When would you refuse to sell your boat?

[ylop]

He wanted to buy it at a substantial discount

Let me stop you right there! Perhaps there are times when you might agree a price reduction, but it’s not to a buyer you don’t like unless you overpriced the boat and are getting desparate to sell.

I think that you could possibly master any skill using YouTube

You probably can; but not necessarily without risking injury / damage whilst you learn the skill

 

[IanCC]

Today I travelled to meet someone who wanted to look at my boat with a view to purchasing it.
He has no knowledge of how to sail, no navigation, no knowledge about anything you need to go for a sail. He wanted to buy it at a substantial discount for him to sail across the Bristol channel around Lands End and on to Southampton single handed. I was to give him a couple of hours shakedown then off he would go. All this within two weeks of his upcoming holiday which he planned to do the journey. He would learn on the way.
I suggested he put it on a lorry and learn to sail in his home water.
Lovely bloke, but a potential captain calamity.

This exact same thing happened to someone i know in troon recently. The guy didn't need to know about compasses etc, he had savvy navvy or something on his phone. Would get him to Whitehaven.
Person i know very concerned so kept calling him at regular intervals until he didn't get a reply at which point 999. He was found asleep on a rocky beach 4 miles or so north of portpatrick, the boat a wreck.

 

[Bouba]

I told him he needed a dolly bird in a bikini for the trip.

Oh no....you aren’t making another yachting YouTube channel are you

 

[Bouba]

Knowledge used to be the preserve of the initiated....jealously guarded.....YouTube has democratized knowledge

 

[38mess]

On the other side of the coin I had an owner refuse to sell a boat to me.
It was a bare racing yacht, totally empty below except for a tiny petrol engine, and he was asking a fair price.
He took me and my then wife for a trial sail and half way through the trial he said this boat is not for you. He was right, I didn't have a clue about boats then. He saved me from myself.
We became good friends after this, he was at the end of his sailing career and I was just starting out. Eventually I bought a lovely Eventide which was like a floating caravan, we loved that boat and sailed it almost everyday.

 

[Snowgoose-1]

Wasn't it Chay Blyth who went off sailing without knowing much ?

I suppose rowing the Atlantic previously might have helped a bit.

 

[Sandy]

When would you refuse to sell your boat?

When the offer was not high enough.

 

[Refueler]

When I sold my Snapdragon 23 - guy who bought had done a few days on a dinghy and was a liability to himself and any others ....

Boat was in Langstone Harbour and he wanted to sail it to Brighton Marina where he'd secured a berth. I basically agreed to sell him the boat - but that I would accompany him on the sail to Brighton to help him 'learn' the boat.

That was a terrible experience .... as soon as we came out of Langstone - he was sick .. and crawled onto a bunk, where he stayed throughout the whole trip ... he'd brought a friend who claimed to be some expert dinghy sailor ... guy could not hold a course to save his life ... nearly ran us onto the rocks exiting Solent ....
Once we got free of the Solent wind died and it was engine on .. we had two full tanks of fuel for the Mercury Saildrive outboard ..
Number of times we had to go substantially offshore to miss the nets and pot lines ... making fuel saving a priority ....
Finally we were approaching Brighton .. I'd had to stand helm literally all the way and was dead tired ... but approach had me revived ... engine was literally on fumes of the tank ... when 'new owner' now appeared and said he would take the boat in ...

Fair enough - its his boat .. and I was only there to help ....

Engine died as we put first line !!

Wife was waiting in the car ... I don't remember the drive home - Wife drove and I just fell asleep ...

 

[Fr J Hackett]

I have to say some of you lot are more than charitable, I am afraid to say I belong to the there it is give me the money now Foxtrot Oscar school

 

[Momac]

One good thing about selling through a broker is you avoid any personal contact with the buyer.

 

[srm]

If you can agree an acceptable price take him for a trial sail (assuming boat is in the water) before signing a contract. Only hand the boat over when you have cleared payment in your account (which is normal practice) but avoid any "shakedown" sail or whatever once the boat changes hands. Strongly advise the guy that he needs an experienced person with him for his planned passage. After that it is his responsibility.

The youngish guy who bought my last boat is a local and I have helped/advised with quite a few things as he has learnt the systems. Lots of WhatsApp video calls asking about this and that. The staysail got torn, due to long term UV damage, so I repaired it as I have a sewing machine and material from an old sail. He does not always listen/understand what I tell him though. The boat is set up for single handed sailing. He is a board/wind/kite sailor and has a beach catamaran but this is his first yacht. He has taken her out on a couple of shortish solo passages and sent me videos.

The one that really concerned me was under full sail on a broad reach with the boat consistently at the top of her displacement hull speed. Seriously over pressed as two reefs in the main were needed to give a reasonable sail balance. He complained that he got very tired having to keep correcting the steering as the wind vane kept letting the boat turn across the wind. Also, the boom kept banging about (preventer not rigged, there are a pair on board) and gooseneck fitting took some damage that fortunately he spotted and was able to contain. Afterwards, I explained again that the wind vane steering can only give the wheel about half a turn so he has to balance the sails for wind strength and course.

On balance, I think I would have preferred selling to someone who took the boat away and quietly got on with it.

 

[[199490]]

Has anyone ask to see a current driver license when selling a car ?

No, but dealers have to see yours when you buy one ( in U.K.) and the broker here in the Netherlands asked to see my passport and ICC before signing papers.

 

[[199490]]

I told him he needed a dolly bird in a bikini for the trip.

Called Mae West?

 

[Bouba]

Called Mae West?

Showing your age a bit there......they are now called flotation devices

 

[[199490]]

Showing your age a bit there......they are now called flotation devices

My father was ex-Fleet Air Arm, he always called them that

 

[Refueler]

Took me ages to get used to the term PFD .. instead of Life Jacket ...

 

[Poignard]

If you refuse to sell your boat to someone on the grounds that he is incompetent, isn't that tantamount to saying anyone you do sell it to must, therefore, be competent?

 

[Refueler]

If you refuse to sell your boat to someone on the grounds that he is incompetent, isn't that tantamount to saying anyone you do sell it to must, therefore, be competent?

OK .. but isn't that similar to asking if its not Black - it must be white ?

 

[Poignard]

OK .. but isn't that similar to asking if its not Black - it must be white ?

No.

 

[WoodyP]

Wasn't it Chay Blyth who went off sailing without knowing much ?

I suppose rowing the Atlantic previously might have helped a bit.

My boat is the same model, but this guy isn't Chay Blyth. He doesn't see the need for all the safety stuff like PFD's, VHF, navigation. On top of which he's never sailed before. .