Boat Shopping

[crazycarl]

Flew down to Tampa to checkout a '92 Compac 27.  Flight was delayed because of lightning and when I arrived I found passengers from other delayed flights running to the car rental counters.  When I got there at least 40 others were ahead of me. Almost 2 hours in line I finally got a car.  Not the Jetta I reserved, those and all the economys were gone, but a 5.0 red Mustang GT converible.  Nice, but now it's 310am and I have a 9am meeting in Punta Gorda to see a boat. I arrive after 5am and nap in the car at a dog park. I finally get ahold of the seller and we meet at the boat. 

What a disappointment. Nothing like described. Sails were fine and it had a new 18hp Westerbeke, transmission, and new Harken furler. The bilges were bone dry, but the deck had crazing like I've never seen. It would take more than paint to cover it. New gelcoat, epoxy, or faring, a lot of sanding, and then paint. There was some rust running down from the chainplates, the bow pulpit had pulled out and was unsecured. The teak in that area, if it was teak, what I saw was a white slab that looked like delaminating fiberglass. The lifelines needed replacing too. A lot of the electronics had been disconnected during the deisel installation and need hooking up.  There was too many areas in the cabin and cockpit that had holes where things were installed and removed. The interior and exterior teak was rough, missing and broken in areas. This is a project boat and I'm not sure I'm ready for that right now. Plus, too many things needed repairing to sail it home to NC.

So for now, the search continues.

[Reighnman]

It has always baffled me why people misrepresent their boat, house, etc when selling. Good luck on your search, one just popped up on sailboatlisting up north so the gelcoat may have faired better over the years.

[Christopher]

Sorry to read about your unsuccessful trip. 

[Cpy23ecl]

Been there myself.  Drove from southwest corner of MI to look at a boat on Chesapeake Bay.  Before I went I talked to the broker and the owner to make sure the boat was in good condition making the trip.

I could tell as soon as I pulled into the marina parking lot that boat was misrepresented and not surprisingly it looked far worse up close.  Spent a couple minutes looking it over before turning around and driving back home.

I don't understand what people think they have to gain by not being honest about a boat's condition.

Fred

[crazycarl]

Besides making a trip to the beach yesterday, I surfed the net looking for other possible boats within a 200 mile radius. I was dismayed how many sellers use pictures that are clearly from the manufacturers brochure.  Another boat looked promising until I expanded the pictures and found a date stamp of 2005.

I guess i need to stick to my original plan and never look at a boat from Florida.  Sitting out in this sun 365 days a year without proper maintenance, the boats here are no where near as nice as boats up north of similar age.

[Bob23]

Are you not still sailing your 19? The one with the custom beach chair bow rail?

[crazycarl]

Are you not still sailing your 19? The one with the custom beach chair bow rail?

Long story.  The IL registration lapsed just after ÇLR 2019.  We were traveling a lot that summer and I never renewed it.  Then covid hit last year and the trailer axle needed replacing which took a long time.  You can read about that in another thread.  Then we sold the house and came to NC in April to interview contractors and brought the boat and left it at our property.  After moving here in May, it took us a month to secure a rental house.  Now that we have a permanent address, we can apply for drivers licenses.  However we were told we will get paper licenses first and they cannot be used for id's and will take up to 90 days before we receive our hard copies.  After that, we can register our vehicles, trailer, and boat.

As for the chair Robert, once again you're exaggerating. ? It wasn't a beach chair, it was a dock chair and the reason we're looking for a larger boat.  So Joanie can hang her chair from the bow too! ?

[Vectordirector]

hey Carl,

If you are still in Punta gorda take a look at this one.  https://www.sailboatlistings.com/view/91670 

Right up the street from me.  If I was looking for a cruising boat I'd go for this one STAT!!!

Vec

[Bob23]

Carl, I stand corrected.

[crazycarl]

And this trip just keeps getting better.

I received a text at 5am informing me my 230 flight had been delayed until 6pm.  Then at 830 I received another text saying the flight has been delayed until 530pm.
I checked out of my hotel at 11am and drove to a park where I sat in the shade reading The Pope of Palm Beach until my stomach asked to be fed.  After lunch I decided to head to the airport as the car needed to be returned by 230.  I drop the car off and cruise through the TSA  checkpoint.  Of course as always when I fly, my plane will depart from the furthest gate.  I have 2 1/2 hours to kill so I bring out the book and read for awhile.  Then I call our daughter in Montana and we talk for an hour before a family shows up with Panda Express.  Damn, I could go for some noodles about now.  I say goodbye Nattygirl and head over to Panda Express when I remember I took my license out for TSA and placed my wallet in my backpack.  Only going through my pack I can't find my wallet.  I return to TSA and ask if anyone has turned a wallet in.  NO.  I empty the contents on the pack on a table and go through everything, twice.  No wallet.  I call home and explain the situation and tell Joanie to cancel the credit card, but she's in the grocery store with a full cart and I also have the checkbook.  At this pint I'm not sure when I had my wallet last.  Was it when I grabbed my backpack out of the rental car's trunk, or was it while I was standing in line before entering the TSA checkpoint? A call to the car rental agency only gets me an automated representative and now I don't have time to jump on the tram to the rental center and back through TSA.  After touching down in NC I wonder if I have enough gas in the truck to get me the 155 miles home.  Gas? How am I going to pay for parking and get out of here?  I approach the automated gate and find a help button.  Pressing it the gentleman says I can call home and relate a cc# to him to pay the fee.  Phew.  Now I'm out of the lot with almost a full tank of gas.  Arriving home tired, thirsty and hungry, I go to the rental site and fill in the blanks for their lost and found.  While I was driving home, Joanie was on hold for 40 minutes but finally talked to a human at the rental company.  The rep tells her the car most likely hasn't been sanitized yet, but if the wallet is found, I will have to return to retrieve it within 30 days.  Well, I say right now, no way no how am I flying back to Tampa to get a wallet and take the chance of all this happening again!

This is why we are driving 6600 miles round trip this summer to visit friends and relatives instead of flying.