The Challenge of Completing a Boat Purchase

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Finding the right boat, making an offer, and getting that offer accepted are the easy parts.

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In my last blog post here, I went through a discussion of my boat selection process and the logic (I hope) that went with it. At that point — was it really just five days ago? — I was just getting started with the boat buying process: making an offer and getting it accepted. The hard work came next. That’s what this blog post is about.

Turns out, there’a a bunch of stuff that needs to be done to complete the purchase of a cruising boat like this. In many ways, it’s a lot more difficult than buying a helicopter — which I’ve had the stressful pleasure of doing three times. The work fits neatly into several overlapping buckets:

• Financing
• Surveying
• Insuring
• Training
• Taking Delivery

Financing

The most important task to complete is getting financing. Although I’m making a sizable down payment on the boat, I’m still using bank financing to raise the funds I don’t have to complete the sale.

I was somewhat prepped for this. I went to the Anacortes Boat Show again this past spring and that’s where I met Jennifer from Peoples Bank. Peoples happens to be my bank — I use their Wenatchee branch — and I was interested in doing business with them since we already had a good relationship. Jennifer was there to meet future boat owners like me. We chatted briefly and I took notes on the back of her business card. Miraculously, I did not lose the card. I emailed her as soon as my search got serious and she handed me off to Cassidy, who would handle my loan.

Of course, the rates had gone up a bit since spring. That was to be expected. We discussed the loan amount and terms. This was going to be a weird deal for me. I’m normally a debt adverse person — I’m completely debt free as I write this — and like to pay off loans as quickly as possible. But this was a loan that I’d likely be paying off during my retirement years for an asset I was unlikely to keep for more than about 10 years and that would hold much of its value over that time. So when she offered me a 30-year loan (with no prepayment penalties), I took it just to lock in those low monthly payments. (This is not something I advise for any asset with a large loan or that you plan to keep as an investment, such as a home.)

That done, it was time to send her my paperwork. Tax returns, bank and investment statements, business P&Ls for my four businesses. Fortunately, I had everything handy in PDF format. I uploaded them to a special link where she could send them off to the underwriters. Because of my generally pretty good financial situation, she was confident I’d get the loan.

But that all depended on two other things I needed to get done: a survey and insurance.

Surveying

A boat survey is very much like a home inspection. An expert comes in with a checklist and looks at everything. If he finds something that isn’t quite right, he makes a note of it. If he finds something bad, it may need to be addressed by the seller or the buyer — that needs to be negotiated. If he finds something very bad, it may break the whole deal.

The boat survey includes things inside and outside the boat. That means pulling the boat out of the water on a lift. That has to be done at a marina with a lift. (Fortunately, this boat is at such a marina.) I’m also requesting a sea trial as part of my survey, and not just because the bank requires it. That means taking the boat for a ride.

The whole thing has to be scheduled so that the broker, surveyor, and buyer can be present and the marina staff are available to pull the boat out of the water and put it back in. The earliest date we were all available was August 22, so that’s when I’ll be making the 4-hour drive to Olympia to first set eyes on what I hope will soon be my boat.

(Yes, it’s true. I haven’t seen it in person yet.)

The surveyor’s report can take up to a week to prepare. It will say, among other things, what the boat is worth. If it’s worth considerably less than I’m paying, I’ll have a problem with financing. I don’t expect that to be the case; this boat has been very lightly used in its three years of life.

Once I get my copy of the surveyor’s report, I have to hustle it off to the bank. They cannot make their financing decision without it.

Insuring

The bank also requires insurance. I had a head start on that. After paying close to $30K/year for helicopter insurance, I wanted to make sure boat insurance wouldn’t be as costly so I asked for a quote on the boat I was looking at back in May: Missing Chair*.

To get a quote, I needed to prepare a Boater Resume on a form they provided. It asked for the various boats I’ve owned or operated, as well as any boating courses I’ve taken. I’ve been recreational boating pretty much since I was a kid and I’ve owned WaveRunners and a small jet boat. But I think my crewing time on the Great Loop was the most valuable time on that resume. The quote came back at around $1200, which I thought was a steal.

When I picked out this boat, I contacted the insurance agent again and gave her new information about this, smaller boat. As I expected, the quote came back a little lower. All I have to do now to turn it on is fill out a form and send a check.

Training

While I do have experience on Ranger Tugs and I do have experience on larger cabin cruisers, I have zero experienced in a 2019 Ranger Tug R-29 CB. The boat has many systems I need to learn — it is, after all, the water-bound equivalent of a motorhome. I also need to learn how to drive it — well, that’s kind of harsh because I already know how to drive a large boat. I need to practice driving it. That means navigating in narrow marina fairways, around obstacles, up to docks, and into/out of slips. I need to learn how to anchor the boat in several conditions and how to retrieve the anchor safely. I need to learn how to launch the tender (dinghy) and put its engine on it. I need to learn a small shit ton of stuff before I feel that I’m competent enough to go out on my own and keep learning.

Fortunately, when I looked at Kismet last year, I met John, who does training on Ranger Tugs. He agreed to work with me on my boat, which I’m really very happy about. John is a nice guy and doesn’t seem to have any preconceived notions about what a woman can or can’t do. (Older guys are nearly impossible in this respect. Sorry guys.) I’m hoping to work with him on board for at least two full days.

The only drawback: he’s not available until after the big Ranger Tug Rendezvous at Roche Harbor on San Juan Island in early September. That means that even if I can close the deal on the boat before the Rendezvous, I won’t be able to attend in the boat. I just don’t feel comfortable taking it out on the 125-mile journey — which I’d likely do over two days — without the training.

That means that no matter when I close the deal on the boat, I won’t be taking it anywhere until after September 12 — and even then, that will likely be for two to three days of training in the Puget Sound area.

Taking Delivery

I can’t get the training done before the deal closes. I already asked the broker about that. I knew it was a long shot. But I don’t think he realized that the delay in training will result in a delay in me taking delivery. I simply can’t take delivery of a boat I can’t drive.

But once I take delivery, well, then it’s mine. And I suddenly become responsible for finding a place for it to live — and paying for that place. And because I won’t be ready to actually take the boat anywhere outside the Seattle area, that means finding a slip for it for about two weeks — hopefully in a place where I can visit it when I’m not stuck at home doing stuff I need to do at home before I travel.

Of course, all this would be a little easier if I had a trailer for it, but I don’t. The reason I decided not to buy a trailer right away is a blog post in itself. Let’s just say that it isn’t worth buying a trailer now when I’ll only use it once over the next two to three years. I’d rather wait.

The goal, of course, is to put the boat on the Great Loop in the Chicago area. To that end, I’ve talked to a few marine transport companies and have begun getting quotes. It ain’t cheap, but I think it’s best to have it professionally moved this first time. I’ll also save a ton of money on fuel and parking for my truck. It’s this transport stuff that’s proving to be the biggest challenge. Fortunately, I still have at least a month to work that out.

Next Steps

These are just the challenges I’m facing to close the deal and take possession of the boat. I have other things I need to do once it’s mine. Here are a few off the top of my head:

• Check and add (if necessary) required equipment such as life jackets, fire extinguishers, and fenders.
• Get a motor for the tender. It currently does not have a motor.
• Add a Bimini top for the command bridge and possibly for the aft cockpit. Shade is vitally important. I’d like to get an enclosure for the aft cockpit but I suspect that’ll blow my budget right now.
• Add living items such as plates, silverware, pots, pans, glasses, linens. I’m fortunate in that I’m going to be selling my truck camper and everything I’m using in there will go to the boat, if applicable.
• Add a BBQ grill. I grill a lot.
• Name the boat. To my knowledge, it was never named!

I suspect that all this will cost a bunch of money and take a bunch of time. But I’ll do what I can as quickly as I can so the boat is ready to travel in October.

Stay tuned for updates.

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* In a weird coincidence, I met the new owner of Missing Chair on the TugNuts forum this week. We’d been discussing trailers and marine transport companies and he visited my blog. He read the previous post and mentioned on TugNuts that he’d bought Missing Chair. Small world, eh?