HONEY, I THINK I FOUND A BOAT

8 Nov 13 (Greg)

Kandahar, Afghanistan

 Near Stocking Island, Exumas - 2006

“Honey, I think I found us a boat.”

“Yeah, ……yeah sure.”

“No, really…. this time I think I really did.”

“Yeah, OK, whatever.”

That may not be how the conversation really went, but, if the truth be known, I bet that was what she was thinking.  Dahleen had lived with/put up with me boat shopping for nearly 2 years.  We had found nothing that really met our needs/wants/desires.  Well, I guess we had found a few that met our needs, but not our wants. 

As I have stated before, boat buying is a series of compromises and adjustments.  Unless you are rich and buying a new boat custom-ordered, you are going to compromise to some extent.  A few weeks ago we made a pretty big compromise by deciding to go from buying a 50’ Beneteau to a 46’ (that decision was the subject of an earlier post).  But, even with that we were expecting to make other compromises concerning the equipment and condition we wanted in a boat.  Well, I think I found a boat……no, really….I think I did.

• Classic main sail…….check
• Not a shoal draft…….check
• Yanmar 76 hp turbo diesel…..…check
• Low engine hours……..check (367)
• Freshwater boat……..check
• A/C installed……..check
• Upgraded/updated electronics………check
• New sails (genoa and main)……..check
• An assortment of headsails (with snuffers)…….check

This boat has ALL of our needs and almost ALL of our wants.  The price is a little higher than the average market price, but it has tons of almost new equipment to compensate.  We will see how the negotiations go.  There is no doubt the boat is worth what the seller is asking (based on equipment and engine hours), but the more money we save on boat-buying the more money we have available for the refit that we will need to do (solar panels, radar, wind gen, SSB, etc).

The selling broker seems very honest and forthcoming, and has been very responsive and helpful to this point.  He responds almost immediately to our emails and has done everything we have asked of him, to this point.  (We have ditched our buyers broker since every single boat that might have been a possibility for us, was found by us….no help from him at all.

Wish us luck, more to follow.

MORE FROM SPAIN......MALAGA, ON LA COSTA DEL SOL

22 Oct 13
Malaga, Spain

Greg with the City of Malaga and the Mediterranean in the Background

Just an hour west of Almunecar is the city of Malaga.  It is considerably larger than and is the airport that we flew into on this trip.  One of the more interesting things to do while in Malaga is to ride the cable car from the center of the city to a 3000’ mountain top.  The cable car system in Benalmadena (Malaga, Spain) was opened in 2003 is one of the best ways to view the Costa del Sol. It takes you on a 15-minute journey to the highest point on the Málaga coast at an altitude of about 3000' above sea level. From this vantage point, you not only have the magnificent views of the Costa del Sol, and awesome panoramic vistas of the Sierra Nevada mountains, but on a really clear day you can see Gibraltar and the coast of Africa.  I have posted some additional pictures below.  

Yes, It's Almost Halloween

A View of the City (Malaga) 

We Love the Mediterranean Architecture

About Halfway Up the Mountain

Eastern Malaga with the Med Sea in the Background

HAPPY ANNIVERSAY, DAHLEEN !!

1 Oct 2013
Kandahar, Afghanistan

Dahleen, Allen's Cay, March 2006

DAHLEEN - Wow, the last 13 years has flown by.  It seems like just a couple of years ago that we were in that little chapel in Chattanooga getting married.  I hope the years have been as rewarding and fun for you as they have been for me. 

I was so blessed to have found someone:

• who can love me when I am not very loveable….(me not loveable?  it’s rare, but it does happen sometimes).
• who has the patience to put up with my impatience.
• enjoys living life to the fullest, as I do.
• loves travel, adventure, and isn’t afraid to try something new….scuba diving, sailing, motorcycle riding, forsaking the land-based rat race for long-time sailing/cruising. etc.
• is willing to sacrifice, with me, short term to reach our long term goals.
• who is fun to be around.
• who enjoys my company, as I do hers.
• who is not only my wife and love of my life, but my best friend.

I miss you greatly, and will be glad to get this phase of our lives completed, so we can be together again.

I love you and Happy Anniversary,

GREG

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM

27 Sep 2013

Kandahar, Afghanistan

My Mom

My Mom is a special person.  Being a mother is probably one of the most unappreciated jobs in America.  Too many times her sacrifices were taken for granted, hardly noticed.  Not noticed.  Not appreciated.  At least not to the degree they should have been.  

So many of us have been spoiled on our mother’s love.  So much that we don’t realize how much love she really had for us.  We don’t realize how much she did for us.  Unfortunately, it is not until you are older and have kids of your own that you slowly come to realize what sacrifices your own parents made for you…..what a great job your parents did in raising you.

So, Mom, thank you for loving me and thank you for doing everything you possibly could to raise us the right way.  I just want you to know it has not gone un-noticed, or unappreciated.  I noticed, and I appreciate you…..I appreciate the love and effort you put into “your job”.

Thanks for teaching us there is “a place for everything and everything should be in it’s place”; thanks for making us work in the garden; thanks for making us pick blackberries; thanks for making us learn to be respectful and well-behaved (most of the time); thanks for taking (not sending us) us to church and instilling Christian principles in us at an early age; thanks for ALL the things you taught us to enable us to stand on our own two feet as adults.  Thanks for teaching us that all actions have consequences; thanks for being consistent with you discipline and with your word.  We could always count on you doing what you said you were going to do. 

All the things that you did (many of which we hated at the time) are the things that made us understand real life.  Hard work, discipline, integrity, morals, consistency, etc., are all necessary for a happy, successful adult life.  While I have occasionally failed in all these areas, I didn’t fail because I wasn’t taught the right way.  Thank you, again.

I love you and miss you and wish I could be there on this, your special day.  Happy Birthday to the Best Mom in the World. 

APPLES TO APPLES

12 Sep 2013

Kandahar, Afghanistan

Georgetown, Exumas - 2006

Having previously bought a cruising yacht/sailboat, one of the things we discovered during that process was how difficult it was to determine the worth, or value, of a particular boat.  The obvious, not so helpful answer is…”it’s worth what someone will pay for it”.  Duh!  Well, that “someone” is US and we want to know that we are paying a fair market price for it.  We were fortunate with our last purchase to have discovered a very nice boat and we were able to negotiate a good price.  The real standard as to whether you paid too much, or got a good deal, is when you decide to sell.  If you overpaid, you will take a hosing when it comes time to sell.

Comparing cruising sailboats is a lot like comparing furnished houses that come with a car in the garage.  Even if you are looking at a condo in a complex where they are all relatively alike from a size and design standpoint, each one has different furnishings, equipment, as well as different levels of wear...and then they have the cars with engines and batteries and other vehicle options too.  Every used boat is unique.  They may have looked the same when they rolled off the assembly line, but they were probably already somewhat unique by the time they left the marina when sold, and certainly are by the time they are re-sold one or more times. This makes determining a reasonable value for a boat a very difficult task.

Since Dahleen has been in real estate for some time and I spent several years after military retirement building houses, we are familiar with “comps”. That is the comparing of a particular house (or boat) to other “like” houses or boats on the market, or recently on the market.  The best comps are those that are no longer on the market because the sold.  The problem is comparing boats because they are so unique.  When looking at comps, 3 years seems to be a reasonable time frame when collecting "comps", and the appears to be little difference in price between older and newer versions of a given model, the prices are mostly based on condition. 

Speaking of condition, that is the next variable.  Excellent, above average, average, fair, poor condition tend to be the terms used to describe boats by brokers and surveyors.  As expected, the definitions of the above terms are somewhat subjective.  I (Greg) tend to set higher standards than a lot of brokers based on the condition of boats vs. their descriptive term of that condition.  A boat kept in the tropics tends to be in poorer condition than one kept in the northern latitudes (sun does a number on boats); a saltwater boat tends to have more corrosion issues than a freshwater boat; owner maintenance influences condition in a big way.  One of the selling brokers we talked to gave us some pretty good guidelines for a buyer…..typically:

        

• ·      Boats sell for about 12% less than they are listed.
• ·      Boats used in charter take about a 10% hit in price.
• ·      Location can make a 10% difference in price.

US non-tropical locations near the top

Remote (hard to get to) tropical locations near the bottom

• ·      The condition of a boat can make a 30% difference in price.
• ·      Buying a boat with the equipment you want is cheaper than buying a cheaper boat and then buying and adding all the equipment yourself.

So, just because the average boat sells for 12% less that listed price don’t assume that the boat your looking at is worth that.  It could be worth less, or more, based on condition, location, equipment, and how it was previously used.

Now, let’s get back to searching for that boat !