Sunsail Yacht Brokerage - anyone ever buy?

[Irish Rover]

I'm at the very early stages of thinking about changing my 34' power cat for something a bit bigger and a bit younger [mine is 2003]. I saw Sunsail had a couple of Leopard power cats for sale at the end of last season which are now sold and I plan to keep an eye out to see if they have similar offers this year. I gather most of what they sell are ex charter boats and I'm just wondering if anyone has bought from them and what your general experience has been. Are the boats they offer for sale generally well maintained with full disclosure of any known issues or is it a case of thread warily? Are their boats priced to sell or is there room for negotiation? Any and all advice appreciated.

 

[Bajansailor]

The Moorings brokerage appears to have the same power cats for sale as Sunsail (not surprising, as they both have the same parent company I think).
Not much currently though in the Med - just this one in Croatia, and it is 'sale pending'.
Leopard 39 PowerCat Power Catamaran for sale | The Moorings Yacht Brokerage

In the Caribbean (and I presume the Med) Sunsail and The Moorings do a 'phase out' re-fit when the vessel is retired from their charter fleet, prior to being offered for sale. These re-fits do seem to generally tackle everything that needs doing, to bring them up to a determined standard.
What you will find which cannot be covered by these re-fits are high engine hours and general wear and tear from 24/7 usage.

 

[RJJ]

We moored next to a chap with an ex-Sunsail 36 (Jeanneau, monohull) last year in Greece. After IIRC three years of his ownership, his yacht was immaculate, him having spent a few quids on cosmetic improvements (new sprayhood and covers, rubbed and polish topsides, replaced guardrails and repaired every gelcoat ding).

When I commented on it, he told me Sunsail had been fantastic. Data point of one...but very positive.

I wouldn't hesitate, in principle, to buy ex-charter from a big brand. Discount the heavily-used and abused sails and anchor gear; allow for some cosmetic repairs and get a really good survey. You'll get a boat whose engine, rigging and steering has probably been better-maintained than most weekend warriors, from a seller with a strong incentive to build their reputation.

 

[RupertW]

We bought ours from Sunsail and they were very professional. The boat was 10 years old and much cheaper than other boats of similar size and age and they were honest online and in person that it needed a lot of tlc but was “fully functional”. They took note of the 34 things I found not working and agreed to 5k off the price and to fix over 20 of them (mostly individual lights, seized winches, broken jammers etc).

They couldn’t have been more friendly and a couple of the maintenance crew offered to do private jobs for us if we stayed in the marina which we did for 3 years. And they handled all the Croatian paperwork and unflagging.

 

[Irish Rover]

We bought ours from Sunsail and they were very professional. The boat was 10 years old and much cheaper than other boats of similar size and age and they were honest online and in person that it needed a lot of tlc but was “fully functional”. They took note of the 34 things I found not working and agreed to 5k off the price and to fix over 20 of them (mostly individual lights, seized winches, broken jammers etc).

They couldn’t have been more friendly and a couple of the maintenance crew offered to do private jobs for us if we stayed in the marina which we did for 3 years. And they handled all the Croatian paperwork and unflagging.

That's very helpful and informative. Thank you.