Shit, We Found a Boat. A Year Too Soon!

Shit, We Found a Boat. A Year Too Soon!

Trawling through Boats for Sale websites like YachtWorld, BoatShed, PopSells, Facebook Marketplace, eBay, and even Craigslist has become a bit of a hobby for us during our weekends, while we hibernate away from the blistering hot summer desert heat! We have taken to day-dreaming extensively about our future floating home, even though we know we’re not quite ready yet, particularly from a savings point of view - in fact ONLY from a savings point of view.

But then, as fate would have it, we stumbled across a boat that ticked ALL our boxes. Well, except for the price.

The asking price is what we consider to be our mid-range target for this time next year, but we haven’t saved enough to even offer 50% of the asking price yet. Despite that, curiosity (and impatience) got the better of us. After sending an initial inquiry, we read through the extensive information that the seller's broker sent back and poured through the extra photos. However at this point I left things for a couple of weeks - the boat was just waaay out of our budget, and I had to convince myself that this obviously wasn't the right boat for us, and that when we were ready, we would find the perfect one.

But neither of us have been able to stop thinking about it.

The Red Flags

Everyone knows that where there are red flags, you have to RUN... run away.
There are a couple of red flags:

1. The Engine is Shot: This is the main red flag. The broker gave us this disclaimer in the first email they sent us, and this was the primary reason this boat popped up on our price-bracket search in the first place - because it had recently been discounted.
   Replacing an engine is no small feat and would add significantly to the overall cost.
2. We're Not Ready (Financially): We’re not in a position right now to place an offer that we could back up with the necessary funds. Not for the asking price anyway.
   We had planning on another year of saving before throwing money at someone!
3. The Logistical Nightmare an Accepted Offer Would Unveil: Let's say the seller accepted a low-ball offer from us - this would unlease a WORLD of logistical pain in our direction!

Actually - those first 2 issues are ones that can be overcome. I'm doing some heavy money manifestations at the moment so who knows what winfall may come our way next week (that's in advance universe). It's just money afterall.

So putting those pretty significant red flags aside, I think the one that has me most in a flutter today is the Logistical Nightmare aspect. 

The Logistics Nightmare

If we were to go ahead with this, the logistics would be immense:

• Arrange a Survey: We’d need to have a professional survey done to assess the boat’s condition thoroughly. Today's task has been reaching out to every single marine surveyor in the boat's area that I can find, and HOPE that at least 3 get back to me so I can get 1) a idea of a decent priced survey, 2) someone who is qualified and affordable
• Visit the Boat: We’d need to travel to see the boat ourselves, which means time off work and some hefty travel expenses - which would eat into our offer budget.
• Find Storage: Should an offer be accepted, we’d have to find a place to put the boat on the hard and arrange a tow and haul-out, actually - this would probably be something we would negotiate with the seller at the Offer stage, so everyone gets to keep their costs down.
• Replace the Engine: We’d need to source a new or nearly new engine, not to mention find a way to pay for it! And then the small matter of installing it - although this would CERTAINLY be next year's problem!
• Time Off Work: We’d need to take time off work initially to visit, inspect, and possibly buy the boat. And this also means taking time out of our sailing season (which we're both active in), AND is a valuable marketing tool for our business.
  Not to even consider the HUGE time investment we would have to put in later on (so in a year's time) to fix the boat up and of course install that new engine.

The Decision

After three or four weeks of non-stop dreaming about this boat, we decided to start the process anyway! We're arranging a pre-purchase survey (thankfully the seller agreed to that) and have already reached out to a yard to book her in on the hard should we be crazy enough to go ahead with this.

Conclusion

This boat has us both captivated. It’s a year too soon, and there are so many logistical and financial hurdles to overcome. But sometimes, dreams are worth pursuing even when the timing isn’t perfect. So here we are, starting the process, and who knows? Maybe we’re about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime a bit earlier than planned. Wish us luck!