Would you purchase a damaged boat

[Tmacmi]

I had an early look at a boat that is located 9-10 hours from us. Its a type of boat we have been focused on getting for a while.

The primary issue is what appears to be damage from a grounding. There is evidence of an attempted repair at the front of the keel where it transitions into the bottom of the hull. There is a crack at the aft end of the keel where it transitions into the bottom of the hull

There are a few other issues, but not as major as this.

If this were a building I would have the engineer spec a repair, give it to the contractor to bid and do the work, then deduct from purchase price.

However, I don't know anyone there. I don't know how to find a boat engineer to spec a repair (if that is even a thing) and I don't know any yards there.

In any event the boat would have to be shipped 400 miles and then sailed across Lake Michigan.

Am I just trying too hard to make it work?

[psk125]

An "attempted" repair to the front, and nothing even tried at the back end? Are they giving this boat away because they don't know what they're doing - either on the water or out of it?? You can make an offer and have a surveyor look at it. He may be able to give you a ballpark figure on repair costs. They may be a lot more than you want to pay, or than the boat is worth.

[Tmacmi]

Originally Posted by psk125

An "attempted" repair to the front, and nothing even tried at the back end? Are they giving this boat away because they don't know what they're doing - either on the water or out of it?? You can make an offer and have a surveyor look at it. He may be able to give you a ballpark figure on repair costs. They may be a lot more than you want to pay, or than the boat is worth.

Oh no, they aren't giving it away at all. They were asking full value. They had a purchaser, but that purchaser discovered the damage.

I don't have much to go on but the info I gave you.

BUT here's my hunch. They had a hard grounding. They had somebody repair it and they thought it was a good repair. Now they find out it wasn't a good repair.

I'm guessing the seller is in a bit of a shock.

[Orion Jim]

Run away....run away........

[Shrew]

If you're in the market for a 'in-tact' boat in the full price range of the size, age, and class of boat, why be tempted to take a hard left into a project boat? Particularly one that is neither priced nor marketed as a project boat?

A little too much dreaming on a 9 hr trip might have you thinking with your heart here.

[skipmac]

Cracks on the leading and trailing edge of the keel at the hull is very likely indicative of a very hard hit and potentially serious, structural damage.

Full price? No way, no how, never, ever UNLESS possibly the seller agrees to fix it to the specifications of a very experienced surveyor at a very professional yard.

[Snore]

YES, buy it —— if and only if —- you have extensive experience in boat building.

If not run away!!!!

[S/V Illusion]

Originally Posted by Tmacmi

Am I just trying too hard to make it work?

Yes.


What sometimes surprises me is that, among all the boasts for sale in all the places in the country there is water, some pick the worst one the farthest away.

[Apollo19.5]

Can you get access to the survey? Probably help decide to go ahead with an offer or not and how much. Tread very carefully

[JPK]

Without stating what type of boat you're looking at I don't know if this is applicable to you or not, but this reminds me of the "Sailing Aurora" Youtubers' saga. If you search them out, they did a 9 part video series recently on their new Hanse 418, and the damage it incurred after a hard grounding, and what the repairs entailed. In their case it seems to me that the end result is a high quality repair but if the boat you're looking at is anything like their situation it would need to be an *exceptionally* good deal for me to be interested in that sort of undertaking.

[Knotical]

If the previous buyer backed off that’s saying something, don’t think with your heart.

If I were you I wouldn’t even see the boat or have it surveyed, in my limited experience with surveyors and yards you would end up paying a lot more than the initial quote as new things will come up during repairs that you have to fix, and unlike fixing a building where you can fire the contractor if you don’t like his work you can’t fire the yard where your boat is kept or you’ll end up losing your boat.

There a tons of boats for sale, find one that is ready for water and go sailing, don’t hesitate even if you have to pay a little more than a project boat.

Originally Posted by Tmacmi

Oh no, they aren't giving it away at all. They were asking full value. They had a purchaser, but that purchaser discovered the damage.

I don't have much to go on but the info I gave you.

BUT here's my hunch. They had a hard grounding. They had somebody repair it and they thought it was a good repair. Now they find out it wasn't a good repair.

I'm guessing the seller is in a bit of a shock.

[Marathon1150]

Just after the sea trial with a surveyor on board and an accepted offer in place, we discovered that the boat that we really liked and was in amazingly good condition had run aground resulting in significant damage. None of these details were revealed by the owner or the broker, but rather by accident when I contacted a boat yard who was listed in the boat details as having done a rig tune a year previously. I asked the technician that did the rig tuning why it had been done so far from the boat's home location and he mentioned that it was done because the rig was down. Next question: why was the rig down. Answer: the boat was being rebuilt because of a serious grounding. We brought this detail up with the broker who contacted the owner and all was revealed along with the C$59K repair bill details.

I then contacted the insurance company that paid the bill to ask if they would reinsure the boat (yes, without hesitation and they did). I contacted several brokers that I know well enough to trust their opinion and I posted a question similar to the OP in this thread on this forum. The surveyor doing the pre-completion survey and a second surveyor were also asked if they saw or could see any issues during their surveys that they may not have noted because neither was aware of the grounding.

The consensus view was that the quality reputation of the three firms involved in repairing the boat was so high that there could be no question that the boat was now better than when it left the factory. That was 2.5 years ago and I have no evidence so far that it is incorrect.

The other consensus view was around the lack of transparency on the part of the owner. Not good.

And then there is that common saying that "there are three kinds of sailors - those that have run aground, those who will run aground and liars". This begs the question of how many used boats have run aground, some quite seriously, but that information is never passed on to the owner several steps removed from the first kind of sailor noted above?

Finding a surveyor that has experience with boat grounding and insurance companies might be the next step if you remain serious regarding this boat.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by S/V Illusion

What sometimes surprises me is that, among all the boasts for sale in all the places in the country there is water, some pick the worst one the farthest away.

How many times has this shown up on the forum. Should I buy a Whachamacallit 42 in Florida and truck it Vancouver.

Unless it is a very special and unique boat or the best deal on three continents, No. 99% of the time the answer is no.

[Tmacmi]

Thanks. Its not something I'm actively pursuing. Its something I was turning over in my head as a "what if".

The only way I'd do it is if there was a tremendous discount and I was working with a nearby surveyor and highly experienced yard.

[Cheechako]

A good surveyor can assess it. But, that sounds like the "Catalina smile" which is often a crescent shape crack fore and aft of the keel from a hard grounding. The keel flexes the thin hull up/down in the back and up/down in the front when it grounds hard.
At normal price walk away.
At a huge discount get a quote for repair. A grounding hard enough to do that on an obviously thin hull can also crack cabinet attachments, bulkheads and engine beds.