Buying A Boat That's Far, Far Away?

[SEMIJim]

Finding a dearth of used boats that are what we want, in the condition we want, and within our budget, locally, and noticing that likely candidates appear to exist in other parts of the country, I got to wondering: How does one go about purchasing a boat that's a long way away? I don't mean just a few hours away by car. I mean purchase-plane-tickets far away.

I cannot imagine buying plane tickets to go look at every likely prospect--even limiting it to only the ones that look very, very likely could get real expensive and real time-consuming real quick.

So how would you go, or have you gone, about it?

Jim

[ccam]

Semijim,
I had to chuckle at this. Of all the advice on boat buying by sailnet members, and 90% of it good and valuable. Never have I read "and buy it close to home"
Well, we bought ours 2000 miles away. Go figure! She was and still is my favorite pick. The original plane was to sail her down and around. Now, maybe in a couple of years after sailing the PNW. It's just a bear to go sail her and love her when she's at that distance.
Hell, now I'm catching myself pricing flickas for my local lake and selling a nice hobie cat to fund it. Humm! The point is, maybe I should have picked #2 on the short list which was 5 hrs away ??

thx

[Alden68]

Jim -

When I found the boat I had to have, which was in California an I'm in Boston, I arranged for everything remotely over the phone. I had it hauled and surveyed, some work done on her while it was on the hard, and trucked out to the east coast.

The trucking definitely added to the whole bill but when you fall in love you tend to do foolish things!

I always had the feeling that I was getting screwed because I wasn't there in person to witness certain things but all in all it worked out very well. If you can live with the cost of trucking in your budget I don't think that you nescesarilly have to limit your search.

Good luck!

[Tartan34C]

I looked for my Tartan 34C for over two years and went as far as Canada to the north, Ohio to the west and North Carolina to the south to look at boats. After all that searching I bought a 34C that was only 4 miles away from me. I found her by accident while picking up parts at the local boatyard for the company boat. Someone in the ships store commented on a boat being sold and it turned out to be my future boat. Sometimes you get lucky.
All the best,
Robert Gainer

[SEMIJim]

Originally Posted by Alden68

Jim -

When I found the boat I had to have, which was in California an I'm in Boston, I arranged for everything remotely over the phone. I had it hauled and surveyed, some work done on her while it was on the hard, and trucked out to the east coast.

So had you looked-at, seen, maybe sailed boats just like it? Otherwise, how did you know you'd like how she sailed? That, to me, is the trickiest part.

Originally Posted by Alden68

The trucking definitely added to the whole bill but when you fall in love you tend to do foolish things!

We're trying to avoid doing a foolish thing . But if we can't find what we want locally (where I'm going to define "local" as "within a 2-3 hour drive, or certainly at least w/in the Great Lakes region), we may have to resort to this. Even if we do find something w/in the GL region, we may still have to have it trucked, because unless it's on either Lake Huron or Lake Erie, I think it unlikely we'll be in any position to sail her home ourselves, given our lack of recent experience and lack of knowledge of the routes.

Originally Posted by Alden68

I always had the feeling that I was getting screwed because I wasn't there in person to witness certain things but all in all it worked out very well. If you can live with the cost of trucking in your budget I don't think that you nescesarilly have to limit your search.

Good luck!

Depending on what that costs, it may be doable.

What you did is how I imagined it might be done, except I would want to do a personal sea trial. Like this:

• Make offer contingent on successful haul-out survey, engine inspection, clear title, etc., and sea trial
• Have survey and engine inspection executed, check title
• Fly out for sea trial
• Have boat shipped home
• Enjoy sailing!

Being in the market, myself, and thinking about this long-distance process, has convinced me that, were I selling a boat that I thought would garner interest from far away, if I didn't have a relatively recent survey (say, no more than a year or two old), I'd have one done so I could FAX it to prospective buyers. I'd be a lot more comfortable, myself, investing in that long-distance process if I knew there was a good likelihood it would survey-out.

Jim

[SimonV]

I will be travelling over 10,000 miles to look at a couple or 50 boats and then the fun begins getting it home. Looking for the right boat should be half the fun.

[Sailormann]

I think that if you keep looking in the Great Lakes area you will find something you like sooner or later. All up - it's going to cost you 5K or more to buy a boat, get it surveyed and trucked to wherever you are.

Better to apply this to your purchase or refit budget.

Fact is, there isn't a whole lot of difference between sailing a 27 foot Pearson or a 27 foot Ericson or a 27 foot C&C. They are all reasonably well-built, reasonably comfortable and will serve the purpose you want them to.

[Alden68]

SEMIjim -

I agree, the sea trial is important. For me however it was a matter of which boat of the same make and model, not a choice between multiple boats by different builders where sailing differences would be evident.

Had I been looking at a variety of different boats I would have had to make a short list and buy plane tickets.

[Moonfish]

I still look at boats for sale in the BVI. Kind of a fun thought: see one you are really interested in, talk to the broker, make an offer (contingent on personal inspection, survey and sea trial), fly down and check her out, fall in love with the boat... Keep her there, or sail her home. Both would be fun.

It's a nice little fantasy...

[xort]

I'm shopping for a big boat. The survey will cost a fair piece of change. I don't want to offer on a boat that I'm not reasonably certain will pass.
So my plan is this...
First, narrow down to the specific model.
Second, use the internet to find likely candidates.
Third, travel there myself to do my own survey. I've been reading books on surveying to learn all I can.
Fourth, hire a real surveyor to verify my findings. One thing I won't be doing is a haulout during my preliminary survey. So the surveyor might still find a big suprise underwater.
Fifth, sign on the dotted line.