Last Updated on October 18, 2023 by Jill
This post may contain affiliate links. This means I will make a commission at no extra cost to you should you click through and make a purchase. Read the full disclosure here
Back in the middle of August a boat we previously toured just did a big price reduction. When we looked at it in February we thought it was way overpriced for the amount of love it needed. Because of this, we didn’t put an offer in back in February. With the new price reduction, we decided to put an offer in. After a bunch of back and forth, we had a deal!!
We were Miami Bound for our first boat survey.
I was (I think we both were) excited, but tried to not get too excited because this was only the beginning, and it may not work out. When we flew out we learned there was a tropical depression moving over the area. If it hit in the morning we may not get to do the survey, hopefully, it would hold off. We got to Miami late Wednesday night, got to our hotel, got all of our cameras and phones plugged in and crashed. The survey was scheduled for first thing in the morning, so we had to be at the Mariana at 8:00 am. Thursday was going to be a long day! We were also flying out that evening.
We woke up got showered and headed to the marina. On the way, we found a quick place to stop and grab breakfast making it to the marina with 10 minutes to spare. I was getting really excited this was my first boat survey that I was going to be a part of. The previous boat we owned we couldn’t be there for the survey so this was going to be a great learning experience.
Survey
I took video of the survey process to remember things easier and if we ended up owning the boat could use it later. I also took a lot of pictures. We got pretty lucky and the rain held out while we were doing the haul out and most of the way back to the dock. When we got to the dock the sky opened up and the rain was pretty intense. We were so happy we just finished and beat the weather. Flying all that way only to get canceled would have been a huge disappointment. We said our goodbyes and headed to the airport.
Our Surveyor
Brian Stetler is who we chose, he did a great job. We were very happy with his work. He had the survey to us by Friday afternoon. We heard about Brian from fellow sailors Gone with the Wynns. They had used him on their boat survey and were very pleased. If you are looking for an honest guy who does a great job in the South Florida area he is your guy.
Survey Results
So here is what we found out in a nutshell. Basically, the boat was a sound hull with a lot of work needed to be done to the engine, electrical, A.C. Refrigerators, etc. We knew about some of this but finding out the generator didn’t even work was disappointing. The engine needed major work and the electrical had to be rewired. We still really liked the boat but needed to get it for the right price. Then we could redo it and set it up just the way we wanted it.
So, it was back to the negotiating table. We were concerned because his broker didn’t know if he could or would go any lower. With all the new information on the systems, we needed to get the price down to make it worth it for us. Unfortunately, his broker was right and he wouldn’t negotiate at all. We decided the current price was not a good decision for us and we walked away. That was pretty disappointing but, that just means there is something better out their for us.
So, we are off to find a better boat. The hunt continues.
Cheers,
Jill
