Saltwater or freshwater boats/better purchase???? HELP

RollerCoastr said:
It also comes down to how long you plan to keep a salty before trying to sell it in a fresh water region. Any hint of green on bronze parts sends a LOT of freshwater buyers running.
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This topic may also vary in intensity by region. In our (RollerCoastr and mine) region there are few reasons to ever buy a salt water vessel and resale or trade would be significantly discounted for it, there are plenty of freshwater choices available here. But if you carefully read the pro-salt view, you need to check the same things on both but a salt water boat needs even closer scrutiny.

MM
 
JimFromMD said:
Frank,
Thanks for the more experienced perspective (not being sarcastic). I guess I was more bothered about it because he was there in person looking at the freshwater boat but the broker didn't want to talk. I could understand if he was trying to negotiate over the phone sight unseen. I've only been through the process once on my own, and I didnt have to put down a deposit or tentative contract until I wanted to move forward to survey and sea trial. That was my vantage point looking at the discussion.

That said, I do see your point in that the broker can say anything he wants about the price, but nothing is serious until something is on paper and you have some skin in the game.

James.
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James,


Was that a comment about my advanced age or what? If it was, I'll put you on my list!

Deals are all different.........I bought 3 boats from the same Sea Ray dealer with a handshake and a personal check for the entire about at closing......but not many dealers/brokers will work that way. I think it is important for some less experienced buyers who are moving up to understand the business principles involved in boat buying. Some brokers are more informal, while other don't spend time with a customer until he has qualified the buyer as serious and able.

Additionally, your skin in the game comment brings this to mind.........a buyers agreement is a contract for sale. There are at least 2 parties to the contract and each must have some consideration in the deal for it to be enforceable. This discussion is about the buyer's side....i.e. his agreeing to a price and giving a deposit, but there is also a seller's side: i.e., taking the boat off the market and agreeing to sell it to only the buyer until closing. So, the other primary reason for executing a contract and giving a deposit is that it prevents the broker/salesman from shopping your offer and from selling the boat to another buyer for more favorable terms to his seller because the buyers consideration is the deposit check. Without the deposit, there is no consideration and the contract is not enforceable and there is nothing to prevent the seller from selling the boat out from under the buyer.
 
Frank,

I don't recall anyone ever making derogatory comments about your age.....

Dale
 
I would like to inject a thought about freshwater, Northern boats.

Something that doesn't get accounted for is the freeze thaw cycle northern boats are subjected to. Any place water can get into and pool, then freeze/thaw will expand/contract many times thruough the winter. Water in the bilge, under railings, under windshields, and electronics mounts etc.
 
islandhopper00 said:
I would like to inject a thought about freshwater, Northern boats.

Something that doesn't get accounted for is the freeze thaw cycle northern boats are subjected to. Any place water can get into and pool, then freeze/thaw will expand/contract many times thruough the winter. Water in the bilge, under railings, under windshields, and electronics mounts etc.
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And thats part of the reason for shrink wrapping and covering them in winter.

Henry
 
I have two salt water boats. The small one I bought new, trailer and keep garaged. With regular use of anti-corrosion spray over the engine and dash connections, and regular wash downs and flushes of the boat with Salt Eliminator, there isn't a spec of corrosion visible anywhere.

The big boat is different. I recently bought it and all 13 of its years have been in salt. It has the green patina on the strainers and seacock a and I kinda like that look. I don't plan to try to reverse that. I do now use the corrosion spray to keep it as is. I also have evidence of two past slow saltwater hose drips that occurred over time. One slowly killed off the generator so a new genny came as part of the deal. The other drip slowly killed off the port starter and rusted up some cable connections, engine mount bolts and a metal oil drain hose from the turbo. I am reversing the rust and repainting in those areas. May change out a connector or two.

So, if you keep it "salt maintained and inspected" regularly from the beginning your boat will stay a 9 out of 10 as Frank has proven. If you never go in the engine room you will eventually get problems.
 
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All I can say is after having the boat in FL last winter, I have great respect for all the work you salties must do to keep your boats in A condition. I kept my boat in the same marina as Frank and yes, if I was after the 2nd best SR ever built, I'd buy Franks 450 in a heart beat. To no ones surprise, it is that clean--just like most of yours I'm sure--so there's no question if you put time, money and effort into it, salt boats can be no different shape-wise than fresh. That's were the rub lies. There's just an awful lot of things to stay on top of, especially on a 40'+ boat. In addition to salt, what is almost as important to me is the region where the boat lives. Humidity & sun are factors to consider too. for example, when the boat was in Panama City, I mis-programmed a timer that operated a fan used to circulate air in the cockpit and bridge morning thru afternoon. Came back 3 weeks later and spent a day cleaning mold off the hardtop, isin, fiberglass and in a lot of cracks and crevasses. Same for inside of the boat and down below, if the boat isn't prepared to deal with humidity, there are effects. The sun, well, common sense tells you what to expect from strong UV.

I joked to a friend once that we had an awesome time in NW Florida, absolutely beautiful place to boat, but my boat was very happy to be home in the Midwest freshwater and back under her covered roof. I'm sure it's just a matter of routine and we're all used to doing what we need to do to keep our boats maintained, but from my experience, what I do to keep my boat in shape in its fresh water location is a lot less work and expense than what it took to do the same when it was down south. So, maybe my point is there's a larger margin of error for freshwater boats as the possibility of encountering a boat in a salt, high humidity, high UV environment that hasn't had the "extra" attention necessary is greater and that should be on the buyers mind as part of his due diligence responsibilities.
 
No arguement there. We do have to spend extra time and money to keep our SW boats in good condition. But the ones that are kept up are instantly noticable form the ones who don;t take care of them. It's hard to hide neglect when you boat in Florida and it's saltwater.
 
FWIW I boat in the Great Lakes region and I bought a salt water boat. It was stored inside high and dry 9 months of the year and taken care of. MM has been on it and can vouch for it. I always thought I'd never buy a "salt" boat, but when you have a very specific boat you want, you will travel to get it. There were very few for sale in the great lakes market when I was looking, hell on boat trader now there are 17 for sale.

It is very individual boat specific. You cannot go off of pictures, you have to see it first hand, sea trial, and then survey. A boat will not survive long in the salt unless you take care of it, it will survive a long time in fresh water neglected and still clean up easy enough for a quick sale...
 
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