For Sale: Morgan 462 Ketch - BVI

[skipgundlach]

FWIW, if you'd had your boat for sale when we first started looking, we might well have bought it.

We did a charter for two weeks and devoted most of it to looking at boats in US and B VIs. The price you're asking for it is in the range we'd identified (had to move both size and $ very substantially before we finished!), and if it's in the shape you say it is, we likely would have bought it.

After our unsuccess there, I made 5 different circumnavs of the FL peninsula, and a trip from BWI to Charleston, looking at boats (went aboard more than 200) before settling on this type, which, fortunately for us, had 5 such for sale in FL, so went on yet another circumnav of the peninsula before finding the one we offered on, and, a few weeks later, the one we bought.

So, to those who say it's too much of a challenge for a buyer, unless someone specifically wants this type of a boat, likely they'd be looking at many others, too. There are LOTS of boats in a very tight geography available in the Virgins. Take a vacation, and go look at them!

L8R

Skip

PS do a second or third-tier charter; likely that will be less expensive than a hotel, and you get to go sailing while you do so...

[bobconnie]

We are currently looking for boats of this size, and style, but the cost of going to your location to view it makes the boat a no-no for us POOR folks ! If the boat was in FL, we would be there in a flash!! with the amount of boats for sale at this time in the south of the usa, your really costing yourself some money by not moving it to a better marketing area ! just a thought from a prospective buyer !! Bob and Connie

[skipgundlach]

BTW, I read the Pascoe survey (well, "review" - he doesn't post survey results, but if he did all the stuff he claimed, I presume he surveyed that boat); the decks on the M46x are cored with 3/4" marine plywood, not balsa. That's why he didn't discover any soft spots. You'll have a very difficult time, even with water intrusion, getting a M46x deck to soften.

My surveyor (the QC and service manager at Morgan during this model's production run) told me about that. He didn't even bother (and he's known for VERY extensive surveys - "All-Day Pete" was the nickname he'd acquired - ours were *2* days each) knock-testing the decks on both models he surveyed for us.

See my gallery for wreck pix to get an idea of how stout these boats are...

L8R

Skip

[Jolly Roger]

Whichever way you look at it, from The US, Tortola is a tedious and expensive place to go and look at a boat (unless you go on a five day cruise). I don’t know about other cities, but from Orlando it means three flights: Miami, Puerto Rico, then Tortola. A total of about 19 hours, arriving something like 2 am in the morning. Couple this with hotel and meal costs and you have one pricey boat viewing trip.
Then there is the question which has not been raised here, which I had to consider on the boat I looked at—how to get it out of there, and back to Florida. It’s not that it is an impossible or even unpleasant sounding task, but assuming you have the time, and can find a crew, you will be considering a long passage in an unknown boat. Add the cost of a delivery job and you are in for a lot of money.
Any of these things reduce the number of people prepared to make the trip, and if you add them all together a seller in the BVI is reducing his potential buyer market considerably, from a major source of prospects, not to mention the number of boats already for sale on the “mainland.”
However, every objection is a possible trial close signal, so here are a few ways a seller could mitigate this problem:
He might offer a complete refund to anyone who makes the trip and eventually buys the boat. This would be a small price to pay for a sale, and also sort the men out from the “lookeeloos" as Adeliago calls them.
He should also advertise the boat extensively in the surrounding area, where a prospect could pop over on a ferry to view it.
He might offer to make the delivery trip, or part of it, with a new owner. This would certainly cover the worry a buyer might feel in putting to sea in a boat he does not know well.
The question of presentation has been covered, suffice to say it needs to be better than average, (not a difficult thing to achieve, judging from most photographs and specifications).
All this takes effort, and if Adeliago’s pictured don’t improve it would indicate to me that he is not much bothered about selling—except on his terms. All anathema to a buyer.

[skipgundlach]

Just a comment triggered by the above...

During our boat search, I became friends with the director of marketing for Moorings. In our later conversations, he told me of an experiment that the Tortola base did for reselling some of their off-charter boats.

Citing all the problems buyers have with Tortola, he sent a few boats to Ft. Lauderdale. This was in the heyday of boat sales, based on what we were seeing, vs now, 2004/5 and today.

However, the cost to send it over, dockage or storage while it was there, and associated costs, made it neutral in the end as to the cost to them/sale price received whether in Ft. Lauderdale or Tortola.

And that's a huge organization. Unless he were able to stay on the boat, and have somewhere to go when it was sold, in Ft. Lauderdale or any of the other suggested "easier sales venues" it likely would be a losing proposition for him, perhaps exacerbated by the state of the market being much worse today than it was in the above test...

YMMV...

L8R

Skip

[adeliajo]

Yes, coming to the BVI is long distance travel in most cases, but in order for folks to not get the wrong impression, there are OK places to overnight on Tortola for less than $100/night. Not hotels where you would want to spend a week vacationing but certainly adequate, clean and safe for an overnight or two. With cut rate fares on Jet Blue or Spirit it is not nearly as expensive as you make it out to be. Check it out for yourself and if you need a steer to lodging I would be happy to help you out.


Buddy

[Thaumaturge]

Good grief...!!!

It is tough enough for owners in this financial climate to sell their beloved boats as it is without some loud-mouthed bar-room lawyer pointing out it is either the wrong colour, it's in the wrong location, you haven't tidied it up well enough, it is in a place I don't like or a million other negatives! Give the guy a break!

Here is a pretty boat that is actually part of a very attractive package if you apply some thought, it is already placed in one of the world's premier holiday yachting locations on the globe, it is extremely attractively priced and appears to be in quite nice condition for it's age. The most exotic and attractive locations usually cannot be found or accessed by just hopping on a number 19 omnibus?

To charter an equivalent sized yacht with the Moorings for just two weeks per year would set you back anything up to US$9,500, and you would still have to pay for the flights! With purchasing in the BVI you have potential use for up to 52 weeks per year for you, your friends and your family!

Sheesh! Live and let live gentlemen, life really is too short. If you have no interest in this man's boat, stand back and let those who might be to make their own minds up about its merits?

[adeliajo]

In reply to Jolly Roger, I travel back and forth from Boston quite frequently and with now direct flights to St. Thomas the average travel time is six to eight hours including a one hour ferry ride over to Tortola. No overnights or arriving at 2 am. It is no longer necessary to travel through San Juan. I don't know about Orlando but I do know there are plenty of flights from Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. Just don't want folks to get the wrong impression from misinformation. And if you have never been to the BVI it is a very beautiful place and a great place to visit.

[Jolly Roger]

If you read these postings Thaumaturge, you will find nearly all are offering nothing but friendly advice to Adeliajo how he might improve his chances of selling his boat. Nobody is knocking the place, or his boat, and obviously there are differing ways to get there, depending where you live, and it is just tedious from Orlando. It was easier and cheaper for me to look at boats on the West Coast then to travel to Tortola. Obviously there are other considerations as well. It would certainly be a lot easier to get a boat out of Tortola to Florida, than from San Diego. When I went out there the owner picked me up at the airport and allowed me to stay on the boat for two nights. That is the sort of effort it might take Adeliajo.
I agree with him wholeheartedly about the beauty of the area as a sailing location, but getting there to view any boat is bound to reduce the number of potential buyers from the US—or at least Orlando, although it is a fact, you only need one.
So all I’m saying is that anyone who seriously wants to get rid down there needs to make an extra effort to attract those buyers. A major factor in this are photographs, and so far Adeliago’s are pretty crummy, even by armature standards.
In fact, in this crappy selling climate, with a boat on every street corner, any owner who seriously wants to sell should be making a extra special effort, wherever the boat is.

[Thaumaturge]

I rest my case your honour.

[bobconnie]

Again we are REAL buyers with money in hand ! and If I have to spend a couple of grand to get the wife and I to your place of sale ! Im going to go to Miami, or Lauderdale, for 5 or 6 hundred including rooms, and Im able to see 4 or 5 boats of this brand or type a day! where do you think Im going to go looking ! and theres the same boats for the same price or less! if I was to go there I would sure be lowballing the price because of the cost of travel and the cost of getting the boat to my dock in LA. not knockin your vessel just saying how a buyer looks at the market right now and how most of us poor folks feel about things at least this poor buyer ! just my 2 cents Bob and Connie

[Jolly Roger]

With bobconnie's post I now rest mine.

[skipgundlach]

I've had a question from a reader of this thread which may be pertinent to the issue, and prompts this reply...

If you are bent on buying a M46x, there are VERY few available, at any price. That may trump issues of costs to see a boat.

That said, there are a LOT of cruisers out there who may be in the area, and willing to make a visit for a non-owner's opinion. Certainly, if I were there, I'd do that in a flash - mostly because I know what it took to arrive at our type (the M46x far outshone any others we saw, but that's just us - others may have some different preference for their own reasons). As I was working through brokers, they served the purpose - they could go aboard a type I hadn't seen, and check out the parameters we'd established; we saved several trips that way.

So, all the blather here isn't going to change the seller's position or actions, IMHO. However, if this boat interests you, quit beating on him and think of ways to get to the point where you feel comfortable making the trip.

I can tell you, from what I've seen of the presentation, this is an attractively priced boat, and a very well maintained example of the type. See my gallery pictures for a VERY detailed look at M46x, and in particular, my interior which has only a few modifications from stock. The "other 46" gallery has original brochures and other examples. If you're unfamiliar with the type, this will give you all you need to be familiar with the layout and typical configuration.

L8R

Skip

[seahag]

I've been looking at boats since I was in the BVI a few years ago. I think the pics matter a lot too, and in this case, what I see looks good, but the pics are very small on my screen. Were they taken with a cell phone?

I think the OP is doing a great job so far, and obviously has other issues. I wish the best of luck, and if I can get rid of some properties I might be the one for this fine boat. BTW, a friend of mine purposely bought his in Tortola, because that is where he wanted to sail-so it's far from a bad location to sell a boat.

Anyone want to buy some recreational land in Ohio or some businesses in Wisconsin can PM me!

-Scott

[Wonko]

Hmmm...
I am flying from Seattle WA to St Lucia to look at a Pearson365 on the 17th of this month. Its a 16 hour trip and airfare alone is almost $1000.

I am posting here because it may help the OP why I am willing to do this.

The boat, if represented correctly, is worth it. Low priced, well maintained boat that is actually being used. ALmost ALL of the boats around here for sale are sad lonely craft who's owners haven't even washed them in a year or so, much less used them. Also, none of them are fitted out for cruising in the tropics, which is what I am buying her for. Sounds like the OP has the same deal.

Besides what I wrote above, here is what made me willing to do this:
Great pictures on Yachtworld, with a good description of equipment on board INCLUDING when it was purchased and how the boat has been maintained.

I have a signed contract, with a broker, that says the boat is mine till the 23rd, If I want it. That way I'm not booking a ticket just to get it sold out from under me.

The owner is flying out to meet me, get the boat ready, and take me on a 2 day cruise to a nearby island.

The owner offered to put me up on the boat, hosting me himself, for the time I am there which saves me hotel costs.

We talked on the phone about expectations. What were my deal breakers. I wrote an extensive email to him explaining what I expected and he answered back that he felt that his boat was up to my criterion.

Even though the boat is in St Lucia, the boat is USCG registered and the deal is going through a broker in Miami. One big bonus by doing it this way is that I don't have to pay any taxes on the sale.

The Admiral and I looked at a sister ship here so the design is known to us and acceptable.

If nothing else, I get a 5 day trip to St Lucia, and get out of the NW in the winter!

LOL, I'll let you know how it goes.