Olson 34

[treilley]

I checked out the Olson 34 on Yachtworld this weekend in MD. I am sure I will not make an offer on this boat. If anyone is interested, I can give you an objective mini survey and some additional photos if you like.

Again, I am very disappointed in a broker's description of a boat. I spent nearly $1000 to travel and see this boat and there were obvious problems with it. I think these brokers think they will find an idiot to buy their boats. I was very clear what I was looking for and this broker assured me that the only issues were minor cosmetic items.

Just to sumarize, I found leaking keel bolts, water staining on the interior wood that indicated long term standing water in the cabin 4 inches over the sole and many gelcoat repairs on the port topsides. Many other non minor things but these were the worst.

I would not be able to offer more than 50% of asking price to feel good about this one.

The E34 really is our first choice anyhow, although that tiller would have been nice!

Tim R.

 

[Loren Beach]

Sloth, greed, and deception, oh my!

...and worse yet, a prior post indicates that the owner may be financially well off... The poor boat will be on the market, overpriced, forever!
:eek:
FWIW, the keel bolt leak may easily fixable by simply re-bedding (about maybe 1K) the hull can be LPU painted for about 6K, the interior updated for ?? $... and so it goes...

(We almost flew back to the right coast to look at a marked-down Niagara 31 with visible water damage up maybe a foot on the interior teak because at the time we really wanted to move up to that model, having sold an N-26. We added up the potential cost of refurbishing, including an engine rebuild, and decided that the price was still 15 or 20K too high.)

I do not blame you for being upset with the broker.
When we spent a year - '93-'94 - shopping we found a few brokers that really were honest and did their research and also did their followups. Then there were all the ones that must have gotten into the biz after flunking out of "ethics and gainful employment 101 and 102."

The later group seemed to mostly like nice cars, big wood desks and golf...
Sigh...
Grump, grump, mutter, mutter.... Arrrrr....I needs me morning cup o' coffee...

Loren

ps: patience!-- your boat is out there, somewhere....

 

[treilley]

Broker

I will give him the benefit of the doubt and say he was unaware. So you can chalk it up to not doing his homework.

I know that I could do the work on the boat and make it really nice. The problem is that it is so far away, is not my first choice and the elevated asking price. The owner bought a new boat and then left this one thinking it would not need anything while sitting in a slip all season. The broker said that the boat was reupholstered in 2004. I found that only the settees were done which tells me portlight leaks. I did find evidence of this around the portlights too.

I know what proper maintenance is and I have a 30 year old boat that performs and looks new to prove it. I have seen this same thing in the automotive industry. I cannot tell you how many cars I have inspected for purchase that the owners described as "cherry" where the car was clearly 2 different colors or had a dent in it or the carpeting was worn and cigarette burns in the dash. I don't get people and their warped ideas of maintenance and condition.

Someday I will sell my Pearson and the next owner will be one lucky guy/girl because it was better than described.

Tim R.