Buying from afar.

[Little Frog 14]

Is it unheard of or not recommended to buy a boat from afar. We live in the midwest but need a boat on the west coast. Trusting brokers maybe so maybe no, an independent surveyor though? To me smells are important. Pictures only tell so much. But moisture readings and maintenance records tell alot. Tia.

 

[Gdavid]

Not unheard of, I have hired a surveyor to do an initial walkthrough of a boat for me rather than making the trip to see the boat myself. You may also be able to get a volunteer from a site like this or an enthusiast group of the brand/model. There is the risk that someone else jumps on the deal but in most cases, they already know about it and frequently someone knows the back story on that specific boat.

 

[O C Diver]

If you knew exactly what you wanted in make and model, and don't have the time to attend the survey and seatrial, where will you find the time to use it?

Seems like renting would be a better option.

Ted

 

[Little Frog 14]

Thanks gents. Love the idea of a local. Maybe trade some good rum for the favor. And we are retiring in a year so laying the groundwork
...have to sell our boat here...

 

[slowgoesit]

If the boat appears to be exactly what you are looking for, but you can't get away TODAY to look at it, you can submit an offer, with earnest money though a broker, (either the seller's broker, or you may wish to retain a "buyer's" broker), good for a period of time (say 30 days) with normal contingencies like personal inspection, survey, obtaining financing and/or insurance, moorage, etc. Then if it is accepted, you at least have it locked in for a short period allowing you go go out and personally inspect, survey, etc.
This is what we did for our current boat, earlier this year, but having said that, I would never finalize the deal until I had PERSONALLY inspected, and "smelled" the boat as you said.

 

[Seevee]

Absolutely you can shop afar.

You can get a ton of info and pictures on line. When you get enough info to take the next step, I'd argue to find a surveyor and have them do a preliminary inspection.... enough to take the next step.


If you are satisfied, fly out there and plan on being there for the full survey and perhaps other inspections. Buy it, and make arrangements for dockage.


However, if you're not moving out there soon, I'd argue a partnership or just renting. Leaving a boat without being there for long times is a recipe for disaster.

 

[kthoennes]

We live in South Dakota, bought our current boat in Somerset, Mass, just up the bay from Newport, RI. The boat before that was for sale in Texas. Good deals both times, worked out very well both times but maybe we got lucky. We tried Minneapolis, pretty big boat market (not Florida-big of course, but pretty good) but after months of looking nothing happened to work out. We also did find two in Florida worth checking out. My father lives there so he looked at one of them for us, and I checked out the other one myself on a little side trip from a work conference. I remember the one in Titusville, FL had sea birds nesting in the flybridge, contrary to the sales pictures. It was almost funny. but I did waste some hours on the road.

I know you don't want to waste money buying plane tickets to look at dogs, but that's really a very minor part of boat expenses. And if you are flying to a big boat area, it helps to line up two or three possibilities, make the trip more efficient or worthwhile. On our current boat for example we treated the trip to Newport as a weekend mini-vacation. If the boat worked out, great, if not, we got to see the fall colors in New England. Those plane tickets and a night in the America's Cup Inn in Newport were about .000001% of the cost of shipping and owning our boat. And no matter how much you trust somebody else's look-around, you'll want and need to look at it yourself at some point anyway, if it could be THE ONE.

 

[firehoser75]

Another issue you might want to consider and/or investigate is local moorage. In some areas like the PNW, moorage is very hard to find (depending on vessel size as well). Live aboard is like finding "hen's teeth" in some places (if that thought is on your agenda). Buying a boat but having to moor it miles from where you plan to live may be a problem??

 

[READY]

Little Frog: where do you want the boat on the West Coast? Knowing that you can get some local knowledge from forum members.

 

[klee wyck]

Is it unheard of or not recommended to buy a boat from afar. We live in the midwest but need a boat on the west coast. Trusting brokers maybe so maybe no, an independent surveyor though? To me smells are important. Pictures only tell so much. But moisture readings and maintenance records tell alot. Tia.

It is not unheard of. By this time next week I can tell you how it works out in at least one case............

 

[Lollygag1]

We had 2 boats lined up in Annapolis and traveled down to see both. Our broker had done thorough work and discussion w seller over the phone and with additional pics so we were pretty confident we would want one of the 2. I did manage to get there for the survey but would have had confidence if I could not make it. My $.02 is find a good buyers broker.