Formula Tenn
New member
Well, it's been about ten years now since we first laid eyes on her. Docked in her home slip on Lake Lanier just north of Atlanta, we made the drive down from Soddy Daisy Tennessee (look it up, I ain't kidding) to have our first look. We arrived early on purpose. I wanted to take a quick look around and get that first impression to see if we'd wasted a trip. What we saw was hard to describe. We'd recently sold our 28 footer so her 37' LOA she seemed huge. Much more room than we were used to so that was a big plus. But she was also a little unkempt. It was obvious that most of the upholstery was original and although it had held up well it was gonna be time to renew sooner rather than later. It also looked like she hadn't had a bath in a month or better. She was competitively priced but was definitely gonna need some work.
The owner arrived and we got down to the business of a first inspection. Flash light in hand, I pulled every accessible cover and looked in every corner and crack I could find. One thing was certain, this thing needed a serious bath. The owner was getting older and opted for the marina to do all his service work. And it showed. Mainly in the bilge but there were other signs I noticed as well. An unmatched fuel gauge, a replacement switch that looked like it came straight from Walmart, A non working hatch lift that looked as though it could double for a satellite dish adjuster and other obvious signs that owner love wasn't involved in upkeep. The other obvious sign was he told me the marina did all the maintenance. Nevertheless, she looked solid as a rock where it counted so a quick sea trial told me that this was definitely a good candidate for our upgrade if we could strike a deal.
The following is a test. Because I'm not forum savy. Will our story continue? I aim to learn as I go
so I guess we'll see...
The above test seemed to work!
Hoping this gets added to my previous blog entry.
As it turns out the previous owner was in financial dire straits. He was invested in the real estate market and at time in the late 2000's we all know what that means. To really over simplify, we basically purchased this boat as one would in a short sale for a house. We gave less than was owed and the bank either wrote the rest off or they may have pursued other avenues but either way we felt like we got a smokin' deal since we were well aware of what the market looked like at the time. On top of that, the hatch lift ram didn't work so we also managed to work that in which might not seem like much but last time I checked a grand is a grand (parts AND labor). This was a pretty daunting process but out patience and persistence paid off and the sale was finally approved. All told I'm thinking it took us maybe two or two and a half months.
Our offer was contingent on an acceptable survey report and sea trial. So after all the waiting, now everything was in a rush. I arranged a survey with haul out, sea trial and transport to all take place on the same day. The plan was for the surveyor basically do an in water survey and sea trial first. At that point he was to call me with a preliminary thumbs up or down based on what he saw. Thumbs up meant transporter could head to marina, and haul out would be done so that he could inspect everything below the water line. thumbs down meant the deal was off. Although he found quite a few minor deficiencies he was over all pleased with what he was seeing, in particular the build quality. And things got better once the haul out was done. The props looked like they had just been reconditioned and the bottom paint was immaculate. He also noted that he found no blistering or anything else of any concern. He even speculated that in our area on the river it could easily be five or more years before we would need to start considering a bottom job. All good news!
The transporter arrived at the marina and although there were some issue with loading from the travel lift to the trailer things weren't too far off schedule. He got back into town 2 or maybe 3 hours later than we talked about which was fine considering the issues he'd had with the marina. Apparently they had somehow damaged some air lines on his trailer so some hasty repairs had to be completed before he could head back. It was all good when she came rolling in though. I don't know what it is about my boat being out of the water but it just makes me a nervous wreck in general. Once we completed the wet launch and and completed another inspection we were finally headed to her new berth. We woke up that morning boatless and went to bed with a new addition and huge smiles on our faces!
The owner arrived and we got down to the business of a first inspection. Flash light in hand, I pulled every accessible cover and looked in every corner and crack I could find. One thing was certain, this thing needed a serious bath. The owner was getting older and opted for the marina to do all his service work. And it showed. Mainly in the bilge but there were other signs I noticed as well. An unmatched fuel gauge, a replacement switch that looked like it came straight from Walmart, A non working hatch lift that looked as though it could double for a satellite dish adjuster and other obvious signs that owner love wasn't involved in upkeep. The other obvious sign was he told me the marina did all the maintenance. Nevertheless, she looked solid as a rock where it counted so a quick sea trial told me that this was definitely a good candidate for our upgrade if we could strike a deal.
The following is a test. Because I'm not forum savy. Will our story continue? I aim to learn as I go
so I guess we'll see...The above test seemed to work!
Hoping this gets added to my previous blog entry.
As it turns out the previous owner was in financial dire straits. He was invested in the real estate market and at time in the late 2000's we all know what that means. To really over simplify, we basically purchased this boat as one would in a short sale for a house. We gave less than was owed and the bank either wrote the rest off or they may have pursued other avenues but either way we felt like we got a smokin' deal since we were well aware of what the market looked like at the time. On top of that, the hatch lift ram didn't work so we also managed to work that in which might not seem like much but last time I checked a grand is a grand (parts AND labor). This was a pretty daunting process but out patience and persistence paid off and the sale was finally approved. All told I'm thinking it took us maybe two or two and a half months.
Our offer was contingent on an acceptable survey report and sea trial. So after all the waiting, now everything was in a rush. I arranged a survey with haul out, sea trial and transport to all take place on the same day. The plan was for the surveyor basically do an in water survey and sea trial first. At that point he was to call me with a preliminary thumbs up or down based on what he saw. Thumbs up meant transporter could head to marina, and haul out would be done so that he could inspect everything below the water line. thumbs down meant the deal was off. Although he found quite a few minor deficiencies he was over all pleased with what he was seeing, in particular the build quality. And things got better once the haul out was done. The props looked like they had just been reconditioned and the bottom paint was immaculate. He also noted that he found no blistering or anything else of any concern. He even speculated that in our area on the river it could easily be five or more years before we would need to start considering a bottom job. All good news!
The transporter arrived at the marina and although there were some issue with loading from the travel lift to the trailer things weren't too far off schedule. He got back into town 2 or maybe 3 hours later than we talked about which was fine considering the issues he'd had with the marina. Apparently they had somehow damaged some air lines on his trailer so some hasty repairs had to be completed before he could head back. It was all good when she came rolling in though. I don't know what it is about my boat being out of the water but it just makes me a nervous wreck in general. Once we completed the wet launch and and completed another inspection we were finally headed to her new berth. We woke up that morning boatless and went to bed with a new addition and huge smiles on our faces!