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folivier

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2008
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266
Well we've been in Florida almost a week now and besides running from Hermine we saw 7 boats so far. Only 2 ended up being in good enough condition to warrant a closer look. The others had various problems from either filthy inside and/or outside, leaking windows, soft spots on the decks, etc. And when I say filthy I mean mildew and rot. One we thought was two different boats was listed by 2 different brokers. One broker used fairly current pictures. The other used pictures when they sold the boat a few years ago. It seems the owner didn't do anything to the boat during the years he owned it. Pretty bad condition.
So we'll continue looking. We'll be in the keys for a month and hopefully may find something worth buying while we are here. Somewhere there is that boat that has been kept up and had good maintenance.
 
That has got to be soooo frustrating! Sometimes you can avoid wading through the rocks and weeds to get to the lush grass. Hope your results improve soon!
 
Don't rush. This is actually the fun part-- looking. ?
 
Thanks for the words of support. We have standards, some we might compromise on and others we won't. We do have a couple that will warrant another closer look after we look at 2 more. We are looking for the "perfect boat" for us but also realize there will be compromises to be made. But it is frustrating none the less....
Gotta go see another one, then on to Marathon for a month.
 
"Perfect Boat" equals:
1) Owned by someone else
2) At least 2' longer than your current boat.

:)
 
Feel your pain. I spent years looking. When you're enjoying your new boat, the time invested finding it will seem insignificant. Don't rush the process or you may have to do it again in a few years.

Ted
 
Hang in there folivier ...we are in the same boat, so to speak...
I don't know if it's because some of us are so anal about how we maintain our own (former) boats, or maybe the types of careers we've been in for years that demand accountability at every turn...but you really run into a lot of boats with 5-8 year old pictures represented as current. According to the Admiral, ya gotta kiss a lot of frogs before you find a Prince!
 
We're not giving up yet! Saw one that could work out. A couple feet bigger than we were looking for but looks nice. It does have some interior wood damage from previous leaks but the plywood underneath is dry and hard and there are some sheets of teak veneer on the boat ready to be replaced. Even with all of the recent rain there was no wet wood inside unlike most of the others. Engine room was roomy and clean. So from our list of about 8 we have 2 we'll plan to look at closer.
 
When you get to marathon pm me and let me show you our paradise here at harbor cay club.jim
 
folivier said:
Well we've been in Florida almost a week now and besides running from Hermine we saw 7 boats so far. Only 2 ended up being in good enough condition to warrant a closer look. The others had various problems from either filthy inside and/or outside, leaking windows, soft spots on the decks, etc. And when I say filthy I mean mildew and rot. One we thought was two different boats was listed by 2 different brokers. One broker used fairly current pictures. The other used pictures when they sold the boat a few years ago. It seems the owner didn't do anything to the boat during the years he owned it. Pretty bad condition.

So we'll continue looking. We'll be in the keys for a month and hopefully may find something worth buying while we are here. Somewhere there is that boat that has been kept up and had good maintenance.
Click to expand...


If you are looking for a boat to purchase that has been cared for and well maintained you have traveled to the wrong place. The odds are stacked against you to find a well maintained vessel at a reasonable price in the Florida Keys. IMHO
 
We've had this trip to the Keys planned for a few months as a getaway, not necessarily for a boat search. Since we'll be here we thought we'd look at what's available. Looked at what's on the market back home in Louisiana so just expanding our search. My broker said the same thing about south Florida boats and is searching freshwater areas for us.
And unfortunately the Carver mentioned is just out of our budget.
 
Tell the listing broker to email you hi resolution photographs with that day's Wall Street Journal (or this months Passage Maker magazine) in focus somewhere in each picture. Separates the wheat from the chaff in a mighty big hurry. If they are not willing you can bet there's a damn good reason so don't waste your time.
 
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