| Making lemonade from lemons...
Let’s step away from our blame of the builder, surveyor, broker and/or owners for just a moment, and see what we can conclude about how to buy a boat for which we have extensive cruising plans. Learning from BUMFUZZLE’s mistakes and misfortunes is one of the few true benefits of their story.
1. As you begin shopping, you will know what you are about. This means you have a good understanding of what your plans will demand of the boat (we’ve already beat this dead horse…), and you also understand the issues you will face for the kind of boat you will be selecting. Information of this kind is abundantly available these days.
2. You will expect little of brokers beyond them doing the legwork to find you a boat that meets your needs as you (not they) understand them. Expecting little goes ‘double’ if the broker has minimal experience doing what you intend to do. You will note that the broker offers no warranty on the boat s/he brokers.
3. As you narrow the field, you will do appropriate due diligence, just as when buying a business, a house or a car. You will identify the issues you must face for the type of boat you seek (e.g. small/light/less expensive Cat, to be used for a circumnavigation), and you will research the builder(s) who’s boats are of interest.
4. Especially if a boat of interest is almost new, you will seek clarity from the builder on what warranty remains under your ownership and what you must do to cement that. (Ex: a warranty against hull blistering is often transferable). You will also inquire of the boat’s suitability, in the builder’s opinion, for your voyaging plans. Again, you’ll do this not only because you may get additional information (e.g. certain modifications may be recommended), but also because you may incur some additional felt obligation from the builder if the answer is positive. When the boat is not designed in-house, you will definitely talk with the designer (at some small expense for his/her time). His/her interests are not the same as the builder’s, and the information you gain may be especially useful.
5. You will present several specific questions on any boat of interest to the broker, requesting s/he obtain the answer(s) directly from the seller. (Ex: “What repairs has the boat needed to its structures, engines and rig while under your ownership?” “What known defects currently exist?”) Brokers are in touch with sellers because money has to eventually change hands. If the answers are not provided in a written form, you will summarize them and share a copy with the broker. You will ask these questions for three reasons: 1) You may learn more than the broker knows; 2) You could incur some subsequent legal benefit if relevant info is withheld; and 3) Even absent legal benefit, you may gain some psychological sense of obligation on the part of the broker and/or seller for how the boat was represented.
6. Once an offer is made, you will use a knowledgeable surveyor to put the odds as much in your favor as possible, but you will understand s/he will not necessarily find all of the boat’s problems (which is just what the language on every written survey says). You will regrettably remember that this especially applies to new and almost-new boats.
7. Finally, as your ownership period begins you will accept that your knowledge of the boat, and how to handle her, remains limited. After commissioning and while outfitting, you will perform a thorough, thoughtful shakedown that builds your own skills and knowledge of the boat while looking for undiscovered issues. While doing so, you will stay near an area where emerging issues can be addressed (legally & logistically, not just mechanically).
Most of these are pretty obvious; some spring to mind given the unique BUMFUZZLE circumstances. None of these are ‘peripheral’ or unimportant IMO and, regrettably, none of them guarantee a problem free boat after purchase, most especially so when the boat is then taken across an ocean or two by owners who didn't buy from the builder
Jack
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