My first happiest day....
Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2012 9:28 pm
Well, I did it. We were at the beach last June when my wife said the words that every man wants to hear. You know the ones -- "Why don't we get a boat?" After basically 9 months of window shopping and getting our finances in order, and 3 months of serious shopping, I bought a boat.
When I first started thinking about a boat a couple of years ago, I kept ending up looking at tricabs. Not being a serious fisherman, i.e., not requiring a cockpit to land fish, they just seemed to have everything I needed -- two heads, two staterooms, a decent galley, no ladder to a flybridge (wife's knees), and wide flat side decks without any interruptions (like the Carver aft cabins) -- and they just look so dang nice. An added benefit is that whenever anyone leaves the cabin to come up on deck, they have to go by the skipper. On many flybridge models, guests come and go behind and below you, and if someone leaves the flybridge, you're not sure if they fell off or went inside -- a tad unnerving when they are young kids.
I don't know how many boats the average boat shopper looks at, but I looked at 11 in person. From Maryland, I flew to Tennessee (to find out that the PO (O?) was a chain cigar smoker), to Ohio (to find out that the boat was damaged (see the thread "broken tabbing, cracks in hull, what's normal?" around May 16 -- I tried to find the thread, is it possible it has been deleted?, or am I forum-challenged?), drove to Philly and NJ to look at boats that needed $45K work of work to make them worth $25K, a Craigslist Tricab in Baltimore that was the same price as the other boats, that oh by the way, still had their generator!, and on, and on, and on.
And then I found the one. After a disappointing trip the previous weekend, my wife (gotta love her), emailed me a link on Tuesday to one that was just across the Chesapeake bay and said "What about this one?" I'm like -- what the crap, where did this come from? Well it turns out it was just listed. I drove over on Saturday to look at it. Do to a miscue with the broker, the owner didn't know I was coming and was out on a cruise. They came back to the dock and I got to look at the boat, but the result wasn't pretty. Suffice to say that things were polite but not congenial. My offer was met with a "We're not even going to counter" (I was within 17% of asking, and with an email to the broker saying that I wouldn't come back after the survey and nit-pick -- structural issues only). It's funny --turns-out this is pretty close to where we ended-up. I was not trolling or low-balling. I looked the boat over when I was there ( a 5 hr. round trip in a car will cause you to determine then and there if you needed to come back ever), and there were a few things that needed attention, but nothing terribly serious -- just the kind of things that show-up on a used boat that an owner might not notice because they were not looking really hard, unlike someone who was about to enter into a completely optional and potentiallly expensive endeavor would be.
While the boat was obviously for sale, it turns out that owners just were not ready for someone to come along the very first week and buy their boat. I had looked at 10 boats that were not nearly as nice and was ready to buy this one -- right now. They (rightfully so) thought that it might take a year to sell (many boats I looked at when I started window shopping last summer were still for sale this year). We eventually agreed on a price and the owner was there for the survey, so I got to show him some of the stuff that I found. I can say that things were far better this time -- we really hit it off, and I can say that the owner is a genuinely nice guy who didn't just have his second happiest day, but rather closed a chapter in his life as it moved on.
I will post pics as soon as I get a chance. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who provided advice and shared their experiences for the last year. Oh, and to brag that I have THE NICEST 1981 - 1985 TRICABIN OUT THERE! This was absolutely the best boat of this type available east of the Mississippi, and I am truly fortunate to have her. I look forward not so much as being the new owner of this fine vessel, but rather look forward to years of being its steward.
I guess the next order of business is to change that signature! Then the questions will REALLY begin. Thanks, Perry
When I first started thinking about a boat a couple of years ago, I kept ending up looking at tricabs. Not being a serious fisherman, i.e., not requiring a cockpit to land fish, they just seemed to have everything I needed -- two heads, two staterooms, a decent galley, no ladder to a flybridge (wife's knees), and wide flat side decks without any interruptions (like the Carver aft cabins) -- and they just look so dang nice. An added benefit is that whenever anyone leaves the cabin to come up on deck, they have to go by the skipper. On many flybridge models, guests come and go behind and below you, and if someone leaves the flybridge, you're not sure if they fell off or went inside -- a tad unnerving when they are young kids.
I don't know how many boats the average boat shopper looks at, but I looked at 11 in person. From Maryland, I flew to Tennessee (to find out that the PO (O?) was a chain cigar smoker), to Ohio (to find out that the boat was damaged (see the thread "broken tabbing, cracks in hull, what's normal?" around May 16 -- I tried to find the thread, is it possible it has been deleted?, or am I forum-challenged?), drove to Philly and NJ to look at boats that needed $45K work of work to make them worth $25K, a Craigslist Tricab in Baltimore that was the same price as the other boats, that oh by the way, still had their generator!, and on, and on, and on.
And then I found the one. After a disappointing trip the previous weekend, my wife (gotta love her), emailed me a link on Tuesday to one that was just across the Chesapeake bay and said "What about this one?" I'm like -- what the crap, where did this come from? Well it turns out it was just listed. I drove over on Saturday to look at it. Do to a miscue with the broker, the owner didn't know I was coming and was out on a cruise. They came back to the dock and I got to look at the boat, but the result wasn't pretty. Suffice to say that things were polite but not congenial. My offer was met with a "We're not even going to counter" (I was within 17% of asking, and with an email to the broker saying that I wouldn't come back after the survey and nit-pick -- structural issues only). It's funny --turns-out this is pretty close to where we ended-up. I was not trolling or low-balling. I looked the boat over when I was there ( a 5 hr. round trip in a car will cause you to determine then and there if you needed to come back ever), and there were a few things that needed attention, but nothing terribly serious -- just the kind of things that show-up on a used boat that an owner might not notice because they were not looking really hard, unlike someone who was about to enter into a completely optional and potentiallly expensive endeavor would be.
While the boat was obviously for sale, it turns out that owners just were not ready for someone to come along the very first week and buy their boat. I had looked at 10 boats that were not nearly as nice and was ready to buy this one -- right now. They (rightfully so) thought that it might take a year to sell (many boats I looked at when I started window shopping last summer were still for sale this year). We eventually agreed on a price and the owner was there for the survey, so I got to show him some of the stuff that I found. I can say that things were far better this time -- we really hit it off, and I can say that the owner is a genuinely nice guy who didn't just have his second happiest day, but rather closed a chapter in his life as it moved on.
I will post pics as soon as I get a chance. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who provided advice and shared their experiences for the last year. Oh, and to brag that I have THE NICEST 1981 - 1985 TRICABIN OUT THERE! This was absolutely the best boat of this type available east of the Mississippi, and I am truly fortunate to have her. I look forward not so much as being the new owner of this fine vessel, but rather look forward to years of being its steward.
I guess the next order of business is to change that signature! Then the questions will REALLY begin. Thanks, Perry
And they say my "Rubber Guppy" is wrong