Albin Owners Group

I actively follow a few boating blogs, and one of my favorites is "The Marine Installer's Rant" written by Bill Bishop. Along with tales of electronics installations good and bad (the bad make for the best reading!) he offers a number of observations on the ins and outs of our boating life.

In the link below he describes the painful process of selling a boat. And, towards the end of a very amusing piece (unless you're the seller), he offers some good advice on how to prep your fine vessel for sale.

I'd recommend taking a few minutes to read it. I'm pretty sure you'll laugh, and occasionally cry, and come up with some good thoughts on how to prep your boat for sale.

Enjoy!

http://themarineinstallersrant.blogspot ... .html#more

Doug, That's some funny stuff.

Yes, Very Good Advice.... Have bought and sold a few boats with and without brokers. This is well worth the read. Am down sizing and have seen one Albin 27 SC which I could not, and I mean not, believe the broker even took the listing. And secondly, the broker had the "guts" to show the boat to me!!!! It was "Rough" in the true sense of the world. A rough boat, leaves you wondering... But as the saying goes... Takes All Kinds

The last 2 paragraphs say it all! Just went through this process on the buyer’s side. We eventually pulled out after survey and sea trial. Thank god for the honest surveyor! Beware the broker who says:” You’re walking away from a great boat, I have tons of guys standing in line, waiting for your deal to fall through”. I think he spent his commission before he had it.

Very good article. I’m sure I have a t-shirt based on it somewhere.
On a related note, after spending time and some $ on Mazboot over the past 5 years I’m pretty pleased with the results, so I had her surveyed for my own benefit. Apart from a pleasing result, the surveyor made a couple of suggestions for “things to think about”, all of which are self-do-able.
Of course there are always “things to think about” in an experienced boat, but at least the list gets briefly shorter until I get bored again.



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The advice to get a knowledgeable surveyor is only the starting point of proper due diligence before buying a used boat no matter how shiny or decrepit it is. It also is important to get a mechanical survey if it is a power boat and also get ahold of all the maintenance and service records from the attending boatyards for at least the prior ten years. The reputable yards will email these to you with very little hesitation if you are the new prospective owner. Not doing any of the foregoing is at your own risk and peril, as many of us find out a bit too late and the costs of these inspections are minimal compared to the costs of repairs and rectifying prior hidden defects and deferred maintenance.