Up for Sale...

As time goes on, things change.  Styles, needs, wants; they all change.  And after six great years with our current boat, its time for a change.  Really it comes down to this.  I need (want) more space.  With our wives using the boat more, our crew growing, and our range increasing, our 38' boat that seemed like the Titanic, now is feeling a bit more claustrophobic.  Which pains me to say.  This boat was my first love.  Sure, we have had other boats before, but they all felt... utilitarian.  Our Henriques feels like a Fighting Lady, a partner in crime.  Its tough to get over that for me.  But, in a very Katherine Hepburn kind of way, the boat is getting a bit older, and its time to move on before I start looking at the boat like its Dick Clark.

So that brings us to boat shopping.  Everyone I talk to says something like "Oh man, buying a new boat, thats gonna be fun!"  Some people may find it fun, exciting even.  I don't.  I think of boat shopping like dating.  Not college bar dating (hooking up).  This is like over 40 dating that has that faint whiff of desperation.  You don't enjoy dating at that point, its a necessity.  You have to wade through other peoples cast offs and hope you find a winner, or at least a fixer-upper that has the potential.  If I were a wealthy man, this wouldn't be happening.  Id go over to Henriques, plunk down my $1.6 million in sweaty bills, and say "Why yes, I will take that 50 footer you have..."  But this is reality, and with prices where they are, for me to get the size I want, I have to sacrifice age, use, and, to an extent, quality.

Far too Many Finches Exist

Boat brokers are all the same.  Think of them like finches.  Im in a Darwinian state of mind, so that works for me.  There are different sizes, colorations, feeding patterns and techniques, and of course, mating rituals.  Some are honest, to the point kind of people.  Others are assholes.  They run the gamut from lazy, too smart for their own good, overbearing, you name it.  The one thing in common is they are all out to sell your boat for you.  Sometimes by concealing the little peccadilloes that make boats "unique".  Our boat is currently listed with what I would describe as a sleepy broker.  Happy to take on your sale, but not really into working it all that hard.  If something happens, great.  I'll take a nap until someone wakes me up to buy it though.  So, needless to say, our boat still languishes on the market.

The problem with your boat sitting, is that opportunities arise, and that puts pressure on you.  In the size I am looking for, 45'-53', there are only a few builders that make "production" or "semi-custom" boats, and a bunch more that make more expensive custom boats.  We looked at Oceans (Buicks on the water), Vikings (nice but I hate MAN engines), Hatterases (pricey gas hogs), a few off brands, one custom (deal died due to the broker) before we came across the Post 50.

Now Post has never been a Jim Smith, Tribute, or a Bayliss, but they have been a long standing New Jersey builder of semi custom boats.  They made boats from the 1940's up until 2004, when a bad economy and a gelcoat fiasco (more on that later) landed them in bankruptcy.  Overall they built well appointed boats, with quality products.  New, this boat would have been around $1.2mil back in 2002, while the competition would be in the $1.2-$1.8mil range.  They stayed on the lower end by leaving out some redundancy, extra bling, and some more modular construction.

But man, what a boat!  Wider than all the others in her size, excellent speed (I can't use the phrase good fuel economy, thats just silly) for her size, a cockpit that is only smaller than the custom boats (all of you who know me know that is my biggest peeve in sport fishing boats) and the larger interior that we were looking to get for our family needs.

So now we own two boats.   Say hello to the new Knot Reel Teeth.  A 2002 50' Post that we purchased in St. Pete Beach, FL.

Much more to come.