Quote:
Originally Posted by PortClydeMe
Personally, I suspected that this thread was complete nonsense from the beginning, and the OPs continued attempts to wow us with her pseudo wit only serves to confirm my belief. Regardless, and just judging by her(?) meta-sketching, there is very very little chance that I would ever be interested in any boat that she(?) is fawning over with mental anguish.
Not that this thread is real, mind you.  |
Quite the contrary. I was absolutely and illogically smitten by this boat. When my partner said, "Let's put in an offer", all common sense went out the window.
I had never even considered
Oyster on the list of possible candidates, not that I don't have champagne taste, mind you. I just couldn't see how we could afford any
Oyster. But last November, when visiting my partner in West Palm Beach, I was told we had an appointment with a
broker to see a boat in Ft. Lauderdale. I had no idea what the boat was and really, had no desire to see it. I knew if we bought a
liveaboard boat, we had to sell the house first and we were a few months away from listing it.
(FWIW, my partner had just landed a job in WPB and at the time I thought we were going to buy a house down there, not a boat.)
I reluctantly went and as I approached the boat it looked too big, too worn and too much a project to even consider it. There were big scratches in the
hull paint and the decks were totally shot. It was sunny and close to 90 that day and all I could think of was how this thing had been sitting here baking away. The only thing I could see was me toiling in the boat yard in the sweltering heat of
Florida cussing away.
The
broker opened the boat up and I expected a blast of heat from below. As I stepped down into the
cabin I found it cooler than outside and all that was running was a dehumidifier in the
galley and a box fan, back in the aft
cabin. The cherry
interior was gorgeous and outside of a few spots, in great condition. Then I realized there was no
diesel smell. And no musty smell. I was beginning to fall for it.
We opened up several floorboards and all the doors and drawers. What I saw was one of the best built boats I had ever seen. Heavy floors, thick framing members,
insulation lining the
hull, a nicely designed 24v system, a spotless
engine compartment with easy access and on and on. The cosmetic issues above, though costly to
repair, didn't seem so bad anymore.
I couldn't get this boat out of my mind. For all the boats we've seen, nothing got me like this boat. But logically, I knew it wasn't the right boat for us, no matter how amazing my dreams of cruising on it were nor how much I ignored the obvious costs to
repair it.
In an attempt to convince myself I needed to forget about the boat, we went back in December to look at her again. This time I was armed with
camera, moisture meter, temperature meter, and anything else I could think of to help me find something major before we set into motion the offer process. I could find nothing else wrong.
I loaded the pictures and videos on my computer after I got back home and looked at them over and over. I found a few other problems that didn't register when on board but overall the pics and vids only drew me further into the black hole.
I called yards to get prices on replacing the decks and painting the
hull. The decks looked to be around $200 sq/ft with estimates of 350-400 sq/ft of
teak on the decks. The
hull paint jobs added at least another $20K but I reasoned I could just repair the scratches if we could match the
paint. But I knew nothing about the operation of the
engine and
generator or the working status of the
electronics.
The owner provided answers to all my questions and too often the answer was, "I don't know." No
maintenance records were transferred from the first owner to him and he kept no records himself. Anything he did answer had to be taken on faith. He bought it in 2010, sailed it in the islands for a year, then brought it back to Ft. Lauderdale and listed it
for sale. Then he went back home and left the boat tied to a seawall about 5 miles upriver from the
ICW.
The potential costs of taking
ownership were rising.
The first time we saw it, the broker said the owner had one offer at $265K and turned it down without a counter. The two
sold Oyster 485s the broker could find were
sold in the upper $200s in 2013. To the best of anyone's knowledge, neither of them needed new decks. Both were
winter stored. This boat had been a
Florida boat most of her 19 years.
But despite all signs pointing to "Run away!" I couldn't get this boat out of my mind. So I began working very hard on forgetting it by telling myself over and over this could be a huge mistake. And it was beginning to work.
Then my partner tells me the
price dropped $25K to $274K. I called the broker. She checked with the listing broker and he said the owner was firm at asking
price. So again, I began the process of forgetting. It's like an addict. Every time they cave, they have to start the process of getting clean all over again. So I did.
A few weeks later, I hear the price dropped to $265K. For anyone who has been through this, I think you probably felt about the same as me. Hope ran high. We still hadn't listed the house but we only had a few little things to do. April 1 was our deadline. I saw myself sailing again!
As I once again started getting serious, I discovered my partner wasn't totally on board with moving onto a boat. No need to go into all the reasons why but because it was my partner driving this boat search, I took that to mean we were going to become liveaboards. My plan for the last 30 years has been to retire, buy a boat and sail off into the sunset. I was ready but my partner wasn't.
And that's why I created this thread. Emotions were driving me crazy and I needed some firm logic to help me once and for all forget about this boat.
I needed an Intervention.
I refused to mention what boat is is because what boat is right for you is a personal choice and any discussion about the boat would be about one person's opinion, based on their knowledge, personality, upbringing, life experiences, etc.
I believe asking anyone who doesn't know you very well, "Should I buy this boat", is masochistic and an exercise in futility.
I was hoping this thread would be about ways to walk away from something your heart really wanted but your brain said is foolish. That's all.
Yes, I did make it lighthearted but that was because
men don't usually like talking about emotions and I knew most replying to this thread would be
men. But maybe adding a little
humor would help break the ice, if any, and allow the discussion about how emotional a boat
purchase can be.
As to the broker getting back to me telling me our offer was shot down - it happened in real time, just like I posted. After the "Please Stand By" post, I was preparing the final chapter in the struggle based on how things were going here at home. We sat down and discussed the
purchase very seriously and honestly. The final chapter was going to be Emotional winning the fight and we were going to proceed with the purchase if the owner came back with a counter. I was so happy we had finally settled what we were doing. I was high on emotions.
The next day, before I posted the final chapter, I talked to the broker and she said the asking price was it. Nothing less would be accepted. Two other people had offered almost the same price as us and they were also refused without a counter. There is a loan on the boat still and the owner doesn't want to come to closing having to write a check.
In the boxing match, Logical had to be the winner.
To add to the craziness of this whole thing, my partner sends me an
email today with a link to another Oyster 485, somewhere in
Spain.
It took CSI Boats to find this because it's not on any
Internet listing I have ever heard of.
What am I going to do about it? I'm going to walk away and work on finishing the loose ends around the house. The only thing for certain around here is the house will be listed very soon. After that, I don't care.
You can't make this stuff up. If you want to believe I did, the only thing I can do is accept that. Ciao.
. Ignore all these sneaky members pushing for details, who are possibly poised with their cheque 
.
Linear Mode
Recent Discussions