Let me help you sell your boat!!!

I find it amazing how unattentive and incompetent many brokers are when it comes to presenting your boat for sale.* The image below is from a broker in Portland, OR who is marketing a Pilgrim 40.* You would think that someone in their office would review the photos and maybe think about what they show.* It would be almost impossible to get my wife to go view a boat with a filthy toilet.* How hard would it have been to close the lid for gawd sake???

haha. I have an entire collection of these types of photos! They never cease to amaze me. The one you posted actually isn't too bad- I've got a lot worse!!!! To me it is just being lazy and not taking a few extra moments to think through the proper presentation of the boat. 5 extra minutes can make a world of difference in how a boat will look online.

oh*my gosh this is SO TRUE.** there were so many boats that looked so bad in the photos that even though the specs sounded good we didn't even bother to go look.* The one we bought had been totally cleaned up and all the PO's personal stuff was removed.* In the photos and in person you saw a clean, inviting boat.* SOLD.

Pineapple Girl wrote:

oh*my gosh this is SO TRUE.** there were so many boats that looked so bad in the photos that even though the specs sounded good we didn't even bother to go look.* The one we bought had been totally cleaned up and all the PO's personal stuff was removed.* In the photos and in person you saw a clean, inviting boat.* SOLD.

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right you are Jennifer. In my business I think a cobweb can cost me 5-10 thousand dollars.* Unmaintained properties------forget it they will cause you to lose you a__.

It is stupid not to show a boat or a property at its best.* I have seen both.

*

I am actually surprised that there isn't a greater presence of professional stagers for boats. For just a couple hundred bucks you can get someone to come to your house and tell you what to get out of there and what to change to make it sell for top dollar. A similarly priced option for boats would make a world of difference, not only in final sale price, but time on the market.

VJM,
I agree- proper staging is critical, both for online presentation AND actual physical showings. It's amazing how much more of a positive impression a boat will make if you take the time to get there before the potential buyer, turn the HVAC on to make sure cabin is comfortable, put some soft mood lighting on, quiet music in the background, etc.
Here some of my favorite pictures....classics in my opinion!! These are lifted right off of yachtworld!I've got tons of these pictures...and the sellers wonder why their boat is still for sale!


The flip side that is equally as damaging is barely having any pictures at all. *do you think you are going to get someone to drive 3 hours or fly across the country to come look at a $500k boat with only 4 pictures online??? *Seriously?


If you are selling, either on your own or via broker, you need to have at least 75-100 pictures of your boat online. *Trust me- pictures will bring a buyer from across the country, no if, ands, or buts about it.

It took me a minute to realize that the engine is not sitting on "grass look" outdoor carpet.

Do you think there is a market for boat "tidiers' and stagers? I am saving up for my first liveaboard, and that sounds like a decent part time job to build the kitty, and snoop around a lot of different layouts at the same time.

The problem is that some brokers are just one step up from a "tote the note" car lot mentality.* I called one and asked a specific question due to the statement that was on Yacht World.* The statement was different than every other boat of this kind but it was still possible that it was true.* He called me back several days later and said that I was correct and that the boat was in fact the same as all of the others and the statement was the fault of an office clerk that thought it was a power boat and not a trawler.* The last I checked which was at least 5 months since I called the statement was still not corrected.* And no I never wasted my time to go look at that boat.

Here here. One of the boats I looked at several days ago had yellow stuff in the pottie.
It's hard to believe a broker can present 7 pics of a boat and show no pics of the deck, anchor winch, engine, head ect ect. Can't believe the sellers don't find a new broker. I have trouble getting the search system to work. It says "No matches found" or to that effect. Sometimes I look at boats all over the world just to have something to look at.
Woodsong,
I've been looking at a Monk 36. I sorta eliminated all boats w teak decks and the Monk was one left standing. It's equipped like a taxi cab and has some blisters but looks pretty good to me. Ever heard of a M36 capsizing? It looks top heavy in the pictures. Perhaps it's house is low and topsides high so it's average??? What's to watch out for on this boat?
I could mimic Walt and take off the FB.

Hiya,
** GOOD thread!* Yup, ALL the points mentioned thus far are right on.* One of MY beefs is a*lot of boat listings do NOT show the ER/machinery spaces.**A goodly number *of those that do, show tools, fluid containers, rags strewn about, filthy, oily engines and bilges *or the BIG red flag IMHO-Paint overspray on hoses etc. in an effort to do a quick cover up of rusty spots on the equipment.* Hey,*buy the right colored paint and*use a brush and keep up with those spots.
****Momma may be impressed with the clean potty but any neglected maintenance shows up immediatly in the appearence of the mechanicals.
** In MY ongoing mantenance program, the appearance of an engine and mechanical/electrical* "stuff" is as important as it's operating condition.
**

-- Edited by RT Firefly on Monday 20th of December 2010 05:59:59 PM

I can't even imagine how many ads I read on the way to buying Bucky, but I guess it's not exactly a surprise that Bucky had the most gorgeous virtual tour I've ever seen for a used boat. *I made a special point of telling the sellers broker about it, and that even though I was looking for that specific model of boat, it was really the virtual tour that gave me the sense of how the boat felt. *I see lots of virtual tours done so-so, but I figure that if they go to the trouble of doing a Virtual Tour, they're probably going to have it clean too.

Can't believe those photos, Woodsong. *Maybe we ought to start a thread about bad ads, and unbelievable photos.

nomadwilly wrote:


Woodsong,
I've been looking at a Monk 36. I sorta eliminated all boats w teak decks and the Monk was one left standing. It's equipped like a taxi cab and has some blisters but looks pretty good to me. Ever heard of a M36 capsizing? It looks top heavy in the pictures. Perhaps it's house is low and topsides high so it's average??? What's to watch out for on this boat?
I could mimic Walt and take off the FB.

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Eric,

I've never heard of a Monk 36 going turtle! *Mind you, I have not had the boat out in 8' seas or anything yet (just bought back in August as you know), but so far I am impressed with the Monk. *I have crawled all over my boat substantially as she was not lovingly taken care of when I bought her and it was a quick deal and seller exited stage left. From everything i have seen though they are solidly built trawlers on full fiberglass hulls. *I have not piloted a ton of single screw trawlers prior to our Monk so I find the boat extremely responsive and handles well. *I do find her a little "rolly" in a beam sea situation compared to my past boat but my previous boat was heavier and almost a foot and a half more beam on her so not apples to apples. *She is no more rolly than any other 13' beam trawler out there I don't think...just our getting used to a more narrow beam than our last boat. *One thing I can tell you for sure though and part of what sold us so much on her is that the Monk 36 has, in my opinion, an absolutely great layout. *She has 5x's the storage of our previous 38 sedan. *The layout is, I think, among the best to be had in her size class and it is amazing how much boat that was packed into such a small footprint. *In that regard I am completely impressed with her. *Her interior is, in my opinion, very tasteful and pleasing, while at the same time very practical and functional. * I did have to recore my foredeck and bridge deck due to previous owner neglect but that was not too bad and we knew it going into the deal and it was not hard to do and pretty reasonable cost. *I would buy one again and really have only been more impressed with her as I get to know her more. *I think you would be pretty well pleased with a Monk 36.

I think we should keep this thread going. Here are a couple of other "nice" pictures I found on YW in the past. Lovely, don't you think? *I really like the anchor locker picture. *
I also love the pictures with strange people in them....couple of those attached too. *The guy in red I find particularly interesting.

Just as bad is a broker who takes the pictures with his cellphone camera (fuzzy small) and uses them for the add. If my broker did that I would fire him on the spot. Yet alot of owners don't see anything wrong with that.

Woodsong wrote:The guy in red I find particularly interesting.

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*Yeah, looks like a real dummy.

RickB wrote:

*
Woodsong wrote:The guy in red I find particularly interesting.

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Yeah, looks like a real dummy.

*

Holy cow I think you're right- it IS a dummy!!! *Ok, that is even WEIRDER!!! *hahaha...what the heck?

*

My Biggest Picture Pet Peeve, is "click on picture - make same size - or smaller".* Don't put them in there so small you can't see anything.* When I click on a picture, make it bigger please!!

But then again, a big picture full of crap would be useless...so keep those ones small.*

-- Edited by Besslb on Tuesday 21st of December 2010 11:51:32 AM

Woodsong wrote:



I also love the pictures with strange people in them....couple of those attached too. *The guy in red I find particularly interesting.

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Woodsong,

In pic 3*I like the look*on the face of the lady sitting down what did she see?
An alien.

SD

*

skipperdude wrote:

Woodsong wrote:
I also love the pictures with strange people in them....couple of those attached too. *The guy in red I find particularly interesting.

Click to expand...

Woodsong,

In pic 3*I like the look*on the face of the lady sitting down what did she see?
An alien.

SD
It looks like she was not expecting anyone to interupt her "cocktail hour" to take photos, that's for sure!* "what the heck??"*

*

hahaha. Y'all post more pics if you have them....they crack me up.

I am pretty disturbed now by the guy in the red shirt. I never looked at it close enough to notice that it is just a mannequin dressed up and placed in the picture (at least that is what he looks like to me now???). Who the bloody heck poses a mannequin in their yachtworld photo shoot???


Since we are talking about marketing materials, I thought you all might enjoy this "classic" marketing video I found online quite some time ago of the hatteras 53:

I like the "stereo sound center."

That video is my friends, is how marketing videos should be done! I SO wish I could get that sound track for some of my marketing materials.

Woodsong wrote:Who the bloody heck poses a mannequin in their yachtworld photo shoot???

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I thought that you guys thought staging a boat would be a good thing.* Now, that's staging!

*

Woodsong wrote:Since we are talking about marketing materials, I thought you all might enjoy this "classic" marketing video I found online quite some time ago of the hatteras 53:

Click to expand...

For the period, this is a pretty good marketing video.* We have a very similar one in terms of style, music, etc., in our archives for the Boeing Model 377 Stratocruiser.* This was the airliner that was derived from the B-50 which in turn was derived from the B-29.* The Stratocruiser was a double-deck plane and featured a lounge on the lower deck accessed by a spiral staircase.* The promotional film--- it was made by Boeing--- calls out all the features and amenities of the plane.*

Like the Hatteras film it uses professional models to show off the "wonders" of flying in the Stratocruiser.** The scenes in the lower deck lounge are particularly interesting in today's world--- everyone down there is smoking up a storm and men lighting ladies' cigarettes is one of the main pieces of "business" the director came up with.

I particularly like this film because the first plane I ever flew on as little kid was a Pan Am Stratocruiser from San Francisco to Honolulu when we moved to Hawaii.* A flight attendant took me up to the flight deck (somewhere I still have the wings the captain gave me) but they wouldn't let me go down to the lounge because it was for "adults only."

An even more valuable film in our archives is a promotional film made for the Boeing Model 314 Clipper (flying boat).* Made just prior to WWII, this one is in color and shows all the aspects of flying in the plane, from a mechanic crawling out through the tube in he wing to "service" an engine in flight to a "porter" making up a passenger's berth.* Meal preparation and service, the navigator plotting courses on a chart, the whole Clipper "experience" is in the film.* There is no sound track, however.

I found the Hattaras film interesting because of the repeated reference to the one-piece fiberglass construction.* Fiberglass was a new material to the builders of large boats in the '70s and I expect the move to fiberglass was a really big deal at Hatteras.* One of the principle people in helping move Hatteras into fiberglass was Howard Abbey, who just prior to this had built the new fiberglass molds for American Marine's Grand Banks 36 and 42 models in Singapore and then spent a year personally supervising the layup of every GB hull.* Our hull is a "Howard Abbey" hull, and I have been told by a fellow whose father (the "Kong" in Kong & Halverson") was an engineer for American Marine, that the hulls made under Abbey's supervision are the best hulls the company every made.

We have a whole library of the type of music used in the Hattaras film and every now and then one of us gets the notion to resurrect it and try it in a new marketing video for the company, but so far we've not actually done it.* The current president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes is a major rock music fan, so we generally use something in that genre for anything that has to be approved by him.* When we made videos for Alan Mulally when he was the BCA president, we tended to use jazz or more contemporary music--- Alan isn't a hard rock fan.



-- Edited by Marin on Tuesday 21st of December 2010 02:10:40 PM

We just took our boat and house off of the market and decided to stay put and retire here.
(I really didn't want to go back to -35 and 4' of snow anyway.)

Both the boat brokers AND the Realtor! I can NOT tell you how many times we had to correct their spelling and grammar. (And IMO mine's nothing to write home about to begin with!)

Marin wrote:I particularly like this film because the first plane I ever flew on as little kid was a Pan Am Stratocruiser from San Francisco to Honolulu when we moved to Hawaii.*

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Sigh, that brings back some old memories. Northest Orient from SEA to ANC on*a Stratocruiser. Arrived SEA from MSP on a DC-3.

Another round trip SEA ANC was DC-7C then NW's first 707 that if I remember correctly continued on to Tokyo.

How could a kid ever forget something like that?



*

Yes * ...we'd drive all the way from the U district (no freeway then) to see the new jets take off. Right Rick * *..hav'nt forgotten that. That is a DC7 (SAS) in the background is'nt it?Seems to me the DC7 had 3350s and the B377 had even larger engines that were'nt as good. Never been on a 377. Would love to be near one taking off. Just north of Coffman Cove last summer a strange and wonderful thing happened. A beautiful DC3 came at me 200' over the water on a fine day and flew almost over my boat. I was fairly well thrilled.

nomadwilly wrote:Seems to me the DC7 had 3350s and the B377 had even larger engines that were'nt as good.

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The Boeing 367 (tanker) and 377 (passenger) had Pratt & Whitney R-4360 engines (Pratt's piston engine numbers are the cubic inch displacement of the engine).* It was a four-row radial--* seven cylinders per row for a total of 28 cylinders.* So fifty-six spark plugs per engine to change * And you're right, they were not as reliable as the Wright R-3350 TurboCompound engines that were used on competing planes like the DC-7 and the Lockheed Constellation.* The original R-3350s as used on the B-29s were not so good though--- very prone to engine fires in the early years.

*

You all have truly taken hijacking a thread to an art form!

Woodsong wrote:

You all have truly taken hijacking a thread to an art form!

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Agreed

*

Woodsong wrote:

You all have truly taken hijacking a thread to an art form!

Click to expand...

Hey, anybody can stick to a single topic and discuss it ad nauseum.* It takes skill to morph a discussion around to include all sorts of interesting things.* It's the off-topic diversions that add spice to discussions of what otherwise would be pretty boring.*

Like stern ties.* Come on, it's a rope.* End of story.* But pepper a discussion of this rope with comments about the history of clipper ships (which used a lot of rope, hence the connection) and then have someone*else chime in with a description of*how the landing craft in WWII were designed to use stern anchors (on a rope) to pull themselves backwards off a beach under a hail of gunfire and you now have a lively discussion about*ropes off*the ass-end of boats that can be used for all sorts*of things.

Then RTF*will*chime in with how*he's trained his attack slug to*take his stern line ashore, run it*through the ring, and bring it back to the boat, and that will lead to*someone's talking about their St. John's dog that does the same thing plus wipes down the boat's bottom, and now we've got something going that's worth reading.

FF will come in with*how you*can make a stern tie line from a wiring harness salvaged from a*'56 Chevy and RickB will explain the finer points of judging the working strength of a stern line relative to the Beaufort scale of wind strength.** Eric will question the*entire notion of tying*a stern line to the stern--- perhaps the bow would make more sense-- and what started as a humdrum question about a rope is now a lively debate.

And I'll figure out how to write a way-too-long commentary of little relevance at all.

In the end you'll have more information about stern ties than you thought existed plus be qualified to be on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" and probably win.

" Come on, it's a rope."

Come on Marin it's a line. Chapman's the bible and it says line.

"I'll figure out how to write a way-too-long commentary of little relevance at all."

You've been doing that for years. Fact is Tony and Bud we've been hijack'in threads for years too. Guess we've gotten pretty lax. Come on Marin these new guys wana play propper. But I don't wana do without attack slugs an all de odder stuff we do like kinda from the hip. Is it hip to hijack? Come on Marin how a bout a few days on the wagon w
no hijack'in for the newbies. I'm in for 3 days.