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Old 20-04-2019, 13:46   #31
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Re: Why is finding/buying a boat so hard? What to do about it?

Have a great 2001 Catalina 400 MkIi for sale.
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Old 20-04-2019, 13:54   #32
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Re: Why is finding/buying a boat so hard? What to do about it?

Yes, there are yacht brokers represented or advertised in most marinas. An hour from the cost is not a biggie. Many of us did/do commute for an hour each way to and from work each day.

Where exactly are you? Let us know, and we'll get you pointed in the right direction.

Maybe my last response was not as helpful as I had hoped it might be. You said a few posts back that you are not "in tune with this stuff". I had sort of sensed that ;-). And it is nothing to be ashamed of. Buying and owning a boat is a MUCH more complicated game than people are aware of when they are "not (yet) in tune with this stuff".

Know, therefore, that there is a VAST amount of knowledge and experience in this forum that is yours for the asking. But we cannot help you in any sensible way unless we know more about what it is you are trying to achieve than you have let us know so far.

So I come back to what I said earlier: Give us some idea of what it is you want a boat for, what it is you want your boat to do for you, and where you want it it to do it for you.

If you do that, you will find that our vast membership will be only too glad to help you get underway.

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Old 20-04-2019, 14:15   #33
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Re: Why is finding/buying a boat so hard? What to do about it?

I agree about those websites. I have searched for boats for sale for about 45 years. Consequently there were times I was very boat rich and other times I had no boats at all. Our needs always were evolving, but even so I read 10's of thousands of ads over those years, and because of diverse interests read ads for wooden cruisers and ultralights, even when I owned one or the other at the time.When we were looking for Mana to go cruising in we settled on a pilothouse because our dermatologist told us " you can't go live on a boat with the damage you have done to your skin". They are tough to find in Southern California and because I have never made an offer on a boat I have not been in and touched and researched, I eventually flew to Washington state, rented a car and a hotel room and searched there where there are a lot of them. Worked for me. I considered at the time of that search looking in Mexico, but convinced myself that they were all abandoned and neglected. Turns out when we were cruising in Mexico that there were many nice boats that were for sale due to health issues and marriage issues and such. I have bought 2 boats in boatyards that just covered the yard fees. One was a nice Bill Lee design that I got for $8,000 and after sailing it for 4 years or so sold for $28,000. There are many ways to fid boats. I like Latitude 38 just for browsing.
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Old 20-04-2019, 14:39   #34
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Re: Why is finding/buying a boat so hard? What to do about it?

I have not found that buying a boat is that difficult. The difficult thing is trying to sell one
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Old 20-04-2019, 15:04   #35
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Re: Why is finding/buying a boat so hard? What to do about it?

Quote:
Originally Posted by letsgetsailing3 View Post
The photos are great, but the specifications are lacking. How old is all the equipment?
You'd have to contact the owner to be sure but that boat looks awesome to me.

It's PHRF is 102.

He did send me pictures of the engine which I asked for and you can tell that someone has taken care of this boat

I was considering it as a liveaboard until I retire while I work a few more years and get it (the boat) right.

Instead of paying for an apartment, I could move all my crap to the old house and then have the boat(s)

It appears these days that the so called 'cruisers" here on CF are doing nothing more than anchoring in calm water near cell phone towers so they can live as if they were still at home

They have tons of solar also. Why not just live at home and get a 25 Catalina to sail in the lake or across the local bay?

A boat like this one though was meant for long distance cruising …...at a decent speed
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Old 20-04-2019, 15:52   #36
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Re: Why is finding/buying a boat so hard? What to do about it?

Listings are just that, listings. Beyond that the buyer must be aware and therefore do their own due diligence on a particular boat or boats. Without questioning on the buyers side the seller is not going to release any of the information gratis.
Come to think of it there is a website that lists the boats for sale all of their pluses and minuses age and use of all amenities and care of Boat over it’s 20 year history. I believe they’ll also clean the decks and the sails and deliver the boat to you.

Sorry I just can’t think of the name of that website.😅
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Old 20-04-2019, 16:02   #37
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Re: Why is finding/buying a boat so hard? What to do about it?

Quote:
Originally Posted by gulfcoastsailor View Post
....Come to think of it there is a website that lists the boats for sale all of their pluses and minuses age and use of all amenities and care of Boat over it’s 20 year history. I believe they’ll also clean the decks and the sails and deliver the boat to you.

Sorry I just can’t think of the name of that website.😅
I know you are kidding, but wouldn't that be really great?
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Old 20-04-2019, 19:02   #38
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Re: Why is finding/buying a boat so hard? What to do about it?

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Originally Posted by Woodland Hills View Post
I don’t understand about not being able to create a list of boats that you are interested in: is your pencil broken, ballpoint pen out of ink?
My thoughts exactly. Any more than this will allow and you really can't have any idea what you want.
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Old 20-04-2019, 20:01   #39
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Re: Why is finding/buying a boat so hard? What to do about it?

Paul

Your knowledge of computers seems to be the central topic. Perhaps you need some
real life involvement, and that is going to be a beast of an effort. That not only
involves a pretty boat on the computer adds, but your safety and the safety of
your family at sea.

What type of vessel are you looking for ? What is your experience as to seamanship and sailing ?. Where would you be sailing this boat ?. What length ?, mono or cat ?

Are you planning on buying in your local area, or some other state, coast or country ?.

One thing that is very true. It is hard to find a well built, well maintained vessel, in the used boat market. I do not believe a bloody word that any boat seller, or broker
tells me.

Also, if I were planning on purchasing a sailing vessel, I would have in narrowed
down to LOA, manufacturer, age ( newer is much better ), and going thru
my own several hour inspection list of every single system, all rigging, engine and tranny, sails, inventory, head room, berth length, cabin sole, portlights and hatches, hull, topsides, bow to stern, port to starboard ,and above and below the water line, and if that all checked out, do a several hour sea trial , under sail, and get an independent and respected survey.

Many times, people get all excited about buying a boat, but they really do not have
the knowledge or experience in what type of vessel they want, or what to look for.
It is a whole brand new and exciting world .

In that case, and I am not saying that is your situation, hold up a bit.

Join a sailing club that has many, many different types of vessels. Take the several
hours of lessons, on several different types of vessels. You will learn what you
like and do not like and what vessels appeal to you and those that dont.

No huge financial mistake.

After the check outs, sail those boats that you might like, not just day sails but
for three day weekends or more in all sailing conditions. You then can make an educated selection, and narrow down the field and chose the correct vessel for you and your family.
.
Or if that is not the case, then as others have mentioned, you have a lot of
work and searching, and SWAG'S in your future.

And be aware, that used and older boats can have loads of problems and deferred
maintenance, and systems problems, and rigging problems. You are not going to
discover hose problems from a spread sheet.

Take it for what it is worth, we are actually trying to help you, but have little or
no knowledge of your experience or what type of vessel you even want.

Wish you good fortune.
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Old 21-04-2019, 01:02   #40
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Re: Why is finding/buying a boat so hard? What to do about it?

Quote:
Originally Posted by jhawk123 View Post
I have not found that buying a boat is that difficult. The difficult thing is trying to sell one
I agree but have now succeeded. Started by advertising myself and paying up front on virtually all the sites and having failed to get many serious enquires moved to a multi franchise brokerage. They messed up two sales and I move to a quality broker and had two acceptable offers in 10 days and sold in 14 days.

Now looking for the next boat and in my experience the trick is to register with independent in the areas you are prepared to travel to... I find the brokers online by using the port names or the Yachtworld, Apollo Duck type brokerage advertising portals then going direct to the brokers.

So many boats for sale in this world but they do need to be in a place you are prepared to travel to I think...
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Old 21-04-2019, 13:46   #41
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Re: Why is finding/buying a boat so hard? What to do about it?

The search gets simplified a lot when you know what you're looking for. And it's not as easy as buying a car. We lived over an hour away from a marina but in a coastal city. I spent a lot of time wandering docks, talking to people and looking at boats. Owners are proud people and most will discourse at length about their pride and joy. Many will even invite you on board for a look around. Took sailing lessons and started chartering (locally). And going to boat shows to look at different boats. We soon developed an idea of what's important to us (in my case, headroom) and which boats satisfied those requirements. That's when it became easier to deal with the internet ads and filter them down. The sites may have limitations, as you note but, as others have noted, you need to have a decent idea of what you're looking for first.
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Old 26-04-2019, 06:46   #42
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Re: Why is finding/buying a boat so hard? What to do about it?

If you are serious and not just "window shopping" use a broker. They will sort out the chaf and may have already been a part of failed surveys on several of the boats that have caught your eye and can save you more $ than they will earn in commission.
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Old 26-04-2019, 06:52   #43
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Re: Why is finding/buying a boat so hard? What to do about it?

Quote:
Originally Posted by paulg222 View Post
I don't know if it is just me going to the wrong websites, or if there just isn't a good online way to find boats.

I use mostly these 2 sites:
  • sailboatlistings.com
  • yachtworld.com

And frankly they are both severely lacking in capabilities. For example neither one supports a login, so they don't keep track of anything for you. I'll go do a search for boats, and I'm interested in some, not others. There is no way to create a list of ones I'm interested in.

Neither site does a great job of getting rid of old listings or verifying boats are still for sale.

When I click on "contact seller" in either system it lets me do that with a little pop-up. But I don't get a copy of the email, and have no way to keep track of who I've reached out to or what listing it is for.

Search features are limited. Yachtworld is better than sailboatlistings for search, but still can be improved.

In short either I'm doing it wrong, or the community is in dire need of a better system/website.

Some features I'd like:
* Support login
* Enable tracking of boats I'm interested in "the short list"
* keep listings up to date by removing old listings if owner doesn't indicate it is still for sale.
* Let boat inspectors or owners post inspection results so we don't have to have boat re-inspected 100 times
* Really good search and sort capabilities.
* Keep a list of different searches I've done.
* Have a seller and buyer communication channel with memory (keeps list of all messages between buyer and seller so we can see where things stand).
* Arrange for viewing/inspection/test sail via online scheduling, notifications, etc.
* Standard contracts for boat buying
*Let people rate different boat styles, makes, models on a range of categories (cruising, racing, comfort, etc).
And so on.

Let me know your thoughts.

Yachtworld you can save your search criteria by going to advanced search, enter your preferences and then hit the save search button and put in your email address. Then when you return to Yachtworld go to Boat on the drop down menu and click personal boat shopper and your saved searched will come up. You can have several, I've had 10 or more some by make only or by length etc. They will also email you when new boats come for sale that meet your search criteria.
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Old 26-04-2019, 07:40   #44
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Re: Why is finding/buying a boat so hard? What to do about it?

Buying is just half the problem. Selling will be harder!!!
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Old 26-04-2019, 08:14   #45
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Re: Why is finding/buying a boat so hard? What to do about it?

Quote:
Originally Posted by jpstevens View Post
Isn't this part of what a good broker does to earn his/her fee?
Big Question: Anyone met a good broker?
I agree that the websites are very poor for boat shopping
I work in web development and could make something infinitely better - but it'd be like taking on a monopoly in terms of competition

I like boats.com more than the rest
Facebook groups have a steady stream of good photos with listings and direct access to owners of the boat (likely struggling with my BigQuestion point)
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