What-to-look-for when buying

[BruceK]

Does that work when registering/documenting the boat? Basic background inquiery would determine if the boat was stolen, but I have no information on the competency of the governments/bureaucracies involved.

Probably not, just the last desperate fallback option. It sounds like the seller is around,difficulty getting him to produce registration papers suggests contact. No idea on French registration procedures either. Some comfort knowing the seller had it some years and no one repossessed it.I remember each seller or broker of boats I owned, this seller should too.

 

[BandB]

Boat thieves, like auto thieves or any others know how and where to move the boat. They've learned long ago the easy places to register or re-title. Decades ago Chattanooga, TN was the chop shop capital of the country as it bordered on three other states and Alabama did no checking of serial numbers or anything else. They know how to launder what they take.

Now, I'm not saying this boat is stolen. Could be a lot of incompetence over the years. The Marine Trader is not necessarily wrong as they could well have had Hi Star build some boats for them. I am saying that getting proper papers is a key to any purchase however and until they were in my hand, I'd never pay.

This just seems like it was a very rushed transaction. Here, I'll sell it cheap, just have to do it now, kind of thing. And suddenly not the proper documents. I don't know if the buyer has what he needs to register it in his country or not.

Now think back to the problems a few months ago in Mexico. While their execution of their plan was horrible, this is exactly the type boat they were looking for. Missing or non matching HIN. I would strongly advise the purchaser to get all the papers in order. If not, he will always risk problems in some country where customs and immigration decides to get serious and check everything. It won't be for the boat being stolen, but for it not being properly documented.

 

[everhopeful]

hi all, good advice to a man, and yes i have bought it (paid 3/4), except there is no real proof of ownership of a uk registered vessel, no onwnership papers as in a car. people use the ssr registration certificate (attached in case you haven't seen one - not the same boat, people etc) but that says in bold print that "this certificate is not proof of legal onwership". most everybody i know in the uk takes the ssr cert and their bill of sale as proof of onweship, and I guess without numbers written in secret places how's anyone going to prove you a liar?

i think i might owe everyone (and the seller) an apology, as despite all the wierd omens and coincidences it looks like it is a Marine Traders ltd out of Southapmton made boat! they made so many variations on a theme it gets very confusing, but this might well be a Trader 53 Histar Sundeck. There wasn't too many with the Histar logo, ones made for Mediterranean orders or so i've been lead to believe. The dipping side hand rail and rear deck, roof mounted davit and dinghy etc are all pointers.
so things can look bad, and i'm not breathing easy until Marine Traders answers my email, but it looks a helluva lot better than it did a few days ago.
thanks for everyones inpu and advice and i'll post the final outcome.

 

[BruceK]

Jules, smart move retaining 25% of the price. That should ensure the seller puts some effort into perfecting title. If it doesn`t, there may well be an issue.
Are you happy with the boat itself?

 

[everhopeful]

hi, profuse apologies for not getting back sooner, been squezing in visiting friends between amateur detective work. update on the boat is:

1) it appears to have been a taiwan/pae trader build
2) h.i.n. O.N.706533 R.T.23 90/100
3) 1989 build, launched 1990
4) brought to europe 2004, don't know what, if anything happened before that
5) she was called "my way" and brought into belgium
6) bought by a german 2005-6, name changed to "Anyway"
7) lying in gibraltar not moving for a while
8) sold by his wife when he was jailed for tax fraud
9) new uk owner living in spain buys and changes name back to "My Way"
10) uk ssr register won't accept another boat called "My Way" so he tries to name it after an older/smaller boat he has named "Alacan" but they won't accept a double up
11) so he renames the other boat "Alacant", sells it to a guy in holland and names the trader "Alacan"

- the papers etc going back to 2004 show the number 706533 no matter what name it had so that's good (belgium started the habit of dropping off the letters and only using numbers which germany, france and the uk have continued)

- long story short i got it cheap and as she is a 25 year old boat that has had nothing cosmetic done to her and is in ad need of a face lift.
- the survey showed she is structurally sound so i was perpared for some repair work........ and i wasn't wrong it cost me €3500 to get her back in the water, safe and up to spec the insurance company was happy with. it didn't have to be that much e.g. stern tube seals replaced with water flushed lip seals (i was a service manager for a large pump compny for years and hate packed seals!!!) but as it's our home i wanted to make it fit and forget (haha).
- i figure to get her up to what we want it'll be another €5-10,000 (new kitchen, paint etc etc) but that's ok as we spent our "house money" on her and love being on her so we want to make her our home.

- i'll change my attention to the fuel consumption one day, maybe a 30% hydrogen system will be the answer, but in the meantime i figure 1500 rpm should keep the cost down, and 7.5 knots isn't so bad when your not in a hurry.

- thank you all for your help and input and if i can ever be of any help/use to anyone here please ask.

- i was a product developer/enginner before i got lazy, with gas and electrical experience consulting to large and small companies on run-of-the-mill and cutting edge stuff so you never know what i might be useful for.