We bought our beloved 2006 Com-Pac Sun Cat, Wily Conch, back in 2009 and have enjoyed owning her very much. At right is one of my favorite moments, sailing in the 2013 Sun Cat National Championship Regatta with my friend, Pete.

In late 2009, I did some modifications to the rigging which I got around to describing on this site in 2010.

I got tired of using the canvas cover that came with the boat and gave it to another Sun Cat owner when I installed a shade tent for the Sun Cat.

In 2011, I replaced the trailer wheel bearings, keel rollers, and bunks. I have pictures of that procedure but never got around to writing it up here.

In a 2010 discussion on the Trailer Sailor Catboat Forum, we were joking around about the number of Sun Cats sailing on Charlotte Harbor and that joke somehow grew into the great sailing tradition known as the Sun Cat National Championship Regatta. Since it was mostly my joke, I became the Head Jib Trimmer In Charge and hosted the Sun Cat Class racers each year from 2010-2014. I also made up the class rule, which states that you must sail a hull that is arguably a Sun Cat hull. This class rule was intended to include the classic Sun Cats built in the 1970's and 1980's and also to allow any modification owners wished to make to their boats. A couple of owners just HAD to ruin my "Jib Trimmer" joke by actually putting a jib on their Sun Cats but only one of those boats raced in the Nationals. Over the 5 year history of these great races, we have learned that no performance modification can overcome the advantage of having a dark blue hull. The blue ones are simply faster and a blue boat has won every year. We don't know why and no one really cares. If you're a person who cares about such things, Sun Cat Class racing may not be for you. Our main rule is to have fun! But for anyone who wants to own a proven performer, the three-time National Championship-winning Wily Conch is now for sale.

I should probably note that the other two Sun Cat National Championship titles went to Suitsus, which was modified with a 180 sq ft sail that was later sold to the owner of a Sun Cat with a white hull named Indy Anna. With an extra 30 sq ft of sail area, there's a good chance that Indy Anna is now the fastest Sun Cat, but we have not had a racing series to determine whether the extra sail area will actually work without the advantage of a blue hull.

Wily Conch is a 2006 model Sun Cat, originally built and sold in 2005. Factory and dealership-installed options include the speedy blue hull color, 5 hp Tohatsu with 20" shaft, blue Bimini top with cover, teak cockpit sole grate, cockpit cushions, SS transom boarding ladder, fabric interior cushions, lighted Danforth bulkhead compass, navigation lights and cabin light, 12 volt power outlet, epoxy coat anti-fouling paint, anchor roller, masthead Windex wind direction indicator, and Performance galvanized trailer. The previous owner also bought a really nice stainless Lewmar 11 lb Claw (Bruce type) anchor. I added guide posts to the trailer and put the trailer lights on top of the posts so that they are never submerged.

All of the pictures that follow were taken on September 26, 2015 and show the current condition of the boat.

Sun Cat Port Side

The port side of the boat faced east when the previous owner had it at his condominium dock and shows some fading if you look closely but through the magic of PoliGlow it looks pretty good. Performance does not seem to have been affected.

Sun Cat Starboard Side

The starboard side was against the condo dock and got a few scratches when the fender slipped out of position. Because that was the shady side, the hull is not faded. The fading and scratches are negligible and difficult to see unless up close. I mention them here because I have learned that people don't like to be surprised by such things when going to see a boat.

Sun Cat Bimini Top

The Bimini top can be put up with the sail down as long as the forward end of the boom is pinned at the mast hinge level using the infamous long pin. It's infamous because many owners can't figure out what purpose it serves and there has been quite a bit of discussion about it on the Trailer Sailor Catboat Forum over the years. My answer: whatever purpose I want it to serve! My custom trailer lights on the guide posts interfere with the Bimini (and also drag the license plate along the cabin top) which is why they are rotated backwards and sticking out in this picture.

11 lb Lewmar Claw

The electropolished stainless steel Lewmar 11 lb Claw anchor is a Bruce clone and holds well with short scope. It also sheds mud easily. I use a twisted SS shackle over the anchor roller bail to make sure it does not deploy itself at unintended times. It has fairly light plastic-coated chain that I never got around to replacing with heavier chain and nylon rode. Like every other part of all of my boats, I never put it away with salt or water on it.

Teak Cockpit Grate

The teak cockpit grate has lived an indoor life except when the boat is in use. That was the policy of the previous owner too, and he was the last one to refinish it. It still looks pretty good and would be a lot of trouble to strip and refinish so I am selling it as is.

The grate and the closed-cell foam cushions were fairly expensive options when I sold this boat to the original owner, adding about $2,000 to the price tag. I told him that I would use Dri-Deck or some similar product to make my own grate and would buy some throwable cushions for comfort. Fortunately, he did not listen to me. He wanted the nice stuff! Working on commission, I did not argue the point. I have been thankful that he made that choice. The cushions are really nice and the grate is not only attractive but functional. The centerboard pennant tube tends to bubble up some water on some points of sail, especially if the boat is heavily loaded. I have sailed Sun Cats without the grate and the cockpit sole is a wet place. With the grate in place, the water runs off under the grate and things like towels, shirts, hats, or whatever may land on the sole stay dry. Also, any dirt that is tracked aboard tends to fall through the grate instead of being tracked around the boat.

The teak boards that cover the fuel tank locker at the aft end of the cockpit are virtually never out of storage because I like to be able to put my shoes in there without removing the boards. Those were also last refinished by the previous owner and they look new. I just stripped and refinished the teak slats on the cockpit locker lids using Cetol Natural Teak with Cetol Gloss on top. This is a 2006 model so it has mid-boom sheeting and a traveler on the bridge deck, shown at the right side of the picture. The black thing on the starboard side of the cockpit is the cover over the manual bilge pump.

Drink Holders

I puzzled over the problem of where drink holders should be mounted in a Sun Cat for a while before coming up with this solution. I did not want to put them in a place where people might want to lean back nor where they might be kicked. There is just barely enough space for them to swing freely and I have not kicked one yet.

Teak Companionway Boards

The companionway hatch boards are plywood with teak veneer. The original ones were looking a bit rough when the previous owner put the boat up for sale so he bought new ones. I still have the old ones, which will be included with the boat. The cabin windows and forward hatch all have screens and for overnighting I would cut holes in the old hatch boards and install screens, but we don't overnight on the boat.

I sealed the edges of these new hatch boards with epoxy and then finished them with Cetol Natural Teak and Gloss, then put them in storage. They still look great. The rest of the exterior teak pieces on the boat were just stripped, sanded, and finished with the same Cetol products.

Also visible in this picture are the throat and peak halyards, both led to Spinlock stoppers. The blue line coiled around the outboard cleat is the gaff boom downhaul. It has a colorful, sailorly name but I won't mention it because I try to keep this site family-friendly. The name is what you would yell at the gaff boom if you wanted it down and it was stuck and your grandmother was not listening.

Starboard Companionway Boards

The picture at left shows why the companionway boards still look so good after being refinished several years ago. I made companionway boards out of some Starboard that I salvaged off a Cougar catamaran that was destroyed by hurricane Charlie. They look terrible but are for storage, not show. On the bright side, they look exactly the same as they did when I cut them out years ago.

Danforth Bulkhead Compass

A couple more pictures showing cockpit details: the Danforth bulkhead-mounted compass has a red light that is wired to the boat's navigation light circuit. It also has a plastic cover that is in place unless the boat is in use, which is why it still looks new after almost ten years. The compass features an inclinometer that reads up to 30 degrees of heel. If your Sun Cat is heeling that much or more, you're doing something terribly wrong.

Manual Bilge Pump

After cleaning out the cockpit lockers, I tested the manual bilge pump, which still works fine. It does not quite remove all of the water from the bilge so I soaked up the remaining water with a towel and let it air dry. I like a dry bilge.

A couple of years ago, I returned from a New Year's Day sail and found an alarming amount of water in the bilge, which had always been dry. I cleaned and rebedded the cockpit drain covers and centerboard pennant tube block, though dust down below told me they were not the problem. The leak occurred where the port drain tube goes through the transom. It is a PVC tube fiberglassed into the transom. I ground out a small area around the drain tube exits, filled the area with stick epoxy, then rebedded the "flapper" type covers that reduce back-flow in following seas. There have been no leaks since that time.

Teak Boom Gallows

The boom gallows teak was just refinished with Cetol Natural Teak and Gloss. I keep an old towel folded over the gallows to prevent scratches from the mast and boom. The tiller is the only wooden part that got polyurethane varnish during the recent stripping/refinishing operation. I think I put ten coats but lost count at some point along the way. The picture at right also shows how the Bimini top stays out of the way when down and covered.

Trailer Goal Posts

The transom shot at left shows the fuzzy carpet I used to wrap the "goal posts" on the trailer. The goal posts make loading the boat onto the trailer much easier, especially if doing it alone in a crosswind. The fuzz and the somewhat flexible PVC pipes ensure that the boat won't get any new scratches from a sloppy approach.

Because trailer lights depend on the trailer frame to provide a ground connection and PVC is not a conductor, I sacrificed a 50' extension cord to wire them. The only part of the trailer light system that gets wet during launching or recovery is the external insulation on the extension cord. In addition to making the trailer lights more visible, putting them up high has eliminated any corrosion problems caused by submerging electrical parts in salt water. It is necessary to release the bolts that hold the PVC pipes and rotate the trailer lights 180 degrees before launching/recovery because otherwise the license plate drags along the cabin top. Fortunately, this lesson was learned without any resulting damage.

Interior Storage

Sun Cats have interior storage underneath both berths and underneath the companionway step. I took the picture at left with lids removed to show it. Also shown is the teak and sandy cabin sole. I did not want to leave the sole unfinished for fear that something would be spilled on it and stain the veneer. I wanted to be able to wipe up any spills quickly, which meant varnishing the surface. I also did not want to slip on it, meaning some kind of non-skid was needed. My solution to this problem was to embed sand in the varnish over the Holly strips. This muted their bright color somewhat but accomplished the desired result. The sole edges were sealed with epoxy prior to varnishing so getting it wet or spilling something on it is not a problem.

Forward Storage Area

The battery lives in the forward storage area and there is a partial bulkhead separating that storage compartment from the anchor rode storage area.

My recollection is that Com-Pac stopped using the teak slats on the interior liner and went to plywood starting with the 2008 models. That was also when they eliminated the bridgedeck traveler and moved the sheet to the end of the boom. I liked the older boats like ours better.

Storage Covers

The companionway step has teak slats to provide traction. There are also a couple of taller pieces of teak that do a great job of keeping a small cooler from sliding around. The storage areas under the berths have plywood covers that are unfinished.

Berths Forward

The fabric interior cushions have only been on the boat a few times. They have spent most of their lives inside air-conditioned homes and look brand new. The cushions are 7 feet long and because catboats have a wide beam all the way forward it is easy for two people to sleep in more comfort than most 17' boats would allow. The 12 volt outlet in the forward bulkhead and the overhead cabin light mounted just under the round portlight window make it this a nice place to read a book or use a laptop computer.

Port Berth Aft

Despite the long berth cushions, there is a small amount of space aft of each cushion to keep some personal stuff at hand without having to dig into a locker to get it. The two little boxes are stuck to the bulkhead with suction cups and provide a convenient place to keep sunglasses, sunscreen, phones, or other small objects. This picture also shows that the bulkhead compass sticks through into the cabin side of the interior liner a bit. One of my projects-in-waiting that never got done was to hide this with a small teak trim box.

Fuse Panel

The fuse panel switches have lights to show which ones are on at a glance. The standard set of labels show an electric bilge pump but none has ever been installed in the boat so the "Bilge Pump" and "Aux 2" switches are not connected to anything. The "Aux 1" switch controls power to the 12 volt outlet mounted next to the panel.

Forward Quarter View

One more exterior picture taken from the starboard side in front of the boat, just because Sun Cats are so darn cute from this angle. In the background just forward of the bow you can see the shade tent with mesh side curtains that protects this boat from sun and rain when it is not in use.

Road-Ready Sun Cat

And one final shot in road-ready mode with the mast down. My favorite aspect of the Sun Cat is the ease of raising and lowering the mast and the fact that almost nothing else needs to be done to prepare the boat to sail. My personal record is 39 seconds to accomplish this, but I was unaware that I was being timed and I'm sure I could trim a few seconds off it. Most of our time at the ramp is taken up by mounting the Windex, removing the sail cover, and removing the trailering strap. Parking the truck is generally the part that takes the most time. It is possible to pull up to the boat ramp and be under way within 5 minutes if you hurry, though we usually take about 10 minutes. I also put the mast up before cleaning the boat just to get mast and rigging out of my way.

Working at a brokerage/dealership that specialized in trailerable sailboats, I got the opportunity to make a lot of masts go up and down. The Com-Pac Mastendr™ system really sets these boats apart from all others. In practice, the difference between a boat that takes over half an hour to rig and a Com-Pac catboat is that you can take the catboat for an afternoon sail if you have only a couple of hours of free time. In most trailerable sailboats, it just would not be worth it because you wind up spending more time at the boat ramp than on the water. That's why we bought the Sun Cat and why I will be sorry to see her go. I only hope the next owner has as much fun as we have with this boat.

The post Sun Cat Wily Conch For Sale first appeared on Tropical Boating.

For the avid boater, nothing can replace the experience of cruising his own boat, but it will involve a sacrifice of time and money between trips that the charterer need not make.

There is nothing better than the feeling of setting out on a voyage in your own cruising boat, with all preparations made to your liking and a new adventure ahead. One feeling that comes close is the feeling of taking such a trip and then just leaving the boat for someone else to handle until you are ready to use it again. To own a boat, or to charter? That is the question.

The Joys of Boat Ownership

With ownership come rewards that are difficult if not impossible to get from a charter experience. Perhaps the most important one is the fundamental feeling of ownership itself. This is not some company boat that different yahoos take for the same trip every week of the year, this is MY boat. Owning a boat is a wonderful feeling of independence and of control, which cannot be matched by any rental.

Another important aspect is the customization that owners do to their own boats, whether it be cosmetic things such as personal pictures, or custom electronics, or just a pad on that spot where you always seem to bump your head. Owners change their boats over time as they find out what works and what needs improvement. A rental boat may have accessories that are in poor condition or do not work as well as the ones you might choose yourself, and there's nothing you can do about it. Any accessories on a boat you own are also yours, and if you don't like them, you can change them.

Over time, the feeling of ownership and the many customizations and shared adventures over the years lead to a bond between boat and owner. Setting out on a new cruise has a certain familiar feel that is comforting. If there is a little nick in the trim wood, you might look at it as a sign of abuse on a rental boat, but on your own boat, it might conjure up an interesting memory of just how that nick got there.

Last but not least, there is a certain amount of vulnerability inherent in leaving the care of your boat in someone else's hands. Many boaters do work on their boats which they are not really well qualified to do, just because they are not ready to trust someone else to do it to high enough standards. It is nice to set out on a trip knowing that all routine maintenance has been done properly, and the best way to know that is to do it yourself. It is nice to know how things were put together, and the location and condition of tools and spare parts. Those are things owners know, but renters must discover and/or wonder about.

The Joys of Boat Chartering

Chartering a boat has its own set of rewards. It is nice to set out on your own boat, but there is also an element of stress, especially if things start to go wrong. If your boat breaks or is damaged, you may learn why cruising is referred to as repairing your boat in various exotic locations. It is awfully nice if the damage has happened to someone else's boat, and you can just ask them to give you a different boat, or you can just get on a plane and fly home. I sleep like a rock on anyone else's boat, but on my own boats, I sleep very light, always listening and feeling for anything out of the ordinary.

A charter boat may not have all the custom accessories you would choose, but there is some value in keeping those boats simple and clean. More equipment means more things which can break. Life on a charter boat may be more austere than life on your own boat, but it will also be more trouble-free. With less focus on the boat and its amenities, your attention is focused on your surroundings, which is why you went out to sea in the first place.

With a charter boat, you are relying on a professional maintenance staff to maintain the boat between trips. You give up the comfort of knowing what was done and when, but you are also relying on people who are in the business of doing those things in a satisfactory way. Some charter companies are first tier, with newer boats and a very skilled staff, while others make do with older boats and less experienced maintenance personnel. Regardless, they have the same fundamental mission: to make sure the boats do not fail while out on a charter. Over time, the ones who cannot do that job properly will go out of business. If your charter company has been around for a while, there's a very good chance that they will have done what needs to be done to prepare the boat for service. Also, one of the biggest enemies of any boat is neglect, and many boats that are individually owned are not used for long stretches of time. Most charter boats are used frequently, and can be more reliable than a boat that has been neglected.

Time-Share Boating

In recent years, time-share boating has emerged as a viable compromise between ownership and chartering a boat. Sailtime and Windpath are two of the major players in that market, which allow you to own a part of a boat and entitles you to a set amount of guaranteed usage per year, with other times available by special arrangement. The managing owners and the companies take care of all maintenance expenses, including insurance, cleaning, and dockage, as well as routine mechanical service and paint. Members of the ownership group simply pay their bills and they can use the boat, hose it off when done, and leave. Because they are owners of the boat, it is presumed they may take a bit better care of it than renters might, and they can be relied upon to make sure that the managing owner and the company are upholding their end of the contract.

Making Your Choice

The choice between buying a boat and chartering a boat boils down to how much time and money you are willing to spend on boating, and how important it is to you that the experience be very personal. For the avid boater, nothing can replace the experience of cruising his own boat, but it will involve a sacrifice of time and money between trips that the charterer need not make. If it is important that your boat be part of your life, you'll want to own a boat. If it is only important that boating be part of your life, and you don't care so much about the boat itself, but the places it takes you and the experiences that await, chartering or using a boat time share program may fit you best.

The post Should Your Buy Your Own Boat, or Charter? first appeared on Tropical Boating.

Lots of boat owners overlook proper preparation for the sale of their boat, and as a result the boat will take longer to sell and the seller will receive less money.

The first thing to do is strip the boat. Remove everything that is not bolted down, and I mean including the anchor and rode, those flares you haven't touched in years, the expired fire extinguisher, life jackets, tools, rags, drink holders, sunglasses, and all the other junk your boat has collected over the years.

As you remove everything from the boat, separate it into two piles: stuff that must go back on the boat, and stuff that you are keeping.

Clean and Detail the Boat

Next, clean and detail your boat. Clean it like you have never cleaned it before. Clean inside every compartment. Clean that disgusting filth out of your bilge. Clean sides and ceilings and the lips around lockers and drains. Remember: customers with mirrors and flashlights want to nose around in every compartment. There should not be a lot of stuff in there, and the interior spaces should look and smell clean.

A little mildew in a locker or a scum ring around the lip can make an otherwise clean, nice boat seem neglected and dirty.

I know, cleaning is no fun, and you just want to sell the thing anyway. Think of it this way: if you spend an extra 4 hours cleaning your boat, and you are offered $1,000 more for it because it looks so nice, you just made $250/hr. That's not bad.

Shine up the Wood, Buff the Gelcoat and Paint

If your boat has wood on it, now is the time to do something with it. See Boat Wood Finishing for more information on how to treat your boat's wood. Oil it, varnish it, use one of the new Cetol flavors, blast it with a pressure washer if you have to, but do something with the wood on your boat. Don't try to sell it with the wood looking like driftwood.

If your gelcoat or paint is oxidized, compound and wax it or treat it with Poliglow. If you are not good at doing this, hire a professional boat detailer. Shining the exterior of a boat can really upgrade the appearance like nothing else, and a few hundred bucks to a detailer who makes your boat look years younger can be money well spent.

Repair Your Boat

Third, fix your boat. There is a balance to strike here, since you don't want to spend any more money than you have to on a boat you're selling. The fastest way to lower the value of anything new is to install it on an old boat.

At the same time, if certain things are broken, it can blow the sale. A damaged rubrail, for example, can make an otherwise nice boat seem "banged up" to buyers. Don't bother trying to explain to them that rubrails are cheap. They don't want a "banged up" boat! Rubrails ARE cheap! Just replace it before you put your boat on the market.

The same goes for broken latches or hinges, frozen up valves or switches, inoperative lights, or any of the little details which don't cost a whole lot to fix, but which can make a buyer walk away.

Go through the boat from stem to stern and operate every seacock, turn on everything electrical, move everything mechanical, lubricate everything, and fix anything that is cheap and easy to fix. Remember: customers will look at anything that needs fixing and respond in one of two ways: They will either 1. decide not to buy your boat at all because all the broken things make it seem neglected, or 2. they will calculate a (generous) allowance for fixing it and subtract that amount from any offer they make on your boat. That means you either don't sell the boat at all, or you pay too much to allow the buyer to fix it. You're better off fixing things yourself before you market the boat.

If your boat has cracked and faded upholstery, buyers are going to immediately start considering the cost of new upholstery when evaluating the boat, if they don't just walk away because it looks neglected. If the canvas tops and covers are in bad shape, it's the same story. On sailboats, old running rigging is a killer. It looks awful, and buyers are once again likely to either walk away or start making generous allowances for replacement. Those types of things should be replaced before putting your boat on the market.

A Little Preventive Maintenance Goes a Long Way

While fixing things, also do preventive maintenance such as replacing rusted out hose clamps, old hoses, broken or frozen fittings, wires, switches, etc. Check all fittings and ports for leakage and rebed if needed. Be sure to use proper marine grade supplies and follow industry standard practices, or hire a reputable marine contractor. Some buyers will want to have a marine surveyor (See Sailboat Surveys and Powerboat Surveys for more information) inspect the boat as a condition of purchase, especially if they plan on financing and insuring the boat.

Marine insurance underwriters frequently require a recent survey before issuing a policy. An improper repair which does not pass survey will wind up being worth nothing, and buyers may ask for a price adjustment to do a proper repair. Also consider that if you do not know the proper materials and techniques for a repair, your efforts could one day cause the boat to sink or burn. So be sure to perform repairs properly, or hire them done by a professional.

Once the boat is cleaned and the woodwork and other surfaces look good and everything is in good working order, put back all the stuff which absolutely must be on the boat, and do it in a neat and organized way.

Don't Forget the Trailer

If you have a trailer to sell with your boat, make sure it is clean and in good working order. Clean up rusty spots and spray with cold galvanizing paint or corrosion inhibiting oil. Replace the tires if they are worn out or cracked and the leaf springs if they are badly rusted. Replace or repack bearings if needed. Make sure the winch, jackstand, rollers, lights and brakes all work.

Once the boat is prepared, make sure you have all the documents related to the boat in one place, including receipts for any work done, owner's manuals, ship's logbooks, registration, insurance info, etc. Have them all in a folder, so that a potential buyer can come to see the boat, find it clean and in good working order, and see all the pertinent records. A boat that is properly staged for showing will be much more appealing, so don't just tell customers, "I have the cushions and electronics and stuff in the garage." The boat should be clean and fully assembled when you show it. Curb appeal matters, even to buyers who say it does not. A boat that really stands out from the others on the market will always draw higher offers from buyers.

The post How To Sell Your Boat for the Best Selling Price first appeared on Tropical Boating.

Getting your boat ready to sell means not only ensuring that everything is OK by your standards, but also meeting expectations and allaying fears of buyers. When shopping for a used boat, buyers want to see one that has been well-loved and cared for, and they do not want to see a bunch of repairs that will need to be fixed right away.

The first step toward better "curb appeal" (or perhaps "dock appeal") for your boat is to wash it. If you have already done that, go back and look more closely. When you open a hatch, is there a ring of dirt in the drain channel around the hatch lip? Down in the various compartments and lockers and in the bilge of the boat, is everything clean? That dust in the lockers or the film of oil in the bilge can cause buyers to walk away from your boat. Everything should be clean and dry, inside and out.

Appearances Matter

Once your boat is clean, it still may not look too good. Worn out dock lines or sailboat running rigging, faded canvas coming unstitched, sun-damaged seat upholstery that is starting to crack, or exterior wood work that needs attention can all detract from the buyer's initial impression of a boat. Some of those things are easy to fix, and your time and effort will pay off in the form of a faster sale and/or more money.

If a buyer looks at a sailboat with old, worn out running rigging and a tired Bimini top, the first thing they think is that after the purchase, all of that stuff will need to be immediately replaced. They do not want that project, but may be willing to undertake it if they like the boat, but here's the kicker: most buyers will immediately deduct the cost of the needed replacements from any offer they might have been willing to make on your boat.

This means that the person selling the boat will wind up paying for new running rigging and new canvas, either by replacing it before putting the boat on the market, or by receiving less money from potential buyers once the boat is on the market. The only difference is, some buyers will get a bad impression of the overall care of the boat because of the worn out equipment, and will walk away without making an offer.

The net result is, if you are selling a boat and it has worn out equipment that is relatively cheap and easy to replace, you might as well replace it, especially if it affects the visual appeal of the boat. Buying new equipment for an older boat generally does not increase the value of the boat, but it can preventthe value from going down, and it can make the boat easier to sell.

What About the More Expensive Equipment?

Next look at the large, expensive parts of the boat: the engine and sails on a sailboat, and the engine(s) on a powerboat. Do you see white creeping corrosion around the cooling system fittings and through-hull fittings? Is there rust on things like cooling jackets, engine mounts, or water heaters? Boat buyers don't want to see any of that stuff. Get in there with clean rags and brass-bristle toothbrushes and clean off any rust or corrosion, then wipe everything down with an oily rag (or several oily rags, if it is a realmess.)

OK, now the boat is REALLY clean, top to bottom and inside and out, and anything that was looking bad has been replaced. Time to separate the wheat from the chaff. Go through the entire boat, and if a thing is not working or does not obviously increase value, or if it is not included in the sale of the boat, remove it from the boat. Boats show best when clean and empty. Buyers looking in a locker or drawer don't want to see all of your accumulated junk in there. They want to see an empty space, ready to be filled with all of their accumulated junk. They don't want to see inoperative, old electronics or lights. All of the equipment on the boat should work properly, or should be repaired or removed from the boat prior to marketing the boat.

If your boat is really clean, does not look neglected or corroded, does not appear to have worn out parts and equipment that need to be replaced, and it is being offered at a fair price, it will sell reasonably quickly. If people look at your boat but do not buy it, the condition is not as good as you think it is. If no one even calls and no one looks at your boat, chances are that the price is just too high.

The post Getting Your Boat Ready to Sell first appeared on Tropical Boating.

The essential fact sellers must grasp when marketing a boat is: Your boat is not special. Sorry to shout, but it's a point that seems to need emphasis. We all think our boats are special. Heck, I sell boats for a living, and I know very well that my boat is not special, yet there is a part of me that STILL thinks mine is somehow special. If I had to sell it, the market would inform me of the cruel reality: MY BOAT IS NOT SPECIAL.

It doesn't matter that I baby it in every possible way. It doesn't matter that I have spent considerable time and money on modifications to my Boston Whaler and yet more modifications to my Whaler. It doesn't matter that it looks almost new, and that everything works. The fact is, it's a couple of decades old, there are plenty like it on the market at any time, and it's just not worth much money. It is worth about what all the others like it are worth.

If you have done something to significantly change the value of your boat, such as repowering it or significantly upgrading the marine electronics, do not expect to recoup your expense. A newer engine or upgraded electronics will make your boat easier to sell, but the thing to keep in mind is that older engines and electronics will often still do more or less the same job.

I see boat owners try to tack the price of all the new stuff onto the basic price of the boat, and the boats do not sell. As a general rule, the way to get your money back out of a new engine on an old boat is to keep the boat and enjoy the engine. If you sell the boat, buyers are not going to pay the full extra cost of the new engine.

Analyze the Competition - Look at Recent Comparable Sales

The easiest way to establish a value for your boat is to look at the competition. Check all the boat listing websites and magazines for boats of the same make and model of similar age. Check NADA and other valuation sites. Ask a yacht broker to give you a list of recent reported comparable sales from soldboats.com. (I work at a yacht brokerage, and yes, we will do that for free.)

Once you have a good idea of market value and the asking prices on competing boats, especially those that are nearby, try to look at the situation like a buyer. Do not listen to that part of yourself which says your boat is special. To the owners, they're all special. To the buyers, they're all used boats.

If you want to be the one who gets the call from a buyer, your boat has to look like a good deal. You can wait a long time for someone who wants to pass up all the good deals and pay top dollar for your special boat. If you want to sell your boat quickly, it has to be priced to compete with all the rest, and it has to look and work better than all the rest.

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