I am in the market for a used trawler-----------5 of 6 boats I have looked at in past 6 weeks were dirty with stuff strewn about! Obviously these owners are lazy and poor boat keepers. Draw your own conclusions about their chances of a sale.
Used boat presentations
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RT Firefly
Enigma
Greetings,
Mr. g. I feel your pain, brother. Pretty well along the same lines as "ready to go" or "needs little work". MY pet peeve is a listing with no ER pictures. I consider the condition of the ER to be a pretty good indication of the overall condition of the vessel (rightly or wrongly without further research).
Prior to the purchase of our current vessel we had one of her sister ships surveyed. We went so far as to get a survey because, on the surface, she looked pretty good. Well, the outcome of the survey brings the phrases "Lipstick on a pig" and "Sh*t and shinolla" immediately to mind. BEST $$ we've spent on boating in a long time.
Rest assured, YOUR boat is out there. Patience my friend, patience...
Mr. g. I feel your pain, brother. Pretty well along the same lines as "ready to go" or "needs little work". MY pet peeve is a listing with no ER pictures. I consider the condition of the ER to be a pretty good indication of the overall condition of the vessel (rightly or wrongly without further research).
Prior to the purchase of our current vessel we had one of her sister ships surveyed. We went so far as to get a survey because, on the surface, she looked pretty good. Well, the outcome of the survey brings the phrases "Lipstick on a pig" and "Sh*t and shinolla" immediately to mind. BEST $$ we've spent on boating in a long time.
Rest assured, YOUR boat is out there. Patience my friend, patience...
Because I do not want a boat formerly owned by a lazy slob--and if they indicate such on a boats surface you can bet there is a disaster below the surface.
While that is true sometimes there can be many reasons why the boat has reached this situation. Please consider scrutinizing the important aspects of the boat and ignoring the rest.
tiltrider1
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When I shop for a boat, I look for one that needs canvas, upholstery, electronics and cleaning. The reason is I am going to replace those items anyway so why pay for items that are getting pitched. I also like boats that have been on the market for over a year.
I won’t buy a boat that has structural issues, bent shafts, blisters or voids.
I won’t buy a boat that has structural issues, bent shafts, blisters or voids.
When I see a boat that is FILTHY and the owner has it cluttered up with personal garbage, I move on. The boat is maintained in the same fashion, if maintained at all (which most times they are not).
But what is bad is when a broker represents the boat and puts up those kind of pictures, says a lot about his or her professionalism. Another red flag.
And I agree, it's aggravating not yo have pictures of the engine room or compartment.
And there is a lot of garbage on the market right now.
But what is bad is when a broker represents the boat and puts up those kind of pictures, says a lot about his or her professionalism. Another red flag.
And I agree, it's aggravating not yo have pictures of the engine room or compartment.
And there is a lot of garbage on the market right now.
caltexflanc
Guru
Depends if you want to buy a project or want to go cruising right away.
IronZebra
Senior Member
Here is my weirdness when looking at boat porn on yachtworld.
If the boat has pictures of a room with an old tube type (CRT) television it makes me wonder how much time the previous owner spent on the boat and how much upgrading they have done.
If the boat has pictures of a room with an old tube type (CRT) television it makes me wonder how much time the previous owner spent on the boat and how much upgrading they have done.
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I think a lot has to do with the region, though. We are in New England. Ours boats look best when launched in May and worst, when hauled in October. In the fall, I'll give her a cursory washing and scrub the hull. Detail, wax and paint is done in the spring.
My boat is well maintained and I've emptied it out. I wouldn't call it 'Clean' right now.
My boat is well maintained and I've emptied it out. I wouldn't call it 'Clean' right now.
CaptRonn- is that your 45 in your avatar?
FF
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Selling a boat is selling a dream.
Prospective owners see fine sunsets with a drink, not clearing past owners junk from the boat.
"Paint sells the boat " you bet a polished dream is fun.
More experienced boaters know "Paint covers a multitude of sin."
So it is possible the super presented boat is a hulk, that looks nice.
In dirt houses they will bake a loaf of bread to give that home feeling.
Prospective owners see fine sunsets with a drink, not clearing past owners junk from the boat.
"Paint sells the boat " you bet a polished dream is fun.
More experienced boaters know "Paint covers a multitude of sin."
So it is possible the super presented boat is a hulk, that looks nice.
In dirt houses they will bake a loaf of bread to give that home feeling.
In the past, when we have shopped for a boat, I have asked the broker a number of questions before I even look at the boat. Does it stink? I won't get my wife to even step aboard if the boat smells like a full holding tank. Is it clean? Is the boat leaking all over inside the cabin? I tell them that there is no reason to waste the brokers time or mine if I can't get my wife on the boat.
We have gotten on one boat with the shower sump smelling like sewer (and the whole boat also), a boat that the carpet was tacked down with staples over the engine room access (it was a obvious the boat was used as a condo on the weekend), a boat that had vagrants living aboard unbeknownst to the broker or owner and it was a mess inside, a boat that had more mold growing in the teak from leaking windows than any clean teak on the boat. One boat that the broker had put up pictures from when he had sold the boat 5 years before and he had not been on the boat since he listed it a week before.
My wife feels there is a good business opportunity to clean up a boat before it is newly listed. I have told her that this is already available and people don't want to pay for it.
Our boat is on the market, it is cleaned of ALL our personal items and everything that doesn't go with the boat once sold. This is no different than selling a house. The day you put it on the market is the day it is no longer yours from your stuff's point of view. And when selling a boat the size most of us own here, we are selling to the wife as much or more than the husband. If the wife can't look past the stuff left by the sellers or the boat stinks, then they wife says 'Nope. Next boat please'.
I still say that the garbage filled boats can be reduced by asking questions to the sales person (broker or owner) before you drive to the boat to look at it.
Good luck shopping!
We have gotten on one boat with the shower sump smelling like sewer (and the whole boat also), a boat that the carpet was tacked down with staples over the engine room access (it was a obvious the boat was used as a condo on the weekend), a boat that had vagrants living aboard unbeknownst to the broker or owner and it was a mess inside, a boat that had more mold growing in the teak from leaking windows than any clean teak on the boat. One boat that the broker had put up pictures from when he had sold the boat 5 years before and he had not been on the boat since he listed it a week before.
My wife feels there is a good business opportunity to clean up a boat before it is newly listed. I have told her that this is already available and people don't want to pay for it.
Our boat is on the market, it is cleaned of ALL our personal items and everything that doesn't go with the boat once sold. This is no different than selling a house. The day you put it on the market is the day it is no longer yours from your stuff's point of view. And when selling a boat the size most of us own here, we are selling to the wife as much or more than the husband. If the wife can't look past the stuff left by the sellers or the boat stinks, then they wife says 'Nope. Next boat please'.
I still say that the garbage filled boats can be reduced by asking questions to the sales person (broker or owner) before you drive to the boat to look at it.
Good luck shopping!
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It was mine. I’m currently looking for another boat.
Donsan
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As the great Captain Descartes says "I paint therefore I have sinned."
If I see a TV on a boat I start having doubts about its care---- I'm into boating to get away from the TV world.
here is my story on the stinky boat thing-In 1996 I was trying to sell my Island Packet 44 cutter sailboat which I had restored after it was sunk and dismasted by Hurricane Charlie. .........after about 8 months of hardly no interest and only 3 showings, a couple came to see it (and I had it looking like a new boaty)----- the woman said to her husband after about 5 minutes inside the cabin---"Bill ,this is the first boat we have been on that does not smell!" I knew immediately that I had a buyer. That happed soon thereafter.Yes indeed on the older pics gambit!!! 4 of the 6 boats looked at recently had older pics used in their ads. One was from a sales brochure 20+ years old
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Another Selling Obsevation----
It is doubly hard to sell your boat if you are living aboard it. Aside from the personal things strewn about which is a negative-- there is the psychological perception in the buyers mind that you will be driving the seller (or whom anyone else is there) out of their home. A negative to selling the boat.
It is doubly hard to sell your boat if you are living aboard it. Aside from the personal things strewn about which is a negative-- there is the psychological perception in the buyers mind that you will be driving the seller (or whom anyone else is there) out of their home. A negative to selling the boat.
Lou_tribal
Guru
+1 and maybe the $ saved on a a new super hipe tv was allowing the PO to maintain the remaining more important stuff...
It is like seeing someone that buy a 500k$ because appliances are in stainless... Some items are more of high priority than others.
L
Cyclone
Senior Member
I needed a RANT to day and this subject provides the outlet. I too am looking and my market area is the NW, BC and Washington. What I have viewed have been poorly maintained vessels and given their condition appear to have been abandoned to the Broker. The other issue is the Broker. Most of these persons do not have the knowledge of the boat they are selling that I consider necessary to sell it quickly at a fair dollar value consistent with agreements between them and the owner and the buyer. Most boats I have viewed would not be represented by a Broker who had some marine knowledge. Many would not pass a proper survey as the fault condition is apparent to those who have some marine knowledge. I have viewed boats with blown batteries still sitting in their box, oil filled bilges, water-salt and fresh, basic pumps that do not work, refrigerators that are so frosted and dirty that almost make you throw up. Stoves/ovens that one must imagine that the owner cooked or baked without pots or pans. Mould so deep that a sand blast with a pressure washer would only just remove it then the whole interior would need replacement.
The holly place. Wiring loose everywhere. One vessel had a Glendening synchronizer that was literally floating around the bilge and the throttle cable keeping track of it. Battery boxes and batteries, as I stated earlier one blown, but the norm is old, out of water and corroded terminals. Needless to say the wiring in general in a boat built in the late 80s through to 2000 wiring needs to be addressed, but as the owner you would think that securing it might make it look somewhat more tidy.
I agree that somethings you can overlook, but then again how much sweat equity do you want to invest in a $150000.00 or more purchase when you consider that within 5 years will have depreciated by 40 to 50% regardless. The electronic unless five years or newer are trash. TV's what purpose unless you are a dock queen.
Back to Brokers. All have a question list to glean information from the owner. Check out the listings and you will soon see that there is no consistency whatsoever. Engine hrs, suggested cruise speed fuel consumption, are there maintenance records available including oil sample results. Pictures: The owner must provide a complete set including the bilge area and not use original catalogue photos unless so annotated. I sent a broker in Vancouver a list of questions Dec 16 and have sent two more messages, no response.
Needless to say I needed to RANT. Selling is one issue but buying is another and it is true the two happiest days are "the day you buy and the day you sell". I feel better, regards
The holly place. Wiring loose everywhere. One vessel had a Glendening synchronizer that was literally floating around the bilge and the throttle cable keeping track of it. Battery boxes and batteries, as I stated earlier one blown, but the norm is old, out of water and corroded terminals. Needless to say the wiring in general in a boat built in the late 80s through to 2000 wiring needs to be addressed, but as the owner you would think that securing it might make it look somewhat more tidy.
I agree that somethings you can overlook, but then again how much sweat equity do you want to invest in a $150000.00 or more purchase when you consider that within 5 years will have depreciated by 40 to 50% regardless. The electronic unless five years or newer are trash. TV's what purpose unless you are a dock queen.
Back to Brokers. All have a question list to glean information from the owner. Check out the listings and you will soon see that there is no consistency whatsoever. Engine hrs, suggested cruise speed fuel consumption, are there maintenance records available including oil sample results. Pictures: The owner must provide a complete set including the bilge area and not use original catalogue photos unless so annotated. I sent a broker in Vancouver a list of questions Dec 16 and have sent two more messages, no response.
Needless to say I needed to RANT. Selling is one issue but buying is another and it is true the two happiest days are "the day you buy and the day you sell". I feel better, regards
BruceK
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Presentation is not everything. I know of a boat I thought was tidy and looking good, but the broker had the owner spend $2.5K on detailing. The boat you think is well cared for may just be expertly detailed.
Look below the surface. Boats with poor pics online turn some buyers off, but may be good boats with a lousy photographer,and come with less or no competition.
Look below the surface. Boats with poor pics online turn some buyers off, but may be good boats with a lousy photographer,and come with less or no competition.
dhays
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This is my feeling. Consider a meticulous boat owner who suddenly "aged out" of boating. It is easy to go from a spry 78 year old who can do everything on the boat, to an infirm 79 year old that can't. They can try to use the boat for a year or two but can't keep it up. Finally it is put on the market but there isn't an owner, or family members able to clean it up, nor often the money to pay someone else to do it.
Boats like this can be very sad, but it doesn't mean they aren't great boats to buy and just might be a good bargain.
I am in the market for a used trawler-----------5 of 6 boats I have looked at in past 6 weeks were dirty with stuff strewn about! Obviously these owners are lazy and poor boat keepers. Draw your own conclusions about their chances of a sale.
They're no different from the people who put their houses on the market without bothering to clean the bathtub, wash the dishes in the sink or even pick up their kids' toys.
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Even well presented boats can take a long time to sell, and during that time maintenance and cleaning are irregular if done at all. Start with a dirty or messy boat and its a lot worse. They can be great opportunities. Offer prices are reduced to reflect the situation. If you don't want to do the work just deduct the cost of pro-detailing from your offer, and afterwards hop on board something clean.
But all of that is largely cosmetic and aesthetics. Understand the state of the systems on board because they can chew up real money to get sorted. There may be no correlation between the cosmetics and stuff that really matters. If the size and layout is what you want then get a good surveyor to assess the systems and list items that need attention.
But all of that is largely cosmetic and aesthetics. Understand the state of the systems on board because they can chew up real money to get sorted. There may be no correlation between the cosmetics and stuff that really matters. If the size and layout is what you want then get a good surveyor to assess the systems and list items that need attention.
TV is a disease and you have it. SorryWe have 2 TV's aboard Magic. And we can also watch TV on our iPads! I guess I don't take care of my boat---could've fooled me.
