Went to look at a boat today............

[steveej]

Went to look at a boat today.......

Wasn't the best start when a quick look around the hull showed it was ridden with pox.

Deck wasn't much better.

Went down below to view the accommodation, cough cough the 'clutter'. Apparently it ''comes with the boat''.

I was too kind to say that it adds no value and that I could go to poundworld with 50 quid in my back pocket and buy 'new'.

Boat on the hard in the middle of summer.

Black oil leak in the engine bay.

Cannot inspect the boat due to the clutter.

Photos clearly from 10 years ago.

Old mans floating shed.

3 hour round trip when you cannot even inspect the boat.

Annoyed.

 

[Concerto]

The advertising worked to get you to look at the boat.

Were you dealing with the owner or an agent? If an agent, then name and shame would be my advice. If the owner, then a serious email about his misrepresentation of the condition. If it was a family member, then it is probably a probate sale by someone knowing nothing about selling a boat.

 

[Champagne Murphy]

Very annoying indeed. Where is it?

 

[steveej]

dealing with the owner.

emotionally attached to his floating shed. Enough said.

 

[Seajet]

I accompanied someone from West Sussex to Plymouth once, to find a boat in similar condition - also as mentioned here, the photo's supplied must have been from a decade or two earlier - I wasn't that chuffed, but the potential buyer was almost homicidal !

 

[Uricanejack]

Annoying but part of life. Depends how far you travelled. The real loss is to the owner. The boat wont sell unless well presented and it will make a huge difference to the price. Not much you can do about an owner. A broker who misleads just avoid in future. He is cutting his own throat business wise.

I went quite a distance to by both boats I have bought and both were accurately described by the broker. Well presented. One was sold and described as a project. It was as expected and I bought it. The other clean clear and well presented. To some extent if you are looking for a bargain you have to be able to look past clutter and grime.

I don't agree with naming and shaming on a forum. I have developed a habit of looking up restaurants, hotels, and other business on trip adviser or yelp I sometimes leave a comment for good or bad service. Most get a few negatives from grumpy people but a lot of grumpy people is a sign to go else where.

Be interesting to know if there is a internet sight which rates brokers. Which could be checked before traveling far.

 

[lw395]

My worst is driving to Suffolk to see a yacht in the 'more than half the price of a small house' bracket.
When we got there, we could see clearly between the hull and the keel.
The interior was almost entirely white with dust from ground grp.

 

[Seajet]

I was once asked to go and look at two Andersons, by a guy a VERY long way away ( thousands of miles ) - the first was OK and is now well fixed up by a chum doing good service.

The second - a long, unpleasant drive away - was yet again an example of ' photo's sent from 1,000 years ago '.

The hull was covered in green streaks - hadn't moved for many years - the usually strong tiller had actually rotted and fallen onto the seat through time and gravity, the outboard stowed in the cabin proved seized, and my favourite bit was I spotted the new keel winch was incorrect, unbraked - so if ever bought and lifted the keel would instantly unwind to a 4'6" fin keeler, this was on the East Coast.

That owner got a snotty conversation, ad' and membership removed from the owners association and if anyone should happen to ask I tell them - I really hope she's been fixed up by now but I fear not.

Then there's the other extreme - a true, sad story;

a chap contacted me a lot, he wanted an Anderson, nothing else, BUT there was a big snag; he had the Big C ( only in his 50's ) so the boat had to be cheap, he didn't want to leave his widow lumbered, he was really honest about this and a Top Guy.

An A22 I knew came up very cheap at a local club ( NOT mine ) whose owner had died, the family weren't interested and the club just wanted £500 to clear the boat ( they asked me to place an ad' ) - value for that one at that time around £3,000 - so matey drove all the way from far East Coast, looked her over, said " I'll take her " and went into town to draw out £500.

In the meantime ( say 30 minutes ) someone else turned up and the club bosun, who knew the background about the first guy, sold it to them behind his back.

That one got one of the snottiest letters I've ever sent and I will have nothing to do with that club ( a personal, not inter club row ) I thought it disgusting.

 

[Rafiki]

I agree with comments about brokers. The first boat I bought involved driving to Stanstead, flight to Holland, hire a car, inspect boat and then repeat in reverse - all in one day. The boat was as described and I ended up buying it and keeping for 10 years. My current boat was also bought from a broker, the main man was away and his Sunday assistant decided early on I wasn't likely to be interested and told me how little demand there was for this type of boat and how keen the seller was to sell.... needless to say he was surprised that I made a serious offer

 

[fisherman]

Had this problem helping my bro to sell. He had pics from 10 years ago before extended lay up ashore. He visited the boat daily to 'work' on it, and had completely lost sight of what it looked like to a prospective buyer. Also allowed the engine to atrophy ("but it was just rebuilt"...."yes, but all the ancillaries are rotted or seized"). Over ten years he spent over £20k on yard fees and lost another £20k on the sale price. I roundly blame a surveyor for over-valuing it about fifteen years ago, he spent the time chasing the asking price down from £40k to £4k, which he got after I rewrote the ads.

I think very hard and searching questions are needed before a trip to view.

 

[savageseadog]

Had this problem helping my bro to sell. He had pics from 10 years ago before extended lay up ashore. He visited the boat daily to 'work' on it, and had completely lost sight of what it looked like to a prospective buyer. Also allowed the engine to atrophy ("but it was just rebuilt"...."yes, but all the ancillaries are rotted or seized"). Over ten years he spent over £20k on yard fees and lost another £20k on the sale price. I roundly blame a surveyor for over-valuing it about fifteen years ago, he spent the time chasing the asking price down from £40k to £4k, which he got after I rewrote the ads.

I think very hard and searching questions are needed before a trip to view.

The market was different 15 years ago

 

[Seajet]

Indeed, and the second really badly non-maintained boat I described in my post #8 was kept ashore in quite a posh marina, if the guy had any gumption at all he'd fix the keel winch, polish the hull and pay someone to take her, must have cost £squillions by now !

 

[Balbas]

Its a buyers market. When presented with a boat filled with clutter or absolutely not as described have no heart at all and offer what its worth even if that's fraction of what its been advertised for. You may find that if its been on the market for a while and is costing them yard fees and yours is the only offer they've had, that they'll take it anyway...

 

[prv]

I think very hard and searching questions are needed before a trip to view.

If travelling any distance I'd look for freshly taken photos as well. Probably injects a bit of a sour note to ask for today's newspaper in shot, but perhaps by asking for something very specific you can ensure that the photo isn't being reused from ten years ago. Also most old men with rotting sheds probably haven't heard of EXIF data.

Best protection from a long and wasted journey is a helpful local who doesn't mind spending half an hour to confirm the boat's broadly as described - a forumite kindly did that for us when a friend of mine wanted to buy a boat north of Manchester and asked me to drive up to view it with him.

Pete

 

[Seajet]

PRV,

no you're right, as a photographer if I do any work on my boat or tender, or friend's boats, I always include a newspaper showing the headline in a shot or two, not for sales purposes in my case but so if the worst happens the insurers can't say ' yeah but that must have been 1980 '.

Always include a newspaper with headline in such post - refit shots.

 

[Stemar]

When we bought Jissel about 15 years ago, we looked at a lot of boats, most of which didn't need TLC, they needed a humane killer. It's an unfortunate fact of life that, back then, and old boat in good condition was worth £X,000. The same boat now, in the same condition seems to be worth £X00. We'd like to upgrade a bit, but we've spent far too much to make the boat the way we want her and we'll never see a fraction of what we've spent back.

Still, she still does what she did when she was worth a bit of money and we're fortunate that we have a very affordable club mooring, rather than spending more than the boat's worth each year to be in a marina.

 

[superheat6k]

St Malo was the furthest and Fowey the most annoying trip to find a piece of plastic detritus, slightly 'not as described'.

In the case of the first I advised the estate sellers that perhaps removing the old mans boots might help. They ignored me until 4 months later when they rang hoping some interest might still exist.

In the case of the second despite finding a dog heap of a boat, where the owner had been ripped off to the tune of £80,000 - indeed he did have the receipts, but god what a mess - I did find my Turbo 36 as a consolation to an otherwise very long drive.

The most amusing, as I only had to drive a few miles, was the Corvette with turds left in the toilet !!!

 

[Sneaky Pete]

Its a buyers market.

No its not. If you present a boat well you should expect a price close to what its market price is. If you present a real toilet of a boat then don’t expect it to sell for anywhere near market price. It’s not the first time I have described a sellers boat as a sh#t hole. Buyers will pay for good boats.