Association Forum - Finally joined!

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 250 Specific Forum

Finally joined!

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

Member Avatar

2272 Posts

Initially Posted - 03/06/2010 : 22:46:25

Well, we finally have an agreement to purchase a C250WK. Survey is scheduled March 25, so let's hope everything looks good. I'm hoping to bring her down the Delaware River closer to my home on March 26, assuming the weather cooperates and the transaction is completed with no complications.

In anticipation of this, I paid up for an association membership. I'm looking forward to both getting and giving back up here on the message board.

Rick S., Swarthmore, PA
PO of Take Five, 1998 Catalina 250WK #348 (relocated to Baltimore's Inner Harbor)
New owner of 2001 Catalina 34MkII #1535 Breakin' Away (at Rock Hall Landing Marina)

Edited by - on

watercayman
1st Mate

Members Avatar

Cayman Islands
49 Posts

Response Posted - 03/07/2010 : 06:57:20

Congratulations Rick!

You probably already know this, but that hull number has a fantastic web site describing some of the boat's history as Lorelei: http://www.texassailor.com/lorelei.htm . Lot of fun to discover where your boat came from! When making the decision to buy a 250, that site, and his information helped me to understand what a great boat the 250 is.

All the best in getting her home safely.

Mike

Edited by - on

TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

2272 Posts

Response Posted - 03/07/2010 : 10:18:12

Oops, there was a typo in my signature. I'm getting #348, not #384. One of the previous owners of this boat is listed here on the member list. Her name was "Trinity" at the time. I've learned a bit about the history, including talking to the previous owner, because the current owner (from whom I am purchasing) has had the boat for less than a year and knows relatively little about it. The current owner bought it (sight unseen) up in Cape Cod and had it trucked down to New Jersey. I also checked with Catalina about its background, and they told me it was originally sold by Winter's Sailing Center in New Jersey - exactly the same place where it is currently stored. So this boat has apparently had a round trip up the I-95 corridor.

I had seen the Lorelei site months ago, and it was very helpful to me too. But for awhile I started looking at other models of boat, so I had stopped looking at it. I'll have to go back and do some more studying.

Edited by - TakeFive on 03/07/2010 10:20:50

piseas
Former Treasurer

Members Avatar

USA
2017 Posts

Response Posted - 03/07/2010 : 11:39:16

Rick, congrats and welcome. I felt the same way when I joined 3 years ago. I was wondering if you could elaborate re your contract in that the survey is in a couple of weeks. Did you put down a deposit and what would allow you to back out should the survey not be favorable. I am sure all will be ok but thought your comments might help other members when its time to purchase.
Steve A

Edited by - on

TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

2272 Posts

Response Posted - 03/07/2010 : 12:39:41

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by piseas
 Rick, congrats and welcome. I felt the same way when I joined 3 years ago. I was wondering if you could elaborate re your contract in that the survey is in a couple of weeks. Did you put down a deposit and what would allow you to back out should the survey not be favorable. I am sure all will be ok but thought your comments might help other members when its time to purchase.
Steve A
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Well, it's a long story, but one worth telling.

The boat is a FSBO. The seller, in my estimation, has little sailing experience, and knows little about how to buy and sell a boat. I have never bought a boat of this magnitude either. So I feared we'd be "the blind leading the blind." I've been working with a broker for several months. He is all the way over in Oak Harbor, WA, but he's an old friend and I trust him. Local brokers weren't exactly busting down my door at my original $10-25k price range. (Although they all suddenly got interested when I started briefly considering C320s at $60-70k. I stuck with the guy that was willing to help me with the $10-15k boats.)

I asked the seller to cover my broker's 10% commission, and he started trying to negotiate the guy down to 5% (on a $15,000 boat!). It seems he has little value for the expertise that brokers can provide. It's especially ironic because he was only able to buy the boat sight unseen last year because a broker was doing all the dirty work for him behind the scenes. Anyway, I would have nothing of that, so I shut down his "negotiations" with my broker and agreed to pay my broker 10% out of my own pocket. For that relatively small amount of money he is going to fly out, be present at survey and sea trial, help me deliver the boat (which I need because of my inexperience with this size of boat), and give my family some sailing lessons. It's still a lot of money, but I need his expertise and I'm willing to pay for it for a guy I trust.

Anyway, my 10% deposit is in escrow with Marine Documentation Services in Anacortes, WA, who will also do a title search. My final payment will go to them in advance of the survey, so they will only disburse the funds if everything is satisfactory. This contingency is clearly spelled out in the contract, for which the broker supplied a template.

Edited by - TakeFive on 03/07/2010 14:58:17

britinusa
Web Editor

Members Avatar

USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 03/07/2010 : 14:30:30

Welcome to the Forum Rick and here's hoping that we soon hear that you have your boat safely at some place local.

Sounds like you set a good priniciple with your dealings with the broker.

I know a few good brokers localy and they earn their monies. Rarely does a buyer just email them and say, "I'll take it"

Nice use of the C250 logo in your signature!

Paul

Edited by - on

Nautiduck
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
3704 Posts

Response Posted - 03/07/2010 : 16:44:05

Welcome Rick! You'll love your 250 and joining the Association is a good decision too. Lot's of help and camaraderie on this site.

You're probably the only person to ever fly a surveyor across the country to check out a C250!

Sounds like the right thing to do though. Having a person you trust is important.

Where will you be keeping your new boat?

Edited by - on

watercayman
1st Mate

Members Avatar

Cayman Islands
49 Posts

Response Posted - 03/07/2010 : 16:55:00

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by RhythmDoctor
 Oops, there was a typo in my signature. I'm getting #348, not #384. One of the previous owners of this boat is listed here on the member list. Her name was "Trinity" at the time. I've learned a bit about the history,
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Ah!

Sounds like you've done a lot of research about the history of Hull #348 - which is always a fun part for me. I'm sure it will be a great boat for you.

Fair winds on your trip home with her.

Edited by - on

TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

2272 Posts

Response Posted - 03/07/2010 : 19:30:02

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Nautiduck
 ...You're probably the only person to ever fly a surveyor across the country to check out a C250!

Sounds like the right thing to do though. Having a person you trust is important.

Where will you be keeping your new boat?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
It's actually the broker that is flying cross-country. He's hoping to visit his sister in upstate NY, so there's another reason for him to come all the way over here for so little money. My surveyor is Jerry Richter in Reading, PA. I picked him over a couple of other more established surveyors because he is primarily a sailor (thus more qualified to judge rigging and sail wear), whereas the others were more powerboat guys. I'd appreciate any comments from people who have used him before. I don't have any recommendations for him - we just struck up a really nice conversation on the phone, and he seemed like a guy that I could learn a lot from.

So I'll be loaded up with lots of expertise. But with all the up-front costs, I'll have a lot of motivation to complete the sale, which unfortunately the seller will be aware of if we have to negotiate any concessions from the survey. Let's hope there are no major issues on this 12-year-old boat.

I plan to keep the boat in the Delaware River in Essington for the first year because it is about 12 minutes from my house and I expect I will have a lot of little projects to do. We've never sailed the Delaware and we're aware it's not the prettiest place. After this year, if think we'll be happier elsewhere, we'll consider upper Chesapeake (perhaps Bohemia River, where Jerry Richter sails), or perhaps even haul the boat up to Lake Wallenpaupack where we've sailed for the past 10 years.

Edited by - TakeFive on 03/07/2010 19:49:23

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.