As regulars to the board you may be aware that I have been searching for a
new boat to replace the
Morgan 50.. I decided upon a multi
hull and started a search..
This is my fourth
boat, however this is the first
boat that I have not either bought new or from someone I knew.
I have found boats in
South America,
Mexico,
Canada etc.. With the help of this board I decided to hold off and find something relativly close to SW
Florida where I will keep the boat.
To keep everyone updated, I thought I found the boat for me this weekend. I wanted to find a
project boat at a reasonable
price or find something that just needs a little bit up updating..
The advertisement arrived on Friday from my
broker. The boat sounded pretty amazing however it is located in
Texas and would need to be transported to SW Forida.
I was contacted by the listing agent after expressing interest to my
broker.
The listing sounded like the ideal boat for me, slightly more than what I wanted to spend but is that not always the case?
The listing agent did not have much knowledge of multi hulls or sail boats in general, he claimed to be a
power boat broker. Should have taken this as a warning..
The photos were emailed as well as inventory.
I had my broker organize a meeting on Monday with a independent
surveyor and the listing broker, I booked air and a driver.
This morning before the sun came up my assistant and I headed off for the
airport. The intention was that if I liked the unit he would stay behind and organize
repairs and
shipping.
After a few hours of travel in the air and then on land I arrived at the marina where the boat was.
Just a quick background on me, I am a young guy who owns a custom home construction company based out of SW
Florida as well as the Palm Springs area in souther
California I am a pretty agressive guy.
I look young for my age.. ok very young for my age and I love looking young! lol I always claim to being in my thirties but have actually left them behind some time ago... NO COMMENTS ON THIS OK...
I was a bit early at the marina and was enjoying lunch walking the docks with my assistant. I am sure you all know the excitement when it comes to putting another boat into your stable and I definitely was on a natural high. Walking the docks and breathing the crisp air.
I came across an older gent on the docks. I said "hello" and asked him how his day was. This guy then dropped bomb on me, these are his exact words.
"I am here to meet with some young punk with more
money than brains who is flying out from
California to buy a floating mobile home."
I just played along knowing he was talking about me. The man had definite opinions younger people.. I guess I must have looked haggard.. I got the whole "I used to walk five miles a day in five feet of snow to go to
school speech"
Finally I steered him around to the "floating mobile home", he gave me his opinion on the boat letting me know that the best thing that could be done for the boat would be to take it out into the middle of the lake and sink it. "Any FOOL that would spend 60++ K on this boat needed a slap in the
head. He also let me know that the "sales man" is his
brother in law. Please keep in mind he has no clue who I am or why I am on the docks. Right around the time of the confession my
cell phone rang and it was the listing broker aka "sales man" (his brother in law) asking me where I was. I proudly chipped out I am sitting on the
dock with your brother in law.. I was not sure who was more surprised, my assistant or the
surveyor.
The surveyor pretty much went white and did not say another word until his brother in law walked down the
dock. He walked us over to the boat and we went aboard, about this time he asked me to sign a
contract and pay for a
survey on the boat.
This is right about when my "construction personality surfaced" I will not bore you with the nasty details however I will say that the surveyor took a quick hike down the dock and after some close quarter conversation with the listing broker I was informed that the details he shared with his surveyor aka the brother in law came from my broker in Florida.
Most people would have walked away by now but I wanted to see this boat and wow did I get a tour of what I could only call a floating disaster.
It is a early 1990
Gemini Cat
The boat is listed in better than new condition
single owner, new
appliances,
paint,
headliner, new mattresses, new
cushions, newer
rigging, and very well cared for and maintained, fully equipped with
radar,
garmin gps,
compass, stereo,
wind generator, new
battery banks, new 1000 watt
inverter, recent re-wire etc etc..
This is what was there:
The inside of the boat was painted with what looks like a latex
paint and it bubbling and peeling all over, the
wood work has been painted black with what appears to be spray cans, including countertops, table, door and floor, over-spray on windows.
Listing indicated "recent rewire/re-power with a new
shore power,
inverter and
battery bank.
This boat is wired with at least twenty 110v receptacles, the
wiring is simply shiefed 110 30 amp wire that is epoxied along the walls to
plug boxes. I did my very best to find anything that would run off of the battery bank but even the lights had been converted to
shore power. The battery bank was found, it was one wired 12v auto zone battery that was used for
engine starting, there was another battery there but it was not wired to anything, however it was tied down unlike the autozone battery. We could not find the inverter.
Listing showed pictures of a white boat with original
wood work in excellent condition... Uh all the wood was painted black and obviously was done some time ago or are of another boat.
Galley Appliances were listed as replaced in spring 2006.
-Replaced
refrigerator with an energy efficient new model, new microwave, new
oven and
stove top 2006
-The
refrigerator was replaced with an apartment sized ac only home depot special that yes was spray painted black. This is a 99$ home depot special...
-The
stove and cook top was intact and looked original to me but was also painted black to match the counter tops and wood work.
Microwave is a really nice sized unit but it is at least a 1000 watt unit.. It is black to match the rest of the appliances.
The
head was painted all back including the potty itself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
New mattresses and
cushions throughout..
Ok there was new foam rolled in each of the rooms, so I guess this was the mattresses - sans- mattress cover and the
headliner was either fallen or caulked in place..
I could go on and on but I think I have delivered my point on the cosmetic side of the boat, now onto the structure, top side had recently been painted with a roller and brush.
It actually does not look too bad, it was a pitty that whom ever did it did not tape off the windshield areas, the
rigging, bottom of the
mast, perhaps repaired some of the top side
blisters, filled in a few of the broken
blisters etc....
Through the
water from what I could see of the hulls the boat had been beached several times leaving the bow badly damaged.
The dock had played havoc with the sides of the boat, it appears that the two lines had been replaced recently. That was just about all of the rigging I could see.
I was only aboard for a short time as my temper was boiling. I took out my
camera and started to snap some shots. The
mold and smell was getting to me, as well the broker was pestering me, my cell was ringing from my "local broker" and just when I was feeling ready to explode the owner of the boat showed up.
I jumped onto the dock and put my hand out greeting him with a rather large smile on my face. At this time I pulled out the pictures an the advertisement of the boat, I was very calm and asked them to show me the boat from the advertisement as I am sure they could plainly see the photos of the boat did not represent the boat I was just on. I handed my assistant the
camera and told him to take some more shots.
I got the typical "I told you the boat needed some work" I then asked again for them to show me the boat that is in the advertisement and the owner who is now stuttering and turning purple indicates that his son... oh that would be the broker aka the salesman was in the process of updating the photos as they were slightly dated. I calmly let them know what my time and air fare was worth to me and gave them my card letting them know that they had seven days to send me a check for my costs.
This is when things got a little hairy the owner asked us to leave if I was not interested in making an offer, my assistant took a few more photos at which time the owner slapped the camera out of his hands and it almost landed in the drink. I am not sure why I stayed calm but I did get between my assistant and the guy quick as I knew my assistant is less tolerable than I am. Before we left I once again calmly let these guys know why I was upset and what I expected.
Prior to getting onto the plane I called my attorney and gave him the facts.. after he finally stopped laughing his a++ off I asked him to send certified letters to all parties involved requesting payment for my time and whatever else he thought was fare.
This was a long day for me today, a day I hope not to repeat again, I definitely have learned a lesson or two.
I am certain that this boat has been either flooded or partially submerged, salvaged and these two clowns who obviously have no clue about boats looked on line and thought that this unit was in as good shape as the rest of the boats with a bit of spray paint and some new
wiring.
I am a nice guy and generally would give the benifit of doubt, however in this case
no way..