Tally ho .. again .. After my sometimes squabbly Engine-Less
sailing question, I felt a followup was in order. Recently, I
began to look at sailboats; again. I sold my last boat well over
a year ago, and I needed some time off. I looked at a few for sale
postings, the usual. What I found was a number of very worthy
sailboats, boats with quality hulls, sound decks, good rigging and sails,
blah blah .. that the owners are offering but .. the big BUT:: these boats
all have the old Atomic 4 gasoline engine, and the owners all told me
with some prodding that the engines have "issues". So, basically, the
boats do not have working engines. I few calls to repower engine folks,
or boatyards, and to get a general idea of what a repower might cost?
Many thousands of dollars. In every case, the cost of a replacement
engine was much more than the boat was/is worth. Its not the take out
of the old AT4 that is expensive, it is the cost of the new engine, the associated parts such as muffler/exhaust/bed/fuel tank .. and the placing
of the new engine in place, hook ups, etc. I am not a fan of outboard engines, especially on larger boats. So: what is the answer? Short of
spending $12,000 dollars on a boat that is only worth $10,000, is there an answer? It is a shame and very disheartening for the owners of these boats, that they can not sell them. Also, as a potential purchaser, I feel
dirty telling the owner of an otherwise quality sailboat that his boat is not even worth $100 dollars. A marine surveyor I spoke with was blunt "the boat is worthless without a quality diesel engine". How does one tell the seller, without sounding like a total jerk, that the boat he is asking $10,000 dollars for is not worth $100 dollars? I sent an outline of what the surveyor told me to one seller, and I included that I was not trying to steal his boat or come off sounding like a jerk .. but what can one do. Oh.. well.
sailing question, I felt a followup was in order. Recently, I
began to look at sailboats; again. I sold my last boat well over
a year ago, and I needed some time off. I looked at a few for sale
postings, the usual. What I found was a number of very worthy
sailboats, boats with quality hulls, sound decks, good rigging and sails,
blah blah .. that the owners are offering but .. the big BUT:: these boats
all have the old Atomic 4 gasoline engine, and the owners all told me
with some prodding that the engines have "issues". So, basically, the
boats do not have working engines. I few calls to repower engine folks,
or boatyards, and to get a general idea of what a repower might cost?
Many thousands of dollars. In every case, the cost of a replacement
engine was much more than the boat was/is worth. Its not the take out
of the old AT4 that is expensive, it is the cost of the new engine, the associated parts such as muffler/exhaust/bed/fuel tank .. and the placing
of the new engine in place, hook ups, etc. I am not a fan of outboard engines, especially on larger boats. So: what is the answer? Short of
spending $12,000 dollars on a boat that is only worth $10,000, is there an answer? It is a shame and very disheartening for the owners of these boats, that they can not sell them. Also, as a potential purchaser, I feel
dirty telling the owner of an otherwise quality sailboat that his boat is not even worth $100 dollars. A marine surveyor I spoke with was blunt "the boat is worthless without a quality diesel engine". How does one tell the seller, without sounding like a total jerk, that the boat he is asking $10,000 dollars for is not worth $100 dollars? I sent an outline of what the surveyor told me to one seller, and I included that I was not trying to steal his boat or come off sounding like a jerk .. but what can one do. Oh.. well.