Huge favor to ask of Ft Lauderdale residents

[Ron Childress]

There is a marina called Harbor Town at Dania Beach
Located there is a 1989 60' FBMY Hatteras of course

Is there anyone who would do a casual check on this vessell and give me their appraisal / opinions??????

Boat is from South Carolina and moved to Ft L to market. Used to be overseas as a floating condo.......

Any assistance by this very knowledgeable group is GREATLY appreciated

A boater 'wannabee
Ron Childress

[ThirdHatt]

GOOD STUFF Ron! I LOVE it when people are willing to do their own homework to research a boat. Unfortunately I do not live there or have any contacts to offer you, but I wish you the very best of luck in your pursuit.

I actually bribed a salesman from a neighboring south FL yard to keep a close eye on a 58YF that I had my eye on back in '04. He gave me lots of good insider info and after persisting for over 10 months, I finally bought her! Heck once I found out a ballpark figure of what it would take to buy her, I submitted a contract for exactly that figure to their broker before the boat was officially listed! The owners widow was not ready to sell yet so every 30 days when the contract was going to expire, I would overnight a new contract allowing another 30 days to close.

I know the broker thought I was a pain in his ass and he didn't even want to let me submit a contract but FINALLY after about 6 months of sending updated contracts he called me and said the time had come. They only needed $15k more than my offer (whch I would have gladly paid) but they settled for an extra $10k after I offered to split the $15k difference with them (you can't blame a guy for trying).

Persistance pays!

[SKYCHENEY]

Ron,
I have only been aboard one 60MY and it was a 1989 also. If you get serious on this one, check the hardtop for leaks. The one I was on was a beautiful boat but they had to chase down a leak from the flybridge that ended up running down the salon walls. I think they caught it before there was too much damage, but you never know if this may be a problem during that model year for that boat. Just thought I'd pass that on.

[dastahl]

If no one from this group can help. When I was searching for my little 42 LRC I found few on the market (they only made 29) so I twice hired a local surveyor to go to the dock and see the boat for me. Both boats were far away. I paid $200 to get a local guy to a Anacortes. I paid $200 plus about $100 in air/ferry fare to get a guy to St. Croix USVI who faxed me the info on the boat I bought.

This worked out wonderfully cause they put the boat in the water by the time I got around to the real survey. I used the same guy and he had already seen the boat out of the water and had fully checked her out. I saved more than the first look, by not having to pull her out again.

Skooch
Worton Creek MD
42 LRC

[MicroKap]

I don't know the boat, but I am very familiar with the marina. I bought my boat in June 2004 when it was located down in Fort Lauderdale. We had it hauled and surveyed at Harbour Towne Marina in Dania, FL. The survey went well (I bought the boat), but the marina has something to be desired. It's a nice place, but post purchase work that I had done there was substandard (inferior) by anyone's standards. If you want more detail, private message me. Beware....do not have service performed at this marina. They apparently don't even know how to hook up a float switch on the bilge pumps, much less a battery charger was added and "plugged" into a 110V receptical rather than hardwired. They got my blood to boil, the crooks.

I hope your search goes well.

[thoward]

I will be down there this weekend but have CE classes all day. I may be able to get there Sat. evening.....

[jeff shayne]

I have a vacation home in harbor beach-will be down from 3/20 until 3/23 phone 516 241 8274

[spindrift]

Ron

I had several discussions with the listing broker on this boat. I have a very good friend who is an admiralty lawyer and says the broker is quite reputable. My understanding is that the broker had a deal that fell through (due to financing) recently. I had a buddy (formerly an importer of large MYs in Ft. Lauderdale) take a look at the boat for me. There is some UV damage on the bridge so most of the instruments and panel would have to be renewed. The paint is OK but would most likely need a professional refinish. My buddy says you can probably get another 5 years out of the paint. The bottom has some minor blistering....maybe 50 or so small blisters. He recommened a professional soda blast and barrier coat as the osmosis is minor and now would be the time to take care of it. That's about it other than updating. The key here would be to control yourself; hard for me to do! The boat is not stabalized.

The boat is owned by a former marina ower (that's that story being spun) who is done with the boat. She has low original hours. The bottom line price that she was offered to me was $345,000.

Now this is most likely a very good value but I elected not to pursue for the following reason. First, she has 8-92s which my mechanic advises is a highly problematic and very expensive engine to rebuild. Some of these that were juiced up are worse than others. Second this boat is getting up in size (displacement) that puts her out of the capabilities of many of the smaller yards that I like to use in Maine. Most are limited to a 30 ton travel lift. Thus,I would have to go someplace like Hinckley or Wayfairer. I have used Hinckley before on my big cruisng sailboat..terrific yard and workmanship but absolutly crazy money ( I was working 100 hours a week back then on Wall Street and really didn't care as much as I do now about yard bills).

I also think the bigger size getting up around 40 tons makes her more problematic for a couple to handle. I used to have a crew on the big boat and really don't know if I want to go that route again.

Last, I think that the 60 MY was no where near as popular (in terms of units delivered) as the 53MYand thus am not sure of resale value. Frankly, I think Mr. Hargrave was at his best when he drew the lines of the 53 MY. This factor combined with the size and incremental operating expenses clearly would make the 60 MY a riskier operation (operating expense and ability to resell) unless you were going to put her to work (which I have done in the past with other boats) but then do you really want to run another business?

Yet, she seems an outstanding value if you want a Hatt of that size. I thought about this one long and hard but elected to go back to plan A which is to find the right 53 at a decent price. I sold my last boat last summer and now am in the postion to move forward. My only constraint is time as my consulting practice is to fix weak and underperforming companies... what can I say in this economy business is great.

If you do decide to go through with this I would be delighted to recommend a good transaction admiralty lawyer to you located in the area whom I have none for over 15 years. Other than the deposit, I would only let the lawyer (who is bonded and insured) or a major marine documentation company hold major monies. The brokerage crowd in Ft. Lauderdale is a very strange cast of characters. I would work through the listing broker (as you will get a better price) but protect yourself by using good professionals, such as a reputable admiralty lawyer (who is board certified as an admiralty lawyer) who is a member of the Florida Bar.

Good luck

DWM