Some very good points, a cartoon that sums it all up, and thoughts on Red Octopus…
This morning, I noticed on Craig’s list, there was an Islander 36 up for sale in the San Diego area. The pictures shows the Islander on a mooring floating right side up with a standing mast and rig.
The asking price was $3K.
Of course, common advice would be to treat such a deal as a horrible financial disaster just waiting to bankrupt and destroy some idiot who buys it.
Sure, the terse description in the ad…
Motivated seller.
Ready to sail.
… doesn’t exactly inspire confidence but there’s the motivated seller thing and I know a lot about being a motivated seller myself and I’ve sold stuff for pennies on the dollar because of situations out of my control and desperation.
Than there’s the ‘ready to sail’ thing which you’d be right to translate as “engine don’t work”. Or, at least, I’d be very surprised if it had a working engine.
Still…
I’ll go out on a limb and say that with smart sweat equity, some boat building skills, and a cunning plan, one could have a great cruiser for a lot less than the naysayers would leave you to believe.
If I were in the market for such a beast, I’d go look at it ASAP and see it up close and personal. Let the boat tell me its stories and test the chemistry. I’d also have cash money in my pockets just in case.
Definitely a boat of interest…
Thats like a big Contessa 32. If the “numbers” are similar, that is a good boat.
You had me at “Financial disaster” the line drawings are irresistible as well!
Make of this what you will, but moorings in Mission Bay are hard to come by, especially for something that large, and marinas are stupidly expensive if you can even find a space. I’d bet that the seller wants it moved yesterday to make room for a bigger, better boat that they already bought and the terms of the sale are to move it immediately. Sometimes that works out for a buyer.
Yep.
Most great deals on boats these days are directly connected to the cost or scarcity of affordable places to moor the boat. Which results in owners just wanting the boat gone to get rid of the ongoing cost of a boat they no longer can afford.