Buying a boat on line without even seeing it in person
 

"Tim" wrote in message
oups.com...

Ernest Scribbler wrote:
"Tim" wrote
Now I also look at it like this on ebay. if I had "won" the auction,
and showed up, and decided the boat was really misrepresented, there
would be no money exchanged, then what could the seller do? leave me
bad feedback?

Sounds to me like you have a very reasonable strategy.

Well Ernest, it's worked pretty good for me.

Thanks!


I bought my boat from a guy in Brookings, OR. 400 miles from here. He sent
me pics and I gave him a deposit via credit card and a stipulation that it
had to be as advertised. Drove up for the 4th of July weekend and looked
at the boat, test drove the boat, and gave him a check for the rest of the
price and towed it home.

Buying a boat on line without even seeing it in person
 

On Sat, 25 Aug 2007 20:34:20 -0400, JimH wrote:

Have you done so? If so, I would like your feedback.


I'm looking at this thread with interest.

I'm looking for a 27-29ft sailboat for around $10-20K, and there are lots
on Yachtworld. Trouble is, I'd like an Islander 28, and there are NONE in
the Pac NW (I'm willing to drive to Portland, but not San Diego!). So, I
am thinking of a "sight unseen" deal, of course with a survey, and maybe
ONE personal inspection and sea trial. Then of course I'd have to have it
packed up and trucked to Vancouver (I eliminated sailing it up on another
thread a while ago...)

The US dollar is so weak right now the deals from Canada are tremendous!

druid
http://www.bcboatnet.org

Buying a boat on line without even seeing it in person
 

(I'm willing to drive to Portland, but not San Diego)

Flights are cheap. Fly down, stay in a cheap hotel and look at it in
person. No doubt any travel costs will be an order of magnitude less than
"surprises" that need to get fixed later on.

Buying a boat on line without even seeing it in person
 

On Sep 11, 5:56 am, "Bill Kearney" wkearney-99@hot-mail-com wrote:
(I'm willing to drive to Portland, but not San Diego)

Flights are cheap. Fly down, stay in a cheap hotel and look at it in
person. No doubt any travel costs will be an order of magnitude less than
"surprises" that need to get fixed later on.

Yabut... Assuming the "Ordinary Person doesn't know much about boat
structure, so use a Qualified Surveyor before buying!" mentality, what
good would a personal inspection by me do? I will have a Professional
inspect the boat, and supposedly HE will find all the problems I would
have missed anyway.

Regardless, my Plan is to submit an offer contingent as usual on sea-
trial and survey. If accepted, THEN I fly down and do the sea trial
(which of course would include a "personal inspection"). If THAT is
OK, I arrange for a survey, and if THAT is OK, I buy the boat. Only
one flight down required, and that's after I've been assured that if I
like the boat, it's mine.

Only problem I see in this is that 2 of the 3 boats I looked at last
weekend had BAD holding-tank odour throughout the boat - that's
something that isn't obvious in pictures!

druid
http://www.bcboatnet.org

Buying a boat on line without even seeing it in person
 

Yabut... Assuming the "Ordinary Person doesn't know much about boat
structure, so use a Qualified Surveyor before buying!" mentality, what
good would a personal inspection by me do? I will have a Professional
inspect the boat, and supposedly HE will find all the problems I would
have missed anyway.

Learn more now, save your headaches later. Go down when your hired surveyor
is actually going to do the job and learn from it.

Regardless, my Plan is to submit an offer contingent as usual on sea-
trial and survey. If accepted, THEN I fly down and do the sea trial
(which of course would include a "personal inspection"). If THAT is
OK, I arrange for a survey, and if THAT is OK, I buy the boat. Only
one flight down required, and that's after I've been assured that if I
like the boat, it's mine.

Again, flights are cheap... lots cheaper than surprises later.

Only problem I see in this is that 2 of the 3 boats I looked at last
weekend had BAD holding-tank odour throughout the boat - that's
something that isn't obvious in pictures!

That actually not always that hard to solve. Lots of time it's just a
matter of replacing the waste hoses. Use it as a negotiating point to get
the price dropped by a couple grand.

Buying a boat on line without even seeing it in person
 

On Tue, 11 Sep 2007 22:06:33 -0400, "Bill Kearney"
wkearney-99@hot-mail-com wrote:

Yabut... Assuming the "Ordinary Person doesn't know much about boat
structure, so use a Qualified Surveyor before buying!" mentality, what
good would a personal inspection by me do? I will have a Professional
inspect the boat, and supposedly HE will find all the problems I would
have missed anyway.

Learn more now, save your headaches later. Go down when your hired surveyor
is actually going to do the job and learn from it.

This is an excellant point.

Had it happen to me once on a 28' Topaz. I figured I was all set,
ready to go - nice boat.

Surveyor was there five minutes and the deal was off.