Looking for some advice

bmay1909

Active Member
Nov 11, 2018
155
Lake St. Clair/MI
Boat Info
02 Sea Ray Sundancer 380
04 Sea Ray Sundancer 320 (sold)
Engines
Twin 8.1 Mercury Horizon V-Drives

Twin 6.2L MPI 320-HP V-Drives
Looking to purchase a 2004 Sea Ray Sundancer and need some advice. I'm located in Michigan and as you all know we will be unable to do a sea trial until mid/end of April (hopefully).

From what I've been told by the broker is I will have the survey done once we come to an agreement on price. Ownership will be transferred to me prior to sea trial. Broker and seller will hold X amount in escrow until after our sea trial. If all pans out the escrowed amount will be disbursed back to the seller.

I have never purchased a boat at this time of the year so my question to you all is this typical when purchasing a boat at this time of the year in cold climates?

First post here!
You all have been a wealth of knowledge reading through this forum!

Cheers
Brian
 
I wouldn't take ownership until after the survey is complete and you know what you are dealing with. What if you have an issue with delamination in the hull? I wouldn't want to deal with that. Which model are you looking at?
 
I wouldn't take ownership until after the survey is complete and you know what you are dealing with. What if you have an issue with delamination in the hull? I wouldn't want to deal with that. Which model are you looking at?


320!
 
NO, NO, NO. You should have made a good faith deposit that is put in escrow pending survey and sea trial. After survey and sea tial you will have a short amount of time to make up your mind with respect to survey and sea trial. If you accept the results you move forward with the purchase. If not the deposit is returned to you. Only after the survey and sea trial, provided you accept the survey and sea trial results, do you exchange remaining balance of money and you get in exchange bill of sale/Title etc... You DO NOT take ownership of vessel until after all results and possible fixes are done and you formally accept the results and boat condition. I am sure others will explain the process a lot better than me but hopefully you get the idea.
 
Looking to purchase a 2004 Sea Ray Sundancer and need some advice. I'm located in Michigan and as you all know we will be unable to do a sea trial until mid/end of April (hopefully).

From what I've been told by the broker is I will have the survey done once we come to an agreement on price. Ownership will be transferred to me prior to sea trial. Broker and seller will hold X amount in escrow until after our sea trial. If all pans out the escrowed amount will be disbursed back to the seller.

I have never purchased a boat at this time of the year so my question to you all is this typical when purchasing a boat at this time of the year in cold climates?

First post here!
You all have been a wealth of knowledge reading through this forum!

Cheers
Brian

Welcome Aboard!

What part of Michigan? I may have a sea trial by the buyer on my 270 Friday if weather forecasts are correct. It can be done, or they wait with your deposit, you do not buy a vessel, how would you return it if it all went bad?

MM
 
Welcome Aboard!

What part of Michigan? I may have a sea trial by the buyer on my 270 Friday if weather forecasts are correct. It can be done, or they wait with your deposit, you do not buy a vessel, how would you return it if it all went bad?

MM


About 45 minutes outside (north) of Detroit. Temps have been close to or below freezing the past few days here (at least at night). A lot of the canals and marinas around here already have some ice forming.

I assumed what you all have said already. Put a deposit down now and wait till the weather warms up in early spring. I just wanted to make sure I was assuming correctly.
 
About 45 minutes outside (north) of Detroit. Temps have been close to or below freezing the past few days here (at least at night). A lot of the canals and marinas around here already have some ice forming.

I assumed what you all have said already. Put a deposit down now and wait till the weather warms up in early spring. I just wanted to make sure I was assuming correctly.

We are on southern Lake Michigan and hope it gets to near 40 on Friday. You too will be in the upper 30's both the latter part of this week and next week per the forecast.

MM
 
NO, NO, NO. You should have made a good faith deposit that is put in escrow pending survey and sea trial. After survey and sea tial you will have a short amount of time to make up your mind with respect to survey and sea trial. If you accept the results you move forward with the purchase. If not the deposit is returned to you. Only after the survey and sea trial, provided you accept the survey and sea trial results, do you exchange remaining balance of money and you get in exchange bill of sale/Title etc... You DO NOT take ownership of vessel until after all results and possible fixes are done and you formally accept the results and boat condition. I am sure others will explain the process a lot better than me but hopefully you get the idea.

JC said it correctly - NO NO NO

Your offer and deposit should have contingencies such as Survey, Sea Trial, etc. I have written other conditions into offers before.

After all conditions are met to your satisfaction do you take ownership and fund the remaining balance.
 
Is the boat accessible without the marina moving 83 boats to get it back into the water? We're still weeks away from having "real" ice on the water. A re-winterization may not be that big if a deal, particularly if it's stored indoors heated.
 
Is the boat accessible without the marina moving 83 boats to get it back into the water? We're still weeks away from having "real" ice on the water. A re-winterization may not be that big if a deal, particularly if it's stored indoors heated.


I believe there 3-4 boats in front of it. The boat is stored in a heated indoor facility.
 
If you consider why the selling broker wants you to take possession before the sea trial and survey it's because he wants the boat to be in YOUR possession. That way you can play on it, drool over it, touch and feel it and fall in love with it. You form an emotional attachment to THEIR boat and are more likely to accept faults the survey discloses.

No way would I take delivery of a boat under the circumstances he's pushing.

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO. Oh, and NO.
 
In Canada I looked at a boat in Winnipeg once. it was December. There was an offer on the boat for a spring sea trial. I was told I could make an offer and if the first potential purchased backed out my offer would be considered. You may want to tell the seller your offer is dependent on sea trial and your deposit is 100% refundable if you do not purchase but the seller can take other offers and if you back out they can go to the next offer.
 
Agreed. Deposit, sea trial/survey, then complete the sale.
Same ... Only refundable deposit now.
You might want to do a survey on the rest off the boat and partial engine survey (or what ever you can do out of the water) You dont want to wait all winter to find out something major is wrong with the boat that you could have figured out now and moved on
 
Looking to purchase a 2004 Sea Ray Sundancer and need some advice. I'm located in Michigan and as you all know we will be unable to do a sea trial until mid/end of April (hopefully).

From what I've been told by the broker is I will have the survey done once we come to an agreement on price. Ownership will be transferred to me prior to sea trial. Broker and seller will hold X amount in escrow until after our sea trial. If all pans out the escrowed amount will be disbursed back to the seller.

I have never purchased a boat at this time of the year so my question to you all is this typical when purchasing a boat at this time of the year in cold climates?

First post here!
You all have been a wealth of knowledge reading through this forum!

Cheers
Brian
Once the ownership is transferred, it is your boat. What may be held in escrow may or may not be enough to cover repairs. Also, after sea trail you might not even want the boat. Too late, it’s yours. I would tell them to take a hike, there’s plenty of boats for sale.
 
I am a broker. NO NO NO. Negotiate, survey, sea trial, then close. Way to many 320s available.
 

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