Skip Gundlach wrote:
I might add, having just done a huge amount of what it sounds like you're
about to do, that you can take any YachtWorld or other broker's information
with enough rock salt to recharge a water softener.

Aside from the raw specifications, what you see will rarely match the
description - and frequently the raw specifications won't be accurate,
either. If you don't already know what boat (make, model) and other
specifications you want, visiting the boats you *think* will work will be a
real education.


I think that anyone who is looking for a used boat ought to
memorize those two paragraphs! There are few things more
frustrating than driving for hours to see a boat that has been
completely misrepresented on yachtworld and on the phone. We
learned to use use the following process...

1. Find a boat that looks like it might fit your needs.
2. Find an owner's group for that boat - preferably on the net.
3. Read *all* the archives for the owner's group and find the
common problems.
4. Locate and read any "used boat reviews" in the magazines.
5. Finally, if you're still interested, go and look at the boat.

Most owners love their boats and hate to say bad things about
them. However, they'll talk about problems with other owners.
This is the info you want to seek out.

I believe this process saved us a lot of time by eliminating
interesting boats with serious design or construction issues. It
allowed us to ask useful questions over the phone. It also gave
us enough info to know what we should be looking at when we went
down to the dock. We don't pretend to be surveyors, but we did
find a lot of otherwise hidden "deal breakers" within a few
minutes of stepping on the boat just because we knew where to look.

Cindy


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