On May 9, 5:54�pm, Tom Francis wrote:
I'm in the process of selling the Halman and I had a guy who was
really interested in it. I spent four hours on the phone with him, I
took a ton of pictures and he made an unseen offer contingent on
viewing the boat. *I explained to him exactly what the boat was and
what was wrong. *He asked if he could being a surveyor along - fine,
no problem there. *

I sent him a copy of the survey I had done this spring. The surveyor
basically said the same thing I did - the Halman needs some minor
cosmetic work *(like the wood needs to be stripped and revarnished -
the hull could use a good compounding with Finesse It II, etc.) but
the basic boat is structurally sound, no leaks, no blisters, the
stainless is in amazing shape as are the sails and rigging. *The cabin
doesn't leak anywhere, window seals are excellent - everything *you
would want in a gunk holer type sailboat. *The trailer needs a good
sandblast and paint job, but is servicable as a road trailer.

He came to see it this afternoon and brought a "surveyor" friend,
looked it over. *I was a little suspicious as he kept calling it a
Nordic 20 - technically, I guess that is correct, but it's a Halman
Nordic 20 and in a lot of ways, a completely different boat. He kept
asking some really stupid questions like where the keel bolts were
(huh?) and the water tank (I understand that the Halman specs call for
one, but this doesn't have that option). *He nitpicked the color -
apparently it's not a standard offered color (which may or may not be
true - I've seen pictures of a Halman in the same shade of brown in
Florida) insisting that the boat had been painted and that wasn't the
original color. *He wanted to see where the blisters were - all these
boats according to him had blister problems. *Made a big deal about
the bottom paint (which needs doing - I admitted that up front) and
the fact that there wasn't a barrier coat. *According to the
"surveyor", water can creep into the keel and deform the lead over the
winter (the Halman doesn't have lead in it's keel - it's encapsulated
steel).

After an hour of this bull****, I was getting a little annoyed, but
kept cool. Finally, they left and the potential buyer said he'd get
back to me tonight.

I just got off the phone with him - he offered me $600 for the Halman
based on his "surveyor's" report.

I hung up on him.

The friend definitely wasn't a professional surveyor.

A true surveyor concentrates on preparing an objective report about
the condition of the vessel, not verbally challenging representations
made by the seller. He asked you where the blisters were? That's
bogus. The boat either has blisters or it doesn't. If it has blisters,
the "surveyor" should be able to find them and wouldn't need you to
point them out.

That's the downside of an industry where the right to call oneself a
"surveyor" can be purchased with a box of business cards and hand
lettering 3x5 index cards to thumbtack to the bulletin boards at local
marinas. Even the professional associations are pretty weak, seemingly
more concerned with making poor surveyors better than with turning
down their membership application (and dues checks).

Hang in there. What's that boat worth, really? Somebody will happen
along who actually likes it, and be willing to pay a fair price.