SELLING YOUR BOAT

[sail4dale]

A word of warning ..... when you list your boat with a sales agency, watch the fine print or lack of.

I sold my Cat34 with [b]Heritage Yacht Brokers[/b] and they were mostly a fine broker.

BUT  alas when  the final agreement filtered thru all umteen pages ... there was a inclusion of my custom altered dock steps.

Yeah I missed the fine print and shame on me BUT the song I got was that the steps were always included in the sale of the boat.
Funny that was not mentioned during the negotiations.  So my custom $400 plus steps were spirited away as the boat sailed  to hear new destination. 

This is just a warning to future sellers of their second mistress. 

I have to say,  Owning my Cat34 has been the highlight of my long boating life. 

Enjoy your sailing .... do it whenever you can ...it always ends too soon   

[tommyt]

That is actually pretty standard on most sales, whether boat, car, motor home,etc.. If it is on the boat, and NOT excluded in the listing, it goes with the boat. If the lines, pails, fenders, etc. and not excluded why would the buyer think that the custom steps would be? Sorry about that.

[KWKloeber]

A word of warning ..... when you list your boat with a sales agency, watch the fine print or lack of.

I sold my Cat34 with [b]Heritage Yacht Brokers[/b] and they were mostly a fine broker.

BUT  alas when  the final agreement filtered thru all umteen pages ... there was a inclusion of my custom altered dock steps.

Yeah I missed the fine print and shame on me BUT the song I got was that the steps were always included in the sale of the boat.
Funny that was not mentioned during the negotiations.  So my custom $400 plus steps were spirited away as the boat sailed  to hear new destination.

This is just a warning to future sellers of their second mistress. 

I have to say,  Owning my Cat34 has been the highlight of my long boating life. 

Enjoy your sailing .... do it whenever you can ...it always ends too soon   

Whenever I prepare a listing, I give it to the owner to review and initial.  And expect that anything (except personal property) normally kept ON the boat, goes with it -- unless the owner says "this stays." 

Boats are typically sold where-is, as-is, as-shown, unless other specifics are called out in the listing, or negotiated away.

The steps WERE NOT called out in your listing and NOT SHOWN in the photos.  So, they should be excluded because they are on the "dock," not the "boat."  For example, a dock box wouldn't be included unless it's called out in the listing as included in the sale.

Because the listing did not include the steps, you had a right to claim them and should have stood your ground (I guess you're saying read the contract?) or negotiated them away. 

It all boils down to the listing -- be very clear and up-front, it eliminates disagreements down the road.
Bottom line - Did Heritage know both you and the buyer wanted them, and slipped them into the contract?  If so they should be damned, not praised as "mostly fine." 
Although the broker's financial responsibility is to the seller, the reality is that their job is to sell the boat and they also need to satisfy the seller, or there's no sale.  Some brokers, once they taste a sale, will get shady when it comes to attempting to meet both objectives -- I'm not saying that's what happened here, but it could be possible and they slipped them in into the contract even though they did not have them in the listing.

kk

[Stu Jackson]

Since I like boats and mine in particular, I've been thinking "ahead" about selling, when or if the time comes.

Everyone says that you should take EVERYTHING off the boat that won't come with it.  In Dale's case, it even included something that was OFF the boat!   

So after reading this thread, I sat down below, and looked around:  dishes, supplies, books, reference material, log books and maintenance logs, tools, lines, blocks, spare parts, my "toxic waste dump" of cleaning stuff in the port locker, pots & pans, food, clothes and foul weather gear, binoculars (two extras, too), VHF handheld (in addition to the fixed), all the stuff behind the black sliding doors, all the stuff in "The Garage" including the umbrella for hot sunny days, the dinghy engine hoist, the electric dinghy air pump, etc.

The list is endless.

And, in selling a boat, everyone says to take everything off to make the boat look bigger, cleaner and more attractive to the new purchaser.

A few years ago we had an epiphany.  We hear so many stories of sailors moving to trawlers.  I simply realized we have the best trawler known to man.  An engine & systems that we know, have serviced, maintained and work.  A boat that doesn't rock excessively at anchor.  If I can't sail anymore, I'll just motor this ole gal around forever.

So I had this new epiphany. 

Anyone can have this boat, with all the stuff needed, instead of starting over from a "bare boat" - tools specific to the boat, spares I ain't gonna need anywhere else, maintenance and reference material that thanks to this website is priceless, and all the rest of the stuff that keeps her in good shape.  Maybe ask them first if they're interested?  Who knows...somebody might.

But I ain't selling!

Besides having to get everything off being a daunting task I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy, I  can't think of sailing this boat, nor even taking it out of the marina safely, with most of that stuff off the boat.

While I recognize some skippers might have reasons for selling (i.e., moving up, health or financial reasons), I think the best way anybody ever did "transfer" their boats was Ron Hill - his son has his boat!   

[Noah]

Perfect analysis Stu!
BTW--I had a trawler, a venerable woodie, Grand Banks 42.  However, today, I launched my C34 after an annoying week in the boatyard with a new clean bottom, Bullflex coupler and 15x10 3-blade Flex-o-fold prop, new standard stuffing box with GTU packing --- AND I TODAY I out performed my old trawler. On the way back to my slip, I achieved 8.4 KTS. @ 2800 RPM  up the channel at slack tide in slight chop with 10.5 KTS true wind on the bow!!!! Engine ran smooth at all RPMs!! SUCCESS!!!  I LOVE my motorboat-- oops, I mean sailboat!