WARNING:Selling your older boat

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I just sold an older (1980) sailboat. Pilothouse/very good condition for its age/Seattle.

I have bought and sold quite a few older sailboats over the past several decades. It has always been super easy. I make sure it is all cleaned out, systems working, advertise it, meet people, honestly disclose any issues, and it sells, usually pretty quickly.

Welcome to 2024.

Never before have I encountered so many contorted issues with this process.

I set up a CRAIGSLIST ad with a very detailed written description, dozens of well lit photos and even links to videos of the boat sailing in different conditions and a cold engine start. Put a very good (I thought) price on it. Also listed it on Sailboat Listings, and this site.

I had so, so many people contact me, express great interest, then never hear from them again. Sure, I have always had a few of these, but this time around it was overwhelming. Dozens and dozens and dozens.

The people who DID show up had very little interest in the boat. Many would sit relaxed in the salon and tell me about either their recent divorce, their health issues, or (usually) a combination of both. Exhausting. One guy said he hired a local Native American guy to move his boat, and he ran it into an island and sunk it, so he had to quickly find a new boat. One guy said he was going to sail it around the world, leaving in about a week. Two (2) separate guys said they wanted it, and offered to exchange land in Costa Rica for it. And many other super uninteresting stories, stories, stories.

The common denominator with all these lookers was, after expressing much interest, I would never hear from them again..not even the common courtesy to text back three words (thanks, not interested). Just nothing. Rude.

So I started to contact brokers. 4 of them, in the end. All 4 said they would be interested in selling it, then all 4 of them failed to reply when I texted or emailed them several times (with a week or so inbetween) to try to set up a time to meet and see the boat. Again, not even the common courtesy to text back two words “No thanks”. Just radio silence. Rude.

Finally was able to list it with a “second tier” broker who did not have the ability to get it on YACHTWORLD. Only Boat Trader. OK, best I can do.

The listing broker wanted to take new pictures for the ad. I told him to just use mine, as they were very well lit and carefully staged. He disagreed, showed up, spent about 3 hours taking hundreds of pics with his cell phone, then in the end just used all my original pictures in his listing anyway. The only picture he used that he took was the main listing picture, which was out of focus, making the boat look really bad.

When I finally looked closely at the ad on Boat Trader, I noticed it was mixed in the with general boats, NOT in the PILOTHOUSE section. After many ignored emails, they said I was wrong, it WAS in the PILOTHOUSE section. Checked again, it wasn’t. Emailed again. Then they said they couldn’t figure out how to get it into that section.

So I logged onto Boat Trader, paid $229, and got it listed in the PILOTHOUSE section in about 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, my lease at the nice slip I was subletting was expiring. I was assured, several times, by the managers there that there was another (permanent) slip available, but when the time finally came, they said they had no slips, so I had to scramble, and ended up in a very crappy marina with derelict boats all around and a divorced guy with health problems living aboard right next to me. That slip only had two cleats, one at each end, so I couldn’t even set spring lines. I asked, and they agreed, 3 times, to put one in….but never did. I guess they were too busy sitting around in the front office, which is all I ever saw them doing.

Finally was able to sell the boat. Took 8 months and I took a soaking on the price.

So. If you have an older sailboat, beware. I think there is something very, very off in this market and, more importantly, in our great American culture. As I said, I have done this many times, and of course there is always a few hiccups, but this time around it was basically undoable. Miserable process.

Fair winds!
David
Seattle