what we saw - part 2

The Marine Traders generally offer a lot of boat for your money. The problem is that they are not always in good shape. The good thing is that they are supported by a really good owners group. That group has a newsletter and you can get old copies on a CD. By going through the CD, you can get an idea of the problems people have encountered and what it took to fix many of these problems. Unfortunately, it is a little like reading a medical text. You may have felt pretty healthy when you started, but you are wondering about your own minor symptoms and eary onset of a great number of terrible diseases by the time you have finished. I had no idea that boats could have all these problems or that they would be that difficult and expensive to fix!!

This is one of the first Marine Trader 44s that we went to see. It was beautiful from the outside. One of the major problems that these boats have is that the teak decks leak. The way to fix it is with a crow bar (to remove the teak), a saw (to cut out the upper layer of fiberglass), a spoon (to remove the plywood coring underneath), more plywood (to replace the goop that you removed with the spoon) and then lots of fiberglass to replace the upper deck. The alternative is to write a check for about US $20K. The problem is that if you don't seal the leaks, not only does the deck get to be rather spongy, but things within the boat (e.g. fuel tanks, steering systems, electronics, all upholstery etc) deteriorate at an alarming rate in the Florida climate.

In this case, someone had already replaced the decks. BIG PLUS!!!

This style of boat has a nice galley down and often a dinette across from it.

The boats which follow have similar interior layouts except that this one had no dining table in the saloon. For Beverley, this was a big minus.

This particular Marine Trader 44 had a single propellor in a well protected location. This is a very big plus for mileage and for keeping out of trouble in shallow waters. Unfortunately, it had no bow thruster and so would have been a challenge to control in some low speed situations.

This Canadian Marine Trader 44 looked beautiful in the adds. Its price was reasonable and, we thought, if the duty and GST were paid, then so much the better.

This is the dining are in the saloon. There is plenty of space across from it for an arm chair or other comfortable seating arrangements.

This photo offers a glimpse into the master bedroom. There is lots of storage space and access to the queen sized bed from both sides.

The selling broker wanted us to negotiate price before we got to see the boat. If we came to an agreement, then the owner would clean it up for inspection. We made a low ball offer and then got on board before price negotiations were complete. This is what we saw:

The first impression was that you had to hold your breath. Your eyes watered. This was because of rampant mould growth.

The bucket was to collect water in the master bedroom.

The drip marks are from a botched effort to seal up the deck leaks from the inside. This is water that has sat in the core of the deck until it finally found a way out. So what is the condition of the deck? What is the condition of all the upholstery? How would you wash down and clean each and every surface inside the boat? And would the mould come back? You bet it would.

My guess is that the owner (who had left the boat there on the hard for about 3 years) was not aware of the damage being done to his pride and joy. What a shame!!!

This is a photo of a beautiful Marine Trader 44 right where were based in Indiantown. The owner came down for 2 or 3 days every month or two in order to keep up the maintenance. It appeared to be in beautiful shape.

We made an offer - about half of what the owner was asking. Our offer was meant as a starting point and had no conditions. It was just a cash offer like a wholesale deal. We knew the boat had been for sale for 3 years and that he had not even had a nibble for almost 2 years. We knew his asking price was too high but also knew that he wanted his money out of the boat to buy real estate. If you want to buy in Florida, right now is a pretty good time.

All we did was to insult him. He wouldn't even counter.

Oh well.

Then we saw a Thompson 44. These were built as empty hulls by a fishing boat compamy. They were finished by the owner, but usually in a professional yard.

They are wide beamed (don't roll too much), shallow draft and often had only one engine. Often they had fuel polishing systems and other things that relate to a no-nonsense fishing boat heritage (as opposed to a yacht - toy background).

Side view of "Loafer". I love the name for a slow moving trawler.

Look at the space in the main saloon!!!

Loafer's master bedroom with Ethan Allen furniture.

But then....

You could not actually sit down at this table. Neither could you sit in the forward head - at least not if you wanted to close the door.

The engine room was so big, you could almost walk inside it.

This was a good thing since you needed lots of room to duck under all the wires that were handing higgldy piggldy from the ceiling.

A complete rewiring job was necessary in my estimation .

Also, there seemed to be something that was missing. Then it hit me. In one of the other boats, the head of one of the motors was missing. In this case, the whole motor was missing.

In fairness, the owner had set out to freshen it up (valve job by his buddy an out of work mechanic) only to discover that the block was cracked. Oops!!!

Anyway, the motor was being replaced at the owner's expense.

The boat had other weaknesses. It had no swim platform. Also, it had this beautiful davit but I could not understand where you were supposed to park the dingy once you hoisted on board using the davit. It turned out that the owner's idea of a dingy was a motorcycle. Go figure!!

So you have seen what we saw. What did we buy?

None of them! After kissing a lot of toads, Prince (or Princess) Charming finally showed up.

So what is Princess Charming like. Well, that is the topic of the next installment of this blog.