I tried jumping in with both feet and got bit. I drove all the way to Vegas (18 hours one way) from Calgary to buy a sailboat after looking for months. The last thing I said to the seller is I will buy it after we sail it in Lake Mead with no troubles. I took a friend of mine with me who had a small sailboat a few years back. It did not start off that well when I met the guy because he tells me boat stands for Bring Out Another Thousand!
While the boat was still in the parking lot I went over the boat as best I could and this was a very well kept boat with alot of extras. When inside I noticed a 5" screw in cover in the floor. I asked the guy what is under there and he said it is an inspection hole and there should not be any water in there. We continued to go over stuff and my smile grew wider and wider.
We finally got to the water and things were good. We were motoring out to the middle somewhere to go over the rest. I remembered the cover, I pulled the cover off and there was water, it was slopping around in there. My jaw hit the floor and he looked like a pirate caught in a museum! He came up with every kind of excuse and ended with a little bit of water in there is ok. He sponged it out and filled an ice cream bucket. Within 5 minutes it was filling up again. he pulled out a $7 tube of silicone and said I could fix it myself when I got home. From a guy that says boat stands for bring out another thousand.
This was a 1993 W.D. Shock called Scarlett and is from California. It is currently listed on Schocks website, last I saw anyway. I called a manufacturer before I left for the trip and a guy said yes the boat was recently in for some maintenance and it was a great boat.
I called him when I got home and told him what I had found. He then proceeds to tell me that his guys recently repaired the boat from an accident and he thought it was all fixed. The current owner was a noob as well. He fumbled his response when I said why did you not tell me about this accident when I called him before I drove 18 hours one way. The owner told me the boat was in for 'improvements', when infact it was repairs.
It is a swing keel boat and the water was coming from the area where the rope went through to attach to the bottom of the swing keel to lower it. I watched to see if the water was coming from the rope hole and couldn't quite tell. I didn't like his desperation after we found the problem. It bothered me alot when I first thought I may not buy the boat and by the time we got to shore I had made up my mind not to buy a boat with a problem. It would have been better with an axe stuck in the side of it because at least I would have known where the leak was coming from.
As a noob I have realised this might be a blessing. I have resolved to renting a bunch of times at the local reservoir, offering to help on anybodys boat hopefully for a 7 day tour to learn some more and take the local course. Oh and for my first boat, just buy something local.
While the boat was still in the parking lot I went over the boat as best I could and this was a very well kept boat with alot of extras. When inside I noticed a 5" screw in cover in the floor. I asked the guy what is under there and he said it is an inspection hole and there should not be any water in there. We continued to go over stuff and my smile grew wider and wider.
We finally got to the water and things were good. We were motoring out to the middle somewhere to go over the rest. I remembered the cover, I pulled the cover off and there was water, it was slopping around in there. My jaw hit the floor and he looked like a pirate caught in a museum! He came up with every kind of excuse and ended with a little bit of water in there is ok. He sponged it out and filled an ice cream bucket. Within 5 minutes it was filling up again. he pulled out a $7 tube of silicone and said I could fix it myself when I got home. From a guy that says boat stands for bring out another thousand.
This was a 1993 W.D. Shock called Scarlett and is from California. It is currently listed on Schocks website, last I saw anyway. I called a manufacturer before I left for the trip and a guy said yes the boat was recently in for some maintenance and it was a great boat.
I called him when I got home and told him what I had found. He then proceeds to tell me that his guys recently repaired the boat from an accident and he thought it was all fixed. The current owner was a noob as well. He fumbled his response when I said why did you not tell me about this accident when I called him before I drove 18 hours one way. The owner told me the boat was in for 'improvements', when infact it was repairs.
It is a swing keel boat and the water was coming from the area where the rope went through to attach to the bottom of the swing keel to lower it. I watched to see if the water was coming from the rope hole and couldn't quite tell. I didn't like his desperation after we found the problem. It bothered me alot when I first thought I may not buy the boat and by the time we got to shore I had made up my mind not to buy a boat with a problem. It would have been better with an axe stuck in the side of it because at least I would have known where the leak was coming from.
As a noob I have realised this might be a blessing. I have resolved to renting a bunch of times at the local reservoir, offering to help on anybodys boat hopefully for a 7 day tour to learn some more and take the local course. Oh and for my first boat, just buy something local.