So I have been posting a lot in here. I am one of the crazy new guys posting all kinds of stuff and BOY have I learned some lessons.
I am lucky I live on the south banks of Lake Erie and there is easily about 30 boats that match what I am looking for.
Here is a thread I started early on... Looked AWESOME
http://www.sailboatlistings.com/view/47834
So yea. I learned something right off the bat seeing this first boat.
See the boat out of water. Ive seen about 20 boats.. out of those 20 boats 6 have had SERIOUS issues that would have been obscured underwater. So that is first off.
The pictures many times dont look like what reality is. In that particular example I am listening to the guy tell me how mint the boat is and looking at THOSE pictures. Yea. Those pictures were taken 6 years ago when be bought the boat. That boat was DESTROYED. I stayed for about 10 minutes and excused myself.
So dont trust the descriptions.. AND dont trust the pictures either. I think it is funny when I see online listings and the pictures will say 3/10/2008 on the bottom. That is hilarious to me. For me it is inexcusable in 2015 to not have pics up online. Ive never seen ENOUGH pictures on ANY boat either.
This is another truism I have learned. The boat price is SO far for me a DIRECT indication of the overall condition. People seem to be pricing things according to their relative value. Some are OVERpriced but I think that is people that REALLY dont want to sell and want to catch a sucker.
So yea..
I also have stopped looking for "For Sale by Owner" boats I like having the broker show me the boat. You get a lot less nonsense. You give them the offer and the check and sign a document it comes off the market. There is no risk that way for me. Dunno.
Now onto THIS boat.
looks strong.. looks like a lot of clean stuff but ONE thing sets my spidey sense off. Look at the dirty hull. That is a warning sign for me. It has a ton of electronics on it too.. Yet the price is really good.. hmmm.. also very suspicious.
do you need a boat that big? I know I dont and you can get quite a good quality boat for <30k.
That is my take. I have YET to see any deals. Ive seen a lot of low priced junk.