Buying boat, survey question

Sounds like the owner is not really interested in selling very quickly.
 
VT I sent you some links with a Sea Trial you will see what the boat tops out with small blocks that are EFI rated. Please follow up with the link I e-mailed you. The SB's are lighter than Big Blocks but boating is all about torque. I have a few friends with SB's on 31's it is a 16,000 boat with Big Blocks in it. I think you save about 250lbs a side with the EFI small blaocks. I will continue to help look for this model boat. You may want to look at the 40 Sedan Bridge there are quite a few of them comming in at 65 to 90k, remember that is the asking price I would offer 35% below the asking price. Many of these boats actually, many boats have not moved in the last 2 years due to the economy. It is truely a buyers market. As I mentioned in the e-mail I sent I know these boats very well more so the 40 which I love, it has an incredible interior, they handle well and give a good ride.
The best advice I can give is slow down a bit there are numerous Mainship 31's and 40 Sedan Bridges on the market, explore all that are within your decided driving range. Bill
 
Al, Even if you could run the engines up on blocks you can't check the drive line as the boat takes on differant shape characteristics in the water vs out. That is why you can only do accurate engine alignments when the boat is in the water. I agree with Mike. Probably money issues. Thing is. He is not likely to sell without providing a sea trial to any buyer.
 
If you are dealing through a broker or marina, have them hold 10-20% of the purchase price in escrow. Then, when the sea trial takes place, you will have that amount to work from if anything is wrong. This is the way I purchased my boat back in 2002, and it is the way I sold that boat just last week.
We are still about a month out from our boating season here, so I put a percentage in escrow until the new owner is satisfied with the sea trial.

BTW, it is almost 100% of the time that the buyer is responsible for survey and sea trial costs....not the seller.
 
Still no word from the broker yet.
Billy - I did not see the link to those sea trials in my email, could you post the link here or send another email?
Thanks.
 
as others have noted, there's no way to do a proper survey without the boat in the water. the genset, a/c units and a whole host of other questions can only be tested properly in the water. the boat also needs to be out of the water to complete some of the hull survey. this is always at the buyers cost. a broker knows this and offering to pay for the portion of the haul out that you would noramally if the boat was in the water is reasonable. in fact if the sale closes the boat probably will need to stay in the water so you can take delievery of it. i doubt the broker has not shared this with the seller already. its hard to imagine a seller in this market not willing to cooperate if there is nothing to hide.
 
quote:
Originally posted by VTBoater

Still no word from the broker yet.
Billy - I did not see the link to those sea trials in my email, could you post the link here or send another email?
Thanks.

Click to expand...
Which links I sent 2 31SB's and the factory specifications from Mainship's website look under previous models. You may also want to join the Yahoo Mainship group I find it great. I will look over the various e-mails I sent you. You could make it real easy if you cou;ld give us a range of prices you are looking to spend for the boat or if a 40 Sedan Bridge at the right price would interest you. This is not a sale push to sell my boat it is no longer for sale. Bill
 
Well, sorry for the drama everyone, it looks like the broker may have overstated the sellers unwillingness for a sea trial, or he had a change of heart. The seller agreed to a sea trial, will wait until the normally scheduled launch date and person doing it, and will even drive the boat for me for the trial. New agreement was sent by the broker with contingency for survey and sea trial. The launch guy normally charges 250 dollars for it, so that is all I have to pay, plus surveyor for a couple hours.
At this point the wife and I are feeling good, this is the model of boat we chose together, and the price is right for us. Hopefully all will go well and we will be the owners sometime in early to mid May! Thanks for all the advice everyone.
 
Best of luck with the sea trial and new boat!!!

However, I don't understand why you are paying the guy to launch the boat. In 99.9% of the cases, when the seller was hauled back in 2008 for winter storage, it includes re-launching in the spring. I never heard of a buyer paying for a launch unless it was under special circumstances.

Good luck with the survey, and sea trial.....and Happy Boating!!
 
I don't really mind the launch fee if that is what is takes to get the sea trial, and seller to captain for me and feel good about it. The broker initially made it seem like the seller was upset to sell it for what we are paying. I'd like that to be behind us and get some input on the boat from him while we are on it together.
Another point - this forum gave me the courage and knowledge to try and make this happen during a time of good deals out there. I'm not as well off as many boaters out there, so for this to be happening now is something I have been wanting for a few years but thought it may never happen. Thank you Boatered!
James
 
The seller is the captain for the sea trial? Is that typical? The seller has not been on the boat in any seatrial I've done if a broker was involved.
 
I offered to the broker to hire a captain, and the broker came back and said the seller would run the boat. That works well for me as it will be nice to talk to him a bit about the boat. My last boat I had was brokered and I never met the owner, and always felt a certain disconnect about that.
 
the broker normally doens't drive the boat on sea trial, it's always the owner or a captain chosen and paid by the owner. NEVER by the seller buyer, who woudl then be liable...
 
Not sure I followed that Pascal. The Seller is the boat owner, who would be liable for damaging his own boat if something went wrong. Where is the problem?
 
Did the seatrial with the owner aboard.

He was the original owner and the vessel was 18 years old at the time.

Owner was uncomfortable running her above 3000 RPM as her sweet spot (Crusader 454's) was 2850.

Surveyor informed the seller that he could not continue the survey without detemining the WOT.

The surveyor won that argument and we did run her to WOT.

A good surveyor makes all the difference.

Randall Boiko Marine Surveys - in Miami

RWS
 
I am a surveyor and one of my revered colleagues has a saying “It All Depends”. Every situation is different.
 
Buying a boat without doing a sea trial is like buying a car without driving it.

Gary
Sound Marine Survey
Mamaroneck, NY
 
quote:
Originally posted by RWS

Did the seatrial with the owner aboard.

He was the original owner and the vessel was 18 years old at the time.

Owner was uncomfortable running her above 3000 RPM as her sweet spot (Crusader 454's) was 2850.

Surveyor informed the seller that he could not continue the survey without detemining the WOT.

The surveyor won that argument and we did run her to WOT.

A good surveyor makes all the difference.

Randall Boiko Marine Surveys - in Miami

RWS

Click to expand...


This is the guy I want to buy from. Sounds like he babied his baby.
 
After a short sea trial, the owner let my wife and I take the boat out for the rest of the day
after showing him we could handle her with ease.
That showed us that he somewhat trusted his boats abilities. There were a few small items that
needed fixing or changing out, but that was reflected in the offer we made.
 
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