Finding our boat

Buying a boat series [Part 1]

Buying a boat is a lot like buying a car… said no one ever. We weren’t foolish enough to think buying the *perfect* used catamaran would be easy or quick, but we certainly were not prepared for everything it entailed.

The initial online search

It started with searching numerous online listings for used catamarans for several months, saving a list of my favorites and slowly developing a “must have” list. I would longingly check the listings every day, often going days in between finding a new catamaran that I hadn’t already reviewed 10 times. Starting out my filters were pretty simple:

• Type: catamaran
• Length: 35-45 feet
• Location: northern hemisphere
• Cost: <$250K (but only for fun, the real filter for me was <$150K)

The serious online search

Then one day, Matt agreed that we could go look at some boats – for sale catamarans, in person! I was extremely excited, so I went back to my handy list of favorites to show him all the great options. There were only a couple still available, because of course they were awesome boats and sold within the months I was just browsing. We basically started from scratch searching again, but this time more seriously – that list of favorites became a detailed and expansive spreadsheet (actuaries live for spreadsheets). 

We both spent hours and days scouring the web for any catamarans even close to what we were looking for. We even enlisted additional troops to aide in the search – namely my dad. At this point, our search parameters included (but were not limited to):

• Type: Catamaran
• Length: 38-50 feet
• Location: Florida & SE coast
• Years: 2000-2010
• Cost: <$400K (yes, budget crept up further every day of the search)
• Strong preference to owner’s version layout
• Strong preference to separate walk-in shower

 Once we had collected a dozen (or two) potential options in our trusted spreadsheet, we began calling around to all of the different listing brokers. 

Tangent: This is an interesting point for newbies. There are two primary ways you can go about shopping for your boat: 1) hire a buyer’s broker to represent you at all times for any boat you’re interested in or 2) be more of a “free agent” and work directly with the seller’s broker, which will vary for each boat. There are a lot of mixed views about which option is preferred, all with merit. Overall, we were happy working directly with the listing brokers since we were trying to schedule several viewings across a wide range of miles during a short number of days. 

We prioritized the boats we were most interested in from our list, calling on those first and trying to get a viewing scheduled. It was actually a ton of work trying to coordinate with so many different individuals and scheduling times that would allow us to travel (somewhat) methodically around Florida.

Florida road trip

We packed our bags (and Monster’s of course), and boarded a flight to Orlando. Stayed tuned to hear Monster’s first hand account of our trip, during a Monster Monday post.

No, we didn’t have any boat viewings scheduled in Orlando, but with a somewhat hazy schedule it was a nice, central location to begin (and end) our road trip. It also had direct flights from Chicago on Southwest – thank you companion pass! 

Tangent: If you don’t know about Southwest airlines companion pass that lets you fly a designated companion with you free on every paid ticket, you should! Read more about it here on my favorite travel/points site TPG. 

We had our first couple showings on the gulf coast, so we headed west (and south) from the airport. The first boat we viewed was the often praised Manta MKII – known to be a great couple’s cruising cat. We were disappointed. The living space felt small and cramped despite the nice length of 42 feet, and Matt couldn’t even stand up straight in the salon. NEXT! On a side note, though, we did love the Regatta Point marina that it was located at!

We drove a little further south to view a unique layout on a 45 foot African Cat, which included two master hulls with king (yes US king!) sized beds. The salon and galley were also ridiculously large, which looking back makes sense with an almost 26 foot beam. We liked the African Cat, but weren’t sure it was “our” boat and certainly wanted to see all the other options we had planned out. So we got back in our car and headed south in order to round the tip of mainland Florida and then back up the east coast, near Fort Lauderdale area. 

We saw several cats in the Fort Lauderdale area – honestly, I can’t even remember how many. What’s important though, is that we viewed a couple Lagoons and quickly realized they were our type of boat! The storage in the forward bow lockers was just amazing (picture massive with a ladder and shelves) – that’s what dreams are made of. One of the Lagoons had a flybridge cockpit – which has mixed reviews, but we loved. It was at this point that we knew we wanted either a Lagoon or a Leopard. A Leopard 44 is what we did our ASA classes on in the British Virgin Islands the year before, so we came in to the buying process with partial feelings already. 

From Fort Lauderdale, we headed north up the coast towards Fort Pierce. Here we viewed another gorgeous Lagoon that unfortunately had an offer made on it the day we arrived to view it. Fortunately, there was an unknown Leopard sitting across the dock with a “For Sale” sign on it! To this day, I cannot believe we somehow missed this vessel if it was posted online, but regardless we were happy to see it. After a couple quick calls, we were able to board and view it on the spot. The only downside was it was a 4-cabin, 4-head layout and we really had our hearts set on an owner’s version. 

Tangent: The owner’s version layout means that one of the two hulls is fully dedicated to the master cabin and bathroom, also often including a desk or seating area. In the typical charter or 4-cabin layout, there are 2 cabins in each hull and then either 2 or 4 bathrooms. Owner’s versions are more difficult to find in used catamarans.

While in Fort Pierce, we received some calls about other cats we had been trying to arrange viewings for. One of which was back the way we came from in West Palm Beach, and the other way further north near Brunswick, GA. We already spent all the time and effort getting to this point, though, so of course we were going to see both. The cat is West Palm Beach was a let down. Like several others, it was dirty and disorganized – if you are selling something, clean it up, try to convince me (the seller) that it’s great, not a dump. I also found a cockroach (dead but still) in the head. NEXT! 

A long 6ish hours later, we made it to Brunswick, GA for our last viewing.

This boat was one that made it on my, I’ll call it intermediary favorites list, but that had showed “under contract” online when I went back to seriously look at it. I had tried calling, never heard back, and then tried one more time about an hour before we left Chicago for the airport. After some back and forth during our time in Florida, we finally got the call that we could view it. My hopes were high – it was a Leopard and the lowest price of all we were viewing (also the smallest)! 

Tangent: Several times I read the advice that you shouldn’t buy the largest boat that you can afford but the smallest boat that you can live on. I think this is fantastic advice! A smaller boat means lower cost, easier maneuvering, and less cleaning – but more on that in later posts. 

Luckily, it didn’t disappoint! We really liked the boat overall, feeling it had a nice, “homey” feel and was clean and well taken care of. According to the listing broker, it was also the only “non-chartered Leopard 40 owner’s version for sale in the western hemisphere.” Talk about a sales pitch. 

After viewing the boat, we turned around and headed back south towards Orlando. By time we arrived at the airport, completing our Florida road trip, we had viewed 10 catamarans for sale and driven over 1200 miles in 5 days. This finding a boat thing is hard work! 

Despite how many boats we were able to view, their were still several others that we either chose not to view (due to age, price, etc.) or that were already under contract by the time we began our trip.

Making a decision

It was time to return back to Chicago and our trusted spreadsheet to help us make a decision. At this point, enhancements were required to the spreadsheet – we needed more details if we were going to make the best choice. We narrowed our options down to three and began typing. Thankfully we also took videos of each boat we viewed, so we spent a lot of time re-watching those. A must do if you’re looking at several boats (or apartments, houses, cars, etc.!) 

A couple days later and we knew what we wanted to do! We picked up the phone and gave the listing broker a call to put in our offer – which he was happy to receive. 

Tangent: If you don’t know how the broker relationship works, the sellers typically hire a broker to promote, represent, and help sell their boat – at the steep cost of 10% of the selling price. If the buyer’s use their own broker, then the two brokers have to split the commission (same as real estate). In this case, by us reaching out to the selling broker directly, he in effect became both the selling and buying broker – extra work, but no splitting of commission.  

We put in our offer, celebrated, and waited to receive a counter offer from the sellers. Like most things in life, though, what goes up, must come down (stupid gravity). Stay tuned for Part 2 in our Buying a boat series to hear how it all turned out!