I think I’m back to square one…

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Thomas1985

Welp… after swallowing all the big stuff and deciding to go ahead I asked the seller to put jam nut on prop, replace anode he painted, and put the cotter pins and rings on mast through bolts while it’s down as those items would require me to haul the boat and drop the mast after closing.

He tapped the no further concessions clause lol

So I got mad and rejected the boat on the “material” defects noted in the survey. Sucks, but I’m not paying some Detroit yard $5k in fees to replace $200 worth of parts.

I will never agree to a “take it or leave it” clause ever again…

Reckon he felt you were taking the p1ss..
One of the first things I do after buying a boat is go through the rig checking and replacing cotter pins and rings on the mast.. as for the anode, why not do it yourself before the sea trial, same with the nut.
It was allegedly your dream boat and you'd swallowed (as you say) the stanchions etc but the essentials were sound and at an agreed price so what your complaining about sounds petty as dropping a mast is not an essential for replacing pins and rings and a wire brush will clean an anode of AF so that just leaves a nut.
As a seller in the past I have told more than one 'buyer' to sod off..

[MicHughV]

Well, one thing is for sure. That boat will likely remain on the market for some time.

It would not surprise me one bit to hear that the owner will try to contact you in the months ahead to see if he can " re-negotiate" the deal as the reality of his situation hits home, ie, continued dockage payments, storage, etc. as these don't stop.

I've seen this many times. Owners have a tendency to over evaluate the worth of their boat, but time waits for no man, and hopes that another buyer may materialize will grow dimmer by the day.

Have myself gone thru' this adventure many years ago when I was chasing after a boat I really liked. The owner steadfastly refused any attempts at negotiation of any kind. In the meantime, the boat fell into a severe state of disrepair and eventually sank at the dock. It was heartbreaker for me, as I really liked the boat.

[Thomas1985]

It’s a solid boat. Just more than I can take on so far away from home. Realizing I’d be renting yard space in Detroit just to get home was the line in the sand for me…

I really had to get the boat home to more affordable, and closer, yards where I could work on it.

I wish the guy luck and hope he finds a buyer.

I’m looking at closer boats now and/or boats that someone else did a lot of the work already.

I’m not even going to consider a project 8 hours away in the future.

[dan104]

Been quite on this one but now that you have made a commitment I wanted to offer a comment or two.


1st foremost I believe that for any boat buy you need to assume that an additional 20% will be needed to make her yours (up to your specs).


Boats are like girlfriends or wives, they look great at first but the deeper you get into the relationship the more faults you find, the key questions are is the gain worth the effort.


The nice thing about boats is that you can always bail out, after all it is just money. I bought a boat in USVI's and I live in Maryland. I was lucky in that I could work from it while I shook it down and fixed all the things I needed to sail her back in the spring over the winter (tough place to be in winter, not!), spent about 20+% on getting her ready for trip, but well worth it as I sailed back with confidence in getting back safely (which I did). However that 1800nm trip made me find more things so add in another 10%.


Bottom line, I now have one heck of a boat that is in great condition and fits me to a tee. As I am 79 I suspect in a few years someone else will be getting her is better condition than I got her. But I would do it again given what I know now.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Thomas1985

It’s a solid boat. Just more than I can take on so far away from home. Realizing I’d be renting yard space in Detroit just to get home was the line in the sand for me…

I really had to get the boat home to more affordable, and closer, yards where I could work on it.

I wish the guy luck and hope he finds a buyer.

I’m looking at closer boats now and/or boats that someone else did a lot of the work already.

I’m not even going to consider a project 8 hours away in the future.

My boat was one hour away when I bought it, and that got to be a PITA especially with an $18.00 bridge toll between here and there.

Also, the dock where it was located could only be reached during or close to high tide even with just a 4' draft.

While it was there, I cleaned it out totally, did a bottom job on it, and replaced the diesel alone at the dock. A fixed dock so it had to be the right tide to swing the engine over to the dock with the boom.

As far as lots of work being done on an old boat, that's great if the PO(s) did a good job or their contractors did a good job.