This is the tale of how WE BOUGHT A BOAT! And every penny we spent on it. Want to hear what our boat cost us? Read on!

9.26

Remember how I said the sellers countered with a bizarrely high number? Today we found out that this was a hurricane premium – between Hurricanes Irma and Maria, the catamaran market in the Caribbean was kind of devastated, and our boat would be perfect for chartering so it’s suddenly looking a little more sparkly and golden.

So when we tried to negotiate a Conditional Acceptance of Vessel (CAOV), which is basically the counter offer after the sea trial / survey, it was like trying to negotiate with a brick wall. In fact, the broker literally said “The sellers would move back aboard before dropping in price” (yeah, right). Tom and Jeff (the brokers) finally convinced them that they had to give us something, so they generously knocked $1k off the price. Gee, thanks.

Despite that, we’re getting a good deal. This is a great catamaran – I’ll tell you why in a minute – and based on the changing market post-hurricane, if we pass on this boat we might never find one we can afford. 

That’s why, when we got the revised contract, we both happily signed the dotted line. We were both at work when it happened, so we couldn’t even high five, but let me tell you – in my head, we were high-fiving the highest of fives.

9.28

Now we are in the mess of paperwork.

Insurance is really gun-shy after the hurricanes, so we’re jumping through hoops that no one is familiar with because they’ve never been requirements before (for instance, we have to submit a “hurricane plan” for how we’d tie up the boat during a named storm).

I’ve been trying to move money around, but one account needs ten days to link to our brokerage account (!!!) so I’ve got to figure out a work around there. This is one of the few things that could really derail this deal – if the money isn’t there by the closing date we lose the boat and our deposit. That’s a very expensive mistake.

The other big question is delivery. We could theoretically deliver it up the IntraCoastal Waterway (ICW) ourselves, but it would take a lot of time and we’re both working. We could also hire a delivery captain to take the boat offshore, which is a 3-day trip, and hopefully the captain would let us crew for that trip.

10.2

We hired a documentation service to take care of our closing paperwork. At first I felt pretty strongly that we could do it ourselves and that we were essentially wasting $600. However, with more research it sounds like it would have been extremely difficult to DIY because the owners have a loan out against the boat, and the bank will need to issue some paperwork stating that the lien is cleared, and – this is the important part – it’s going to be very difficult to get that paperwork. This is also a really big purchase, so there’s a peace-of-mind aspect to knowing that our documentation is in experienced hands, rather than our own.

This has been pretty stressful, and nearly all of the stress is due to the fact that we’re both working full time, so we can’t just keep the boat anywhere, or move the boat any time, or stay in Florida to see the whole thing through. Instead it’s a lot of coordinating and last-minute trips.

Why would we put ourselves through all this now, instead of waiting until we quit our jobs? Let me tell you what makes this boat so special:

We’ve looked at several in the same price range and she is in much better shape than any of her peers – no one would guess she’s pushing 20 years old. In addition, she’s got a more modern layout, where you can seamlessly move from cockpit forward or aft without obstruction, as opposed to her peers, whose weird ledges and low ceilings would likely give us regular concussions. Her interior is ridiculously spacious and open for how small the space really is. Those alone put her far above the rest, but she’s also got a watermaker, new standing rigging, new thru-hulls, new bottom paint, and numerous other improvements, she’s perfectly outfitted for long-term blue water cruising. She’s a unicorn among donkeys. In a buffet full of stale, lukewarm casseroles and overcooked veggies, she’s the fresh-off-the-grill tender cut of filet mignon. In the scrubby desert wasteland of prickly cacti and venomous arachnids, she’s the oasis of fresh, cool water that brings you back to life. She’s our dream boat.

10.4

We’re closing today. This is the day we hit the button and all our money goes -poof!- and turns into a catamaran.

Total boat cost of our 2001 Fortuna Island Spirit – $176,030:

• $16,500 – the initial deposit we put down
• $750 – survey – we purchased the survey from the people who first put in an offer*
• $152,500 – boat price minus the deposit
• $40 – fees to wire money to escrow account
• $600 – documentation fee
• $300 – FL taxes on the dinghy**
• $65 – SC registration for dinghy motor
• $850 – slip fee in FL***
• $2714 – insurance for a year (includes supplemental BoatUS insurance)
• $1711 – fee + flight for delivery captain
• I am tempted to add the cost of 3 trips to FL in here, but we mostly paid for those with travel rewards so maybe $100 for gasoline.

*Don’t do this. Our insurance put up with it for a year, but then they required a survey that was in our names. I know, it doesn’t make any sense, it’s the same boat no matter whose name is on the survey.

**FL charges 6% tax, SC charges 5% tax, so when we move the boat to SC we can show them the bill of sale and show we paid taxes on the dinghy

***Let me rant about this for a minute. The slip she’s in is paid for through 10/16, so technically the slip is free for us. This $850 is a $200 fee to change the liability to our names, plus a $650 security deposit on the slip, which the owner refused to waive even though we’ll only have the boat there for like 6 days at most. It should be fun trying to get that back.

As a boat buyer, there’s no reason not to use a broker because the broker fees are paid by the sellers. That’s why there’s no line item for a broker fee.

Our initial offer was signed by the sellers 3 weeks ago, it feels like 3 months ago, because so much has happened in between then and now. And things have been changing dramatically from day to day. We’ve both been half-present at work. Things finally seem to be wrapping up, soon we’ll be done with the things that are out of our control.