Hi Everyone,
I want to let you know about this
boat a FP
Tobago 35
for sale in the US. This is my recent experience as 06/22/23.
This
boat has major structural damages that will be hidden from you, until your
surveyor found them out. Owner “seems” to not understand that BREAK and OLD are two different concepts. The reality is that is trying to flip this boat and see if he can make it through. But knowing that you are doing a
survey and let you spend 3K to find out what any boat owner will knew it is just not decent.
Why he think we is flipping: Owner got the boat in 2021 for around 84K (you can find the old add on
internet searching for “Lauren Marie” listed at $95K). Few months later he listed the boat for 139K without even replacing the rugs in the
saloon. We discover this after the
survey unfortunately.
Before doing the survey we have asked the
broker if there was any structural damage or any major issues, they say NO, the boat is old but thats it but is ready to go sailing. Between
haul out and
surveyor we paid almost 3K. The only marina available there is half of the cost.
We are aware that old
boats will need
maintenance and replace things that get old with the time, didn’t expect anything pristine either. But here comes the surprise:
Once the boat comes out of the
water you can see the sail drives cover in sea-life. This boat had at least 3 years of not
cleaning the props and sail drives. After the surveyor did a little
cleaning the zincs between the propellers and sail drives were gone and he found
corrosion starting on the sail drives. The survey didn’t start well. Surveyor explained later after checking
electrical that there was an
electrolysis problem that was causing the issue and if not taken care soon the problem will be worst.
Next he found was the starboard stern delaminated, a big bubble on the first step. Humidity levels and some
blisters on the
interior side of the wall that protect the steps show that all this back side will need to be open and see how extend the problem was.
Moving on with the survey arriving to the bow, two cracks on the
parts that hold the crossbeam in each side (one more than the other) plus a bend in the crossbeam itself that could be repaired or not, meaning a new crossbeam will need to be installed and lot of professional glass
work needed to be done.
At this point we are talking about major issues that any
single boat owner will be aware. If you have a boat you will know about this. In words of the surveyor: “I wont be sailing this boat
offshore ever, unless this is fixed”.
But more surprises to come, if you own a boat you know that a
bilge pump it is IMPERATIVE in a boat, well not here, they do NOT have any
single automatic
bilge pump in the boat. The only
bilge pump on board is a manual one for the
shower. The owner is aware and his response when surveyor asked where the pumps were located is that he didn’t know and never need them. We should have filmed the surveyor eyes.
Checking the engines, the
oil level was to the top. OLD and full. At least better than not having any, no?
The floor in the
salon, that was covered with the previous owner rugs was pealing off and the
plywood underneath started to get damaged by
water intrusion. Owner comment: this happens in old
boats.
When doing sea trial we could not raise the main sail because owner (captain) said he didn’t feel comfortable sailing with the main but he had the
head sail full open, the reason… the main sail is long gone. No life there, and the headsail has at best couple more months of sailing. Owner comment, this item is not a necessity and not important priority, as far as I remember we were
buying a SAILING
catamaran. But not surprised of his answers at this point. Btw I didn’t expect new
sails, but or you disclose that the
sails are gone or they should have at least 2-3 years of live left on them.
Running
rigging is not only not sized correctly but is done, you need a complete replacement.
Only one of two AC units works.
Not no a single spare of anything on board and many items missing to list them here. This is ok, if there was not structural we will be fine getting them, as I said we knew that we have to put
money buying and old boat (even with the news, imagine the older ones). The frustration we have with
broker and seller is to hide this major things, we could have know before hand and make a decision before surveying the boat… but again this post is exactly to avoid what they are trying to do here, that it is getting away with a lemon.
Survey came a little under $82,000 in boat value IF all this issues (findings in survey language) were fixed.
After checking with different yards the cost of
repair this boat will be around 35-40K doing many things yourself. As time and
money was already invested in this deal we decided to made an offer in consequence with the
repairs need, to get back an answer from the owner calling us low-ballers, imagine and counter offering us with the same amount he had paid for the boat 3 years before. We had only discount 30K from our initial offer, which was higher than what he had paid.
We wanted to consider that he might didn’t know anything about boats, as he presents himself, but was pretty clear that we wanted to flip the boat and run away.
We proposed to send the survey (as he requested when we told him about the findings) for him to fix the boat or have it ready for next buyer and save them time and money. Which he declined.
We are pretty sure none of this issues will be taking care and they will try to find someone that makes the mistake of not surveying the boat.
Hope helping someone with this information (we got out of a boat thanks someone in this forum who posted the issues that seller and broker were hiding). I wish I can do the same with you.
Good luck out there with your search.
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