New orleans ebay boats

[Gex]

Hey guys, there's a bunch of nice boats up on ebay that are pretty much scrapped into project boats but I was wondering if it was actually worth investing my time and money into one of these types of boats. Now If I buy I need to get it trucked up to Montreal, Canada.

How structurely sound is a boat after its got a nice hole through its hull? Water Damage in the interior..... how bad can that be fixing wise? I understand that probably most of the electronics wont want to work again and probably the motor. Anyone have good info on importing a boat into Canada?

Has anyone done this?

Any info would be great, thanks

- Dave

[sunkist_in_mi]

I would check with Canadian customs first. I was in Sarnia yesterday talking to a broker. He knew someone who had purchased one, but customs would not allow it into the country. They considered it salvage, and it had to do with where the fiberglass would be disposed of. He was planning on repairing the vessel not scrapping it.


This is second hand information, but is worth checking into before commiting.

FWIW

Mike

[Gex]

Thanks, I'll give them a call... Aside from that, can you or anyone else answer some of the other questions I have?

[Gary M]

It may not sound very helpfull but if you have ask you might be gettign in over your head. I am currently overhauling a boat that was not damaged just neglected and it is not a lot of fun. A huge number of hours and quite a few bucks.

As far as bring one into Canada that should not really be a problem, I know of several sailors who have done this to storm damged boats.

If it was worth bringing here it would not be considered scrap. I had my boat trucked here from Boston and the trucking company took care of things at the border. Including paying GST and PST and I just had to reimburse them on delivery in Sarnia.

[nolatom]

A "nice hole in the hull" may be repairable, depending on lots of things; but whether or not that hole caused her to sink, you're going to have a mold problem with all of the interior, headliners, etc, that may make the project less than cost-effective. If sunk or grounded, make sure the keel, rudder, and prop shaft/strut aren't bent. Sails could be beyond help. You'll need a good surveyor to tell you if you're looking at a good opportunity or a money pit. And trucking ain't cheap.

A lot of boats are still stacked up around the outer harbor and West End Park. Sad to see. If they're not cost-effective projects to do locally down here, hard to see how they'll be cost-effective if you also have to truck them a thousand miles or more.

Not to hang crepe here, but it's hard to answer a general question without a specific example/boat.

[Gex]

Gary, Nolatom, great info. Thanks.

I'm kind of convinced that the boats that are still left there were the ones that are beyond help because it has been almost a year since. I'm passively looking for a good oppertunity for a boat while I enjoy my T22.

Thanks a bunch guys!

- Dave

[seabreeze_97]

Nah, there's lots of them. The eBay stuff is nothin'. Check this out.
http://www.salvagedirect.com/
Click on the boats. You can also select upcoming auctions and they have around 20 pages of boats awaiting settlement. Unfortunately, you have to have a dealer's license to actually bid. And, while I'm not trying to implicate anyone, there have been some cats grabbing boats, then turning around and flipping them for a quick buck.
A few weeks ago, with a dealer's help, I snagged a C&C 29 for her perfect mast and rigging. The boat was toast, but I wanted that mast! Winning bid? $5. Another $200 for the crane fee, and some dealer's fees and I had the whole smash for just under $350. Woo Hoooo!
http://www.salvagedirect.com/asp/vie...=594610&bhcp=1
She's a total mess, but the mast is fine. I'm also finding other things of interest, like the Yanmar diesel (nothing a rebuild can't cure), offset prop shaft. 2 bottles of wine, 3 type V inflatable life jackets. The boat was the the South Shore Yacht Club (New Orleans) PHFR boat of the year 2004. She even had six sails, all easily serviceable. One is OMG!!!, a Doyle carbon fiber unit. Shame she went out that way.
Anyway, I don't mean to rub salt in the wound (as to your logistical issues), but they're still dealing with boats from storms 2 years ago, and they said they'll be in Gulfport, MS for at least another year (I live nearby, so it was easy for me to make some connections). So, as you can see, they run the gamut from new, to various vintages having been under water for several months. They're still bringing them in.

[resdog]

All I can say is be very careful and actually do your due diligence. Whether that is a surveyor or your own eye depends on your past experience with what it takes to bring a boat back to working order.

Case in point: A gentleman in our marina purchased a Katrina boat out of New Orleans. To his eye, the boat looked very fixable at relatively little cost and labor (his own). It had surface abrasions to the hull. The toe rail was torn up in a few places but didn't look bad. The rig looked fine. The boat had not been under water or holed. It looked like it had lain on its side and thrashed around a bit.

He bought it, had it transported a thousand miles to our marina. He starts really looking at the boat (along with everyone else in the marina) and discovers that every tabbed bulkhead is not tabbed anymore...the nice straight rig has a discernable kink in the mast once he pays a couple hundred dollars to have it raised. The point is he is still finding problems, all of them fixable, but quickly running into more money and time than the boat is worth.

[sailingfool]

Resdog,

WOW, that damage sounds just like the infamous Katrina Beneteau 36.7 sold on E-Bay in February. Same boat?

Sailinganarchy.com had a long thread on that Ebay posting, during which some local posters dug up the inside info on the insurance survey that totalled the boat. The tread ended with the salvager coming online and initially denying the boat had significant damage, then admitting the damage was material, but never quite getting around to additional disclosure on Ebay. Someone bought the boat and the general consensus was the buyer was screwed.

Caveat emptor - a boat seller always has more information than the buyer, "the best you can expect when buying a boat, is to actually get what you pay for..."

[Jim H]

Originally Posted by seabreeze_97

The boat was toast, but I wanted that mast! Winning bid? $5. Another $200 for the crane fee, and some dealer's fees and I had the whole smash for just under $350. Woo Hoooo!

This sounds cool in terms of parting out the boat, but do you have an estimate and an avenue for disposing of the hull and other materials you don't want to keep? Will you take it to a landfill, hacked up or complete, etc?

Thanks!

Jim H