What d'you do when she must go, but can't be sold?

[Greenheart]

Please, no funny scuttling quips.

I was ready to give away my Achilles 24 three years ago, because there was so little interest in the Apollo Duck advert - which was clear and descriptive, complete with pretty good photos.

I didn't want to keep paying marina fees, so I had reached the stage where it was cheaper for me to hand the boat over to a new owner for nothing, rather than pay a whopping fee for responsible scrapping - which certainly would have been a sad waste of a perfectly useable boat.

In the end I agreed to accept a token sum from the only guy who had shown significant interest. I was as glad for myself as I was for him, and for the boat.

Now, the same story is happening again. I haven't launched my Osprey for years and I seem to have grown prematurely feeble while she has seemingly gained weight. I don't want to injure myself proving the point, so the boat must go...

...and while I feel genuine affection for her, I don't want my own sailing in other boats to be held up by the Osprey's delayed departure. The trouble is, how the hell do I get rid of her?

Adverts on Facebook and Yachts & Yachting have drawn very few enquiries, which quickly went cold. Apollo Duck is next, though perhaps it should have been first. Failing that, it seems like the happy Osprey years may end sadly with a couple of carloads of scrap fibreglass at the tip.

It's especially unfortunate because I know darned well that I've searched again and again over the years for expensive items like spars and centreboards, and never found them anywhere. Now, when in the last resort I'd give mine away, there seems to be no-one to benefit from them.

It's a useful (in fact, vital) thing to remember when I look for my next boat, that if it is cheap to buy because it's not a popular style or not in a standard condition, it may be virtually impossible to shift later.

 

[jac]

If all else has failed - ebay with no reserve but i don't think you're there yet. No-one wants to buy a boat in the winter but come easter it might be very different so try ads again then. You used to be able to use Ebay as an advert ( i assume you still can)
Assuming the ads fail - Try local sailing clubs , scouts , other youth groups before resorting to ebay 99p .

 

[Motor_Sailor]

Contact the Osprey class association with all it's details. They're the most knowledgable people and will tell you if there's any demand for your hull number / age boat / etc.

Place adverts on the notice boards of clubs (like Emsworth and Hayling Island SC) that have active fleets.

 

[dunedin]

Contact the Osprey class association with all it's details. They're the most knowledgable people and will tell you if there's any demand for your hull number / age boat / etc.

Place adverts on the notice boards of clubs (like Emsworth and Hayling Island SC) that have active fleets.

Yes - although the “customisations” may make less attractive to Osprey Class members seeking to go racing, they may have an interest in the sparks, gear etc.
Possibly try the dinghy cruising associations?
But notes in local clubs may be most effective?
PS. Most stuff shifts via Facebook - are your adverts somehow putting people off?

 

[steveeasy]

She looks great fun. Don’t chop her up. Someone will want her. If they don’t they are mad.
Steveeasy

 

[Lightwave395]

Put it in your garden, fill it with earth and compost, plant lots of pretty flowers in it, there you go !

 

[DJE]

The class association have a boats for sale page. And they invite adverts by email.

 

[Greenheart]

Kind thoughts, thank you.

I don't think my FB advert is offputting, a bit brief perhaps, but please judge for yourselves...
Log in to Facebook

DJE, I'll look into the class For Sale page later. I hadn't considered that as the obvious answer, because the class is swarming with keen racers and I doubt my boat (or any of its kit) will appeal to competitive members.

I haven't been very encouraged by the Osprey Sailing webpage or the Sail Osprey Facebook page. The former did have an extremely helpful, much-frequented class forum, with categories for in-depth discussion on every subject, a bit like this excellent forum. But when I posted there lately, somebody said "don't bother here, it's all on Facebook now"...

...so I duly looked at the Osprey Facebook page, and unless I'm somehow only finding the wrong place, I have to say it is positively useless. All it is, is a promotional area for upcoming class events, an occasional review of recent races, and adverts for T-shirts. Not a word about maintenance or techniques, or recommended fittings. I can't imagine why so many loyal class members have collectively abandoned their dedicated forum, and adopted a fashionable, wholly inadequate substitute.

None of that is my problem, once I've offloaded my Osprey.

I'll try ebay with no reserve, next. Obviously I'd much rather give the boat away as a sailing freebie, for her own sake, but also because otherwise once the good items are gone I'd still be left with a big old hull to scrap.

 

[PeteCooper]

I'll take it off your hands if you can deliver to the South of France

 

[Kelpie]

I'd be wary about letting go of individual components like spars. You'll just end up with a hull that is impossible to shift.

 

[wombat88]

I would post about her on the Dinghy Cruising Association F/B forum, also, maybe on the Classic and Vintage Racing Dinghy Association forum...but DCA first, I have seen their boats and they sail a wide range of craft, the yawl rigged Albacore caught my eye...

 

[Daydream believer]

Strip it of all the spars & fittings & foils, launching trolley etc. . They do have a value for someone somewhere.
Then borrow a road trailer & take it to a local waste disposal site. After all it is rubbish for disposal, so there should be no reason why they would not take it. There are usually no items in the rules that say "no boats". You might need a mate to help you lift it into the skip.

 

[FairweatherDave]

Apollo Duck has always worked for me. Recently I paid for an advert - their free ad is a bit limited- and sold my Wayfarer. Selling points being a road trailer and everyone knows a Wayfarer. People who know Ospreys will know of Apollo Duck and might hate Face Book . E bay would be my other suggestion. A bit of patience and good photos and a fair price....I think now is a good time to sell while people are dreaming and planning....people want to have their boat ready to start the season. My selling line would be "Like a Wayfarer, but more fun!" With Apollo Duck I found all replies went to my trash/spam so you need to monitor there.

 

[Greenheart]

Thanks for all these suggestions.

Ultimately if I can't shift the boat as a boat, it wouldn't be very hard to turn into transportable scrap, though that's the very last resort.

It shines a light on the dubious value of larger work-hungry 'bargain boats' which are only cheap to acquire. If after years of paying for a shore berth the vessel can't be launched but must be removed, scrapping represents a serious task for an individual, or another large bill.

 

[obmij]

I wouldn't think of looking on facebook for a boat (I don't even have a functioning account). Yachts and yachting would be way down my list as well.

When I have been looking (and bought) it's been from boats & outboards, apolloduck, ebay & yachtworld although the latter mainly for dreaming.

You'll almost certainly sell it through ebay. I sold an empty cardboard box through ebay for a tenner (it previously held a gibson Les Paul but just a box nevertheless)

 

[steveeasy]

As much as I dislike Facebook it is the Best platform to sell anything. My new boat had been for sale for weeks with a broker. The owner put it on Facebook and within 2 days had viewings and indeed sold it. The broker had never considered using Facebook. More fool him.
if you put your boat on Facebook today for a very modest amount it would be sold by the end of the week.
Steveeasy

 

[Greenheart]

It certainly wasn't my own first instinct. I barely use FB myself - I think I only have the account because for a long time it was the only way to text a relative abroad, using the Messenger app.

My Osprey's advert in the FB 'Marketplace' has drawn four enquiries over two weeks.

FB always seems to be a mass of photographs accompanied by weak witticisms and very little coherent or meaningful wording. If what you seek is somewhere down that endless uncategorised scroll of nonsense, it's much harder work to find than it would be in a forum like this. If it's the way of the future, I'm glad not to be young.

 

[Biggles Wader]

It certainly wasn't my own first instinct. I barely use FB myself - I think I only have the account because for a long time it was the only way to text a relative abroad, using the Messenger app.

My Osprey's advert in the FB 'Marketplace' has drawn four enquiries over two weeks.

FB always seems to be a mass of photographs accompanied by weak witticisms and very little coherent or meaningful wording. If what you seek is somewhere down that endless uncategorised scroll of nonsense, it's much harder work to find than it would be in a forum like this. If it's the way of the future, I'm glad not to be young.

You and me both. I find FB awkward to use and hopeless to search for what I want. We are probably just old farts who are doing it all wrong!
Edit----Good luck with the boat. Im sure it will sell if it is a going concern.

 

[Whaup367]

I'd probably pay for a sailable Osprey if it was local but Southampton is a long way and with no trailer, it would be a mission... :-(

Seems hard to believe that someone wouldn't want it... trick is to find them... Have you tried listing it on FB groups like "dinghies & dinghy bits for sale"?

 

[FairweatherDave]

I've sold stuff on FB marketplace. It will attract responses but invariably a lot are time wasters who don't know what they are looking at, just raising your hopes. Apollo duck reduces that ....