Cost and responsibilities go way beyond the price tag.
Yesterday, I got a call from a potential client. It turned into a 90-minute discussion of why she should or shouldn’t buy a boat she was looking at.
The Backstory
This potential client — we’ll call her Sara — had originally gotten in touch with me about a month ago, looking for Ranger Tug training, which I offer in my boat or client boats. She wanted to join me for the Ranger Tug Experience I’d advertised. She was interested in Ranger Tugs and wanted to do the Great Loop, which I’d finished in August 2024.
Trouble was, I’d already booked one of the two Ranger Tug Experience offerings and part of the following week for a different training gig so the other offering wasn’t available anymore. I offered to squeeze her in for 3 days and 3 nights starting noon on Friday at Roche Harbor (during the big Ranger Rendezvous) but ending early on Monday at Anacortes. She’d get to experience part of the Rendevous and we’d do training on the way to Anacortes on Monday, anchoring out for lunch along the way.
Although I offered this at a price I actually regretted, she ultimately decided it wasn’t the right opportunity for her anyway. I get it. I thought it was too compressed, too rushed, too.
But when my boat unexpectedly became available for a week in August, I texted her back to offer her as much time as she wanted, up to a week. No pressure, I said. It was available and I thought I’d offer it.
Sara called me back immediately, very excited. She had found a boat she wanted to buy. It was in New Jersey. (She lived in the south-central US.) According to the broker, the owner owned multiple boats and wanted to sell this one so he could buy a different one. To get the hook in her, they dropped the price of the boat by 17%. (Whoa.) She was going out to see it on Monday (earlier this week) and would have it surveyed then.
If it was all good, she’d buy it on the spot and get started on her Great Loop trip before the end of the month.
Did I mention she was excited?
The Call
The search for a new boat often begins with a search on a site like Yachtworld. That’s how I bought my boat in 2022! (This is not the boat Sara was looking at.)
The call came early yesterday afternoon. She’d seen the boat and wanted to talk to me about it while she waited for her flight home. The airport noise was a constant in the background.
First of all, she’d been spooked while on the boat. Apparently the conditions out on the water were a little sporty, which she wasn’t used to. And, to make matters worse, it was a Sunday at the Jersey Shore so there were lots of boats on the water. This wasn’t an issue for the Broker and Surveyor driving the boat, but it kind of freaked her out and made her wonder if she could handle the boat on her own.
The survey came back good. She told me to look up the boat online and I did. It looked like a nice boat. Heck, it looks exactly like a boat I might buy if I were looking for a boat on the east coast. (I’m not. Yet.) So all that was good.
But her friends and family members were telling her not to buy the boat. She’d called me, hoping I’d tell her to buy it.
I didn’t. I wouldn’t.
What I did do is talk about boat ownership and responsibilities, including a bunch of costs she didn’t seem aware of.
This Series
And that’s what this three-part series is about.
- Part 1. This first part explains why I’m writing it. Perhaps you have been or will be in a situation similar to Sarah’s?
- Part 2. In the second part, I’ll cover the actual cost cost of buying a boat. As you will learn, it just starts with the sticker price.
- Part 3. I the final part, I’ll talk about the responsibilities (and related costs) inherent in owning a boat.
I’ll be blunt. Boat ownership isn’t for everyone. It certainly isn’t something to take lightly. If you’re thinking about buying a boat — especially one capable of doing the Great Loop — I hope you’ll read all three of these posts and use the comments to ask questions so you can walk into your purchase with your eyes wide open.
