What You Need To Know Before You Sell Your BoatJames "Doc" Lewis As the owner/operator of a full service boat detailing-yacht maintenance business I cant help but chuckle sometimes at seeing the extremes that otherwise bright, intelligent, successful, people will go to in a misguided attempt to save a few dollars. One of the biggest mistakes that we see is that people will decide to sell their boat without first having her completely detailed. According to Rob Scanlan, a well known and respected Master Marine Surveyor; "Detailing a boat is the single most important investment of time, energy and money a seller can make because a clean and shiny boat sells faster and for a lot more money. I strongly recommended that a seller enlist professional assistance to do a quality job." yacht1ship@aol.com Email
We at BoatDocs1, do a lot of work here on the Emerald Coast with local yacht brokers and know what the standards are for a "ready to show" boat. These professionals know that the cosmetic appearance says everything to the prospective buyer as to the overall care and maintenance that the previous owner has given the yacht. Add to that the universal wisdom about first impressions and its not hard to see the importance of this vital first step. Even if you intend to do most of the work yourself we can offer the expertise to assure that your time and money are spent wisely. Our trained eyes will often pick up the little details that only a prospective buyer would notice and likely balk at. Here is an outline of the standard procedures we use when preparing a yacht to be put up for sale: 1. Thoroughly Wash and Dry the Boat
2. Stand Back and Survey the Boat
3. Prioritize the Job With your list you are in good shape to decide what needs to be done and whether or not you want to do the work yourself or have it done by a professional. Most of the professional yacht maintenance companies we are familiar with, would be happy to take a look and give you an estimate of what it will cost to have the work done right. We can do part of the job, for example the compounding/polishing and will gladly help you choose the best wax to finish the job yourself. What about those little chips and dings in the gelcoat Many books have been written on fiberglass repair and it isnt the intent of this article to cover the subject in any depth but many small repairs are well within the reach of a fairly skilled do-it-yourselfer. Like anything else though, if you have never done it before, "consult an expert." Ive been building and repairing in fiberglass since I was 14 and while the first wooden boat I glassed was water tight and lasted a good many years, it was far from pretty. The small investment you lay out for expert repair now will pay big dividends when your boat sells at the price you want. In the Emerald Coast region the standard fees for compound/waxing run between $15.00/ft. and $18.00/ft. for the topside rub-rail up which includes a thorough cleaning and treatment of the vinyl, windows, isenglass, and metal. In other words, for the price of doing the "hard" part well detail the entire topsides and leave it in "ready-to-show" condition. Hulls rub-rail down run about $8.00/ft. but, of course, the boat must be out of the water in order to do it. This walking on water with a hi-speed electric buffer in hand is still beyond me, but Ill let you know;- Fiberglass repair runs from $45.00 to $65.00 per hour and in general as with most everything else, one gets what one pays for. The up side to this is that when approached in a professional manner the dents and dings of ten years hard use can be repaired and made to look like new in an amazingly short time. All too often we have seen people save $300.00 or $400.00 on a detail only to loose $Thousands$ on what their boat could have sold for. Then too, our local marinas are clogged with many examples of boats with "For Sale" signs which were never given the least bit of attention to make the passer by want to stop and think, "Hey, I wonder what it would be like to call that boat mine." Some of these boats have sat for years when all they ever really needed was a little T.L.C. I remember, years ago, someone saying something about being penny wise and pound foolish Lets not let them be saying that about us.
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