Boat Shopping bad experiences

Been following the thread "Boat Shopping..Am I too anxious".

Got started thinking about some of the experiences we have had the past few months - thought it might be enlightening (fun) sharing experiences about boat shopping visits which did not go well.

I will start off with a couple.

Planning a trip to look at boats. Setup 7 appointments over 2 days in South Florida. For each I had at least 1, sometimes 2 lengthy calls with the brokers. Pretty detailed about the condition and configuration of the boat in question.

One particular boat, a manufacturer which had never been on. Had heard of the brand, just never seen one in person. A little bit older than our target, but talking to the broker - his words "this boat is the nicest boat I am representing".

One of its features was teak in the cockpit and swim platform.

Walking up to the boat I stopped. On the swim platform was indoor/outdoor nylon/polyester carpet - glued down. Hideous blue/green. Not astroturf, not boat carpet - carpet like you would put in a game room. Glued down over the teak.

First question I asked - Why? Answer was "well the teak was not in that good of shape". Needless to say - lost interest at that point.

Oh, another zinger on the boat. Note this was scheduled days in advance. Broker and his wife were there on the boat to meet us and show us the boat.

Wondering around down in the master suite, walked in the head, opened the top of the vaccuflush. Yep, major leave behind there floating.

Anyway - I am sure there are some other experiences out there. When you showed up and the boat was not the same as the internet or phone conversations.

Mark

In 2009 we were looking for a bigger boat and saw a name brand custom build boat for sale in Seattle at the On The Water Boat Show. It had just had a $75,000 price drop so it caught our interest.

I phoned the broker and spent about 20 minutes on the phone with him discussing the condition of the boat. Apparently it had been built for the owner of the company and had some additional equipment on board that is not normally included on the boat.

He described the boat as being in "near perfect" condition. We were already planning on going to the boat show so I made an appointment to meet with him to look at the boat.

When we got there they were washing the boat. As we boarded I immediately saw water seeping into the cabin below the windshield. The wood beneath the windshield was black, indicating the leaking had gone on for some time.

There was doors from the helm area to the port and stbd walkways. These were not standard but were added for the company owner. Beneath both doors the wood was wet from the washing and black. An additional indication that the leaking had been going on for quite some time.

I spent about 5 minutes berating the broker about his obvious lies to us, then we left. After lunch and an adult beverage or two to assuage our troubled souls we wandered the docks to look at boats.

It was then that we walked on a 500 Sedan Bridge and fell in love with it. That lead to our eventual purchase of our 550 Sedan Bridge.

A Marine Max broker had a 460DA on Long Island that he advertised as in "pristine" condition. I put the boat under contract and scheduled surveys and sea trial. Flew up from Florida a day before the surveys to inspect the boat. It was an absolute disaster. The hull had not seen wax in years. The cockpit had most of the panels removed for some kind of maintenance. The helm gauges were removed for troubleshooting. Not to worry the gauges on the engines worked. The interior was filthy! The broker was not even apologetic. Took me 7 months to find a boat that was clean.

Drove to Atlanta from Indy to see a 400DB that was "in showroom condition." Reputable broker took me out to see her. Without much fanfare we were away from the dock without me doing too much inspection. She ran great! (my first time piloting diesels) When we got back he left me to inspect the boat. Aside from a myriad of interior and exterior issues to include water intrusion and neglect, I made my way to the engines. After peeling the salon carpet off of the floor, leaving much behind, I found the bilge less than clean. The generator oil revealed a nice milky texture, I didn't taste it. Isinglass was hazed, entire boat needed to be cut and polished, fiberglass repairs needed to be done where someone tried to remove a dock wheel with the port hull, bow rail was bent, gauges didn't work...it went on. Broker was upset and owner wouldn't budge. It's been sold since but I wasted two days of my life on that one, I'm not sure where Singletons showroom is but I'd hate to see it. (showroom condition) On the way home I texted a reluctant owner that I would wait for his boat. That's the one we currently own. She has more history than he knew but she is a very good boat and we're happy and not upset with our deal.

We went and looked at a couple boats a few months ago. I knew they were a little overpriced just for the year and comparables but our plan was to see if we liked the layout of that model. If we liked the boats and could get the price we liked then maybe we would deal. One was a 2000 and the other a 2003. The canvas on the 2000 was very bad, ripped and holes all through it and the isenglass was yellowed bad(both boats were inside the showroom). They would have been further ahead throwing the canvas away and selling it without. Both gimbal rings had been replaced. I asked why as it was a freshwater boat. Salesman said the PO never changed the zincs or took care of the drives. big red flag there. they wanted $39k for this one. The 2003 was in much better condition. The interior looked very clean. I didn't look it over that good but the rear starboard corner had a dent in the fiberglass with cracked gelcoating. They wanted $45k for this one. Both were completely loaded but still overpriced. BTW-both were Four Winns Vista 298s.

Forgot to add that both boats were very badly oxidized and in serious need of heavy cutting compounding

I've been looking for another boat now for months, so many stories.
Last one was a 29' Regal Commodore that looked great on CL. Not so nice IRL.
Test drive it and 1 mile out from dock, I shut her off to look in ER, and she won't start up again. Got towed in, thanks for nothing.

SloBurn said:

I've been looking for another boat now for months, so many stories.
Last one was a 29' Regal Commodore that looked great on CL. Not so nice IRL.
Test drive it and 1 mile out from dock, I shut her off to look in ER, and she won't start up again. Got towed in, thanks for nothing.

Click to expand...

I've got a great 290 up in Rochester for you

Drove many miles and looked at lots of dogs over the course of a year.
Worst experience: Found a 380 that we had a lot of interest in. It was winter and the boat was on the hard under shrink wrap and the asking price was high so we held off on making an offer. Several months later I contacted the broker and it was still on the hard but now uncovered. Went back for another look and the broker got us to agree to a negotiated price somewhere in the middle so he wrote a contract and we wrote a check for a deposit subject to survey and sea trial and the broker made an appointment to go to see the seller and have him sign the contract.
We get about halfway home when the broker calls to tell us the seller reconsidered and wanted another 5k above the last negotiated price the he (the seller) asked for and we agreed to. I told the broker to tell the seller he could stick his boat up his a$$ and that he could mail me my check back.
We were totally demoralized about the whole process.
Every cloud has a silver lining though because about 6 months later we wound up with our 410 which is bigger, diesel powered, newer electronics, and much cleaner.
The seller of the 380 is still trying to sell his boat. That’s poetic justice.

I was interested to see Football fan having trouble finding a boat. I too have been looking at boats in south Florida. Aside from the over hyped junk we have looked at some of the brokers have left a lot to be desired. I have been told twice in the last week by different brokers if I was not ready to pay full price they did not want to bother showing the boat. How do I know what it is worth until I see it?
The boat market has big swings and the day will come all too soon and they will be wishing someone would come look at their boats. Can't wait!

I do have to end on a positive note, we have met some really good and knowledgeable brokers also who have gone out of their way to provide info.

Went back a forth with a broker on a 23' bow rider. The boat showed well. Was very clean and it looked like all maintence was up to date based on the records. We made an offer with a couple of normal contingencies. Price was agreed and we made an appointment with the business office to finalize the deal. Received a call the night before that the owner was unable to find/provide the boat and trailer title. Broker was embaressed since they shouldn't have even listed the boat without the titles. Lots of wasted time and effort for nothing. The good news is we ended up with a different boat.......a Sea Ray.

becnme said:

I was interested to see Football fan having trouble finding a boat. I too have been looking at boats in south Florida. Aside from the over hyped junk we have looked at some of the brokers have left a lot to be desired. I have been told twice in the last week by different brokers if I was not ready to pay full price they did not want to bother showing the boat. How do I know what it is worth until I see it?
The boat market has big swings and the day will come all too soon and they will be wishing someone would come look at their boats. Can't wait!

I do have to end on a positive note, we have met some really good and knowledgeable brokers also who have gone out of their way to provide info.

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Before we bought the 47DB, we looked at a few in the Miami/FLL area. Every boat we looked at was in rough shape. What the area is very good for is if you want to compare (walk on) several different models - there is probably one on the market there.

Mark

A couple years before we were truly ready to buy our boat, we happened to be leaving the the area of the Lake Erie Islands and passed a brokerage with a 340 just like the kind I was interested in out front. I asked the admiral "do you mind I stop and get a sell sheet?". "Have at it" was the response so I went in. Talked to the guy for a moment and he discovered he had no information printed on that boat. Out came the laptop and he proceeded to plug that in and attach the printer. While everything was booting up, he asked me if I would have it surveyed to which I answered yes and then he asked who would do the survey.

My answer to this question turned the mood from very cordial to hostile immediately. "Well, if (Name withheld) is going to do the survey, you might as well forget buying this boat. He will never approve of anything on this lot and I don't think I would even let him set foot on the lot."

I left with my jaw around my ankles. I shot the for-mentioned surveyor an email when I got home explaining where I was and what happened. His entire response was "No Comment". We were not ready to buy yet so I let it all slide by.

At the end of the following season, I found another 340 in the same general area and stopped in to have a look. Not a bad boat and this was the first time the admiral (who was not overly warm to a boat purchase) had actually been aboard what I was thinking about buying and she started asking questions as if it was already our boat! . The admiral had by this time had started calling the boat "The Chotchkie Boat" there were tons of little knicknacks and crap everywhere. I made another trip to look at the boat in the late fall and took a bunch of pictures and notes and left telling the broker to expect to hear from me come spring. Took the admiral for a look in late February and dropped what I thought was a pretty reasonable offer. The broker said "That should fly - the boat has been here for 2 years with few serious nibbles". A few days later he gets back to me and says "She said if she is going to sell it for that price she wants to come and get some stuff of f the boat". I thought to my self "Great! She is coming to get all that knickknack crap!"

Nope. She wanted a Bose system that the sub woofer had been built into the dinette seat base and the satellites built into the bulkheads. Additionally she wanted the custom bedding from the vbirth (she would find the old stuff and give it to us!) and all the dishes. All these things she had not seen in two years were now very important. Except for the knickknacks - we could have those. Some banter went back and forth about the holes that removing the Bose system would leave and finally I told the broker, "My bid is retracted - if she wants to sell the boat, tell her to come and take what she wants off and I'll stop by and possibly put in a new bid" He got back to me a few days later and was a bit pissed off. "I dont know what is wrong with her, she finally gets a reasonable bid and she torpedoes it. And she said shes not lowering the price." Oh well, the search beings anew I thought. Then he said, I have a broker friend that works at a place on the other end of town. He has the same boat better condition, fewer hours and didn't you say you liked the blue color scheme better? Go to Marine Tech Concepts and talk to Lou. His son and mine play football together, he's a great guy, he will take care of you. Jaw again on the ground, I thought to my self, Great thats the place and the guy that just about booted me off his lot a couple years back!

That boat is pictured at the bottom of this post. It's the same one I looked at in the first paragraph. It's all good. If the broker remembered me, he did not let on. The crew at the place was great! I did get a different surveyor though!

It's always been funny to me that broker's adds are littered with words and phrases like "Pristine", "Like New", "finest example", "flawless", "exceptional condition", etc. Yet, you can walk any marina in the country and find almost no boats that would fit. To read the adds, you would think only the very best boats are ever for sale.

northshore said:

"Well, if (Name withheld) is going to do the survey, you might as well forget buying this boat. He will never approve of anything on this lot and I don't think I would even let him set foot on the lot."

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I'll bet a cold one that "name withheld" = G.G.

Lots of people share the sentiment that if you're buying a boat, you want him. If you're selling a boat, you want him to stay away.

RollerCoastr said:

I'll bet a cold one that "name withheld" = G.G.

Lots of people share the sentiment that if you're buying a boat, you want him. If you're selling a boat, you want him to stay away.

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Bing! We have a winner!

He is actually a pretty nice guy. We are in the same club. His girlfriend and my wife are from the same home town and they have been guests on our boat before. Opinionated yes and very serious about his work but socially, good guy to tip a beer with.

SloBurn said:

I've been looking for another boat now for months, so many stories.
Last one was a 29' Regal Commodore that looked great on CL. Not so nice IRL.
Test drive it and 1 mile out from dock, I shut her off to look in ER, and she won't start up again. Got towed in, thanks for nothing.

Click to expand...

Moral of that story should be "never shut the engine off of a boat that you don't know unless you are at the dock".

I went to look at a boat that had a dead rat in the main salon. Very manky, eueee!

My ex-wife was always in sales and after boating with me for a while decided to make a career change and try her hand at selling boats. Prior to one of her first showings, she told a potential buyer everything she knew about the boat which was what the seller had told her. She had never seen it and asked me to drive her to the showing. The potential buyer was new to it and as he was looking at the boat, I noticed some issues with it I thought he should know about. After a few minutes of me "helping" him look at it, he decided to pass. For some reason, she never asked me to go with her again!

northshore said:

<snip>He got back to me a few days later and was a bit pissed off. "I dont know what is wrong with her, she finally gets a reasonable bid and she torpedoes it. And she said shes not lowering the price.<snip>

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Thats actually pretty common. My wife and I went through a very similar scenario when we were searching for her horse-camping trailer. Our final offer was pretty much the asking price, and the lady still managed to torpedo the sale.

I don't know if its an attention seeking behavior, or if their emotions are doing battle with their logic, with their potential buyers stuck in the middle. Either way, the nick-nacks would be a red flag for me.

On a lighter note, I went and looked at a 2002 310 this past weekend. Boat was pretty much as advertised and you could eat off the engines and drink beer from the bilge. This one is bank owned, so I'm pretty sure they are serious about selling it.

I've always said it's a good thing that boating is such an enjoyable activity because the experience of being a boat owner is absolutely miserable (whether it's buying a boat, servicing a boat, storing a boat, etc.).