all from the same person?

The strangest question I was asked (about a 5 years "almost new" boat) was "why does she have a shoal keel? Is the keel original or did you have it replaced?

 

[Birvidik_Bob]

We once had a sale of a 12+ metre boat fall through because (purportedly) "There weren't any spare parts for the cooker".

 

[Foolish Muse]

why does she have a shoal keel? Is the keel original or did you have it replaced?

asked if the fixed fin could be converted to a lifting keel

You all laugh, but: When I started sailing I stupidly bought a Tanzer 22 with a shoal keel/centreboard. I quickly learned how slow this was when racing against fin keel Tanzer 22s. Then I ran into a fellow who wanted to sail his T22 in the Carribean. We just swapped keels. So both of the above quotes were appropos.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Surprised no one has the capacity measured in middle-eastern refugees

 

[PeteCooper]

You all laugh, but: When I started sailing I stupidly bought a Tanzer 22 with a shoal keel/centreboard. I quickly learned how slow this was when racing against fin keel Tanzer 22s. Then I ran into a fellow who wanted to sail his T22 in the Carribean. We just swapped keels. So both of the above quotes were appropos.

Except that there was never a lifting keel Intro - they were all fins

 

[Capt Popeye]

Humm, you just might have invited them to take a test run, around the block, in first gear then? :-(

 

[ProDave]

Not related to a boat sale but to show how dim some people are:

While visiting the East coast of Australia, I overheard a tourist ask "what ocean is this" "Pacific" was the reply. "Don't be stupid, this can't be the Pacific, that's on the West coast of the USA"

 

[Serin]

Not related to a boat sale but to show how dim some people are:

Or, perhaps, how anxious to appear knowledgeable......

Years ago we had an old and scruffy Hillyard 9 tonner against an east coast wall for a scrub. A family group passed by and I heard the paterfamilias inform his entourage with an authoritative air that we were repairing damage to the boat from a storm encountered while we were taking part in what he referred to as "the 'ardnet race". (To giver him his due, the Fastnet race had finished the previous week, although I don't think it was a particularly arduous one. But the Hardnet Race - now that's another matter.

 

[Seashoreman]

A few years ago an American tourist leaned over the quay at Snape Maltings and asked a friend, sitting on his boat at low tide, if he was 'waiting for the rains'?
Oh how we laughed....

 

[Offshore57]

i had a bloke phone up about a powerboat I was selling....he asked what the engine was and I told him it was Yamaha 225 outboard (as in the advert, and pictures)....so he said he would be round to see the boat on sunday about lunchtime..(whole day ruined).
I get up on sunday morning, go outside and remove the covers etc...give her a wipe down, and get the hose and muffs out so I could start the motor for him when he turned up.....he turns up at 1 oclock, with a "mate who is a boat mechanic".....has a good look around...we start the motor up...runs like a clock........I'll leave you to have a chat I said, and went to make a cuppa tea......he knocked on the door.....yeah its nice, but I really want an inboard engine.....


SLAM

 

[AndrewB]

My favourite: "Does it tip?"

After they'd gone, the broker told me that sometimes it is superfluous to be strictly truthful!

 

[Neil]

Not boat related, but in Miami, a man, hearing my accent, asked where I was from; I said England. "What language do they speak there, then?"

 

[armchairsailor]

Not boat related, but in Miami, a man, hearing my accent, asked where I was from; I said England. "What language do they speak there, then?"

My SIL had a similar experience, trying to make a reverse charge call from the US to Scotland. The operator said: "I'll just find a translator..."

 

[Twister_Ken]

In Utah, asked by a waitress where I was from.

"London, England"

"Gee, that must be a long drive."

 

[DanTribe]

In Utah, asked by a waitress where I was from.

"London, England"

"Gee, that must be a long drive."

There was a TV advert, a USA local asks a visiting limey
"where ya from boy?
"London "
" This your first time?"
" No, I've been from London lots of times"

 

[Serin]

My SIL had a similar experience, trying to make a reverse charge call from the US to Scotland. The operator said: "I'll just find a translator..."

Reminds me of one of the many jokes buzzing around in my family. Old Scots gentleman (some years ago, of course) picked up the phone, was heard to say "aye, lassie, it is that" and put the receiver down. When someone asked him who that was, he replied "och, just some wee lassie saying' it's a long distance frae New York".