Yes, but not for long!

Actually the process of selling our previous boat, Quantum Leap, began well before we cruised Pivot/Her Idea back home to RI. In fact, it really began back in June when we began looking for a new boat and buckled down to complete the unfinished projects.

Fast forward to August 8 when we listed Quantum Leap on Boat Trader and put her out on our mooring with a For Sale sign. We didn’t think there would be a very quick or enthusiastic response, so we placed the ad around the time we headed up to Maine to bring Pivot/Her Idea back to RI.

We were wrong about the response! There were several phone calls from people who had seen her on the mooring. And  a multitude of inquiries generated from our Boat Trader ad. It was hard keeping up and responding to all of them.

Although we were surprised at the volume of the responses from our ad, it didn’t take long for us to realize that a large percentage of the inquiries were scams, probably about 80%. Why would a person living in the middle of the country (as judged by their phone number), not near water, make an offer on a boat sight unseen? And then ask us to deliver it? Huh? Made no sense! With the volume of responses, it quickly became a full time job separating out the bogus ones from the legit ones. We eventually got to the point where we just assumed any inquiry further out than a 100 mile radius was bogus, so we focused on the more local inquiries and people that wanted see her as soon as we returned to RI. There probably were several legit long distance inquiries, but it just took too much time and effort to validate them. The most interesting long distance inquiry was from someone in Australia! That one was not a scammer and Rob traded some interesting emails with them.

As mentioned in our Chris Craft Crunch post, between our trips to Maine, Rob had worked extremely hard all summer getting Quantum Leap ready for sale. Over the years, during our search for a boat, we were often shocked that sellers wouldn’t bother to make their boats look neat and tidy, often showing them in horribly dirty condition, even leaving beer cans and miscellaneous crap everywhere. That always caused us to wonder – if they can’t be bothered taking care of what was visible, how well did they care for and maintain what couldn’t be seen (i.e. the mechanicals)? Most likely they didn’t! Immediate turn off for us!

So ensuring that Quantum Leap’s exterior and interior was as clean and pristine as possible and all mechanical aspects were in fine working order, was an absolute must for us – she had to look the same in person as she did in the ad photos and any additional photos we sent to potential serious buyers.

And since we needed to sell her quickly, it was critical to price her right for a boat of her 38 year old vintage ($29,900). Not wanting to be a two boat family, but also not knowing the market, early on in the process we even entertained donating her.

In anticipation of making it easier to show her to potential buyers, as soon as we returned to EGYC, we talked to Matt, our Club Steward, about moving her from our mooring to a slip.

Assigning us to the south side end of A dock was kind of ironic because at one point in time that used to be our permanent slip until we were moved to another slip. He told us we could keep her there as long as we needed. Thanks Matt!

One day we needed to pump out Her Idea. Since the pumpout is on A dock where Quantum Leap was now docked, we were able to capture a photo of both Quantum Leap and Her Idea next to each other. Cool!

By the time we got back to RI we had several appointments for showings which were done over a period of two days. Apparently everything we did was worth it, because everyone who came to see her, immediately wanted to buy her! To ensure they knew exactly what they were might be buying, Rob was quick to provide a list of all the upgrades we had done and to discuss any of her few shortcomings.  Some potential buyers had contingencies like selling an existing boat, financing issues, etc. An out of state couple who was very interested needed to store her locally until spring due to logistical and personal issues.

Ultimately, after seeing the boat and knowing that we had other interested parties, an offer was made by a super nice, very interested, local couple.  No contingencies – they could pay cash at more than our asking price and after a quick sea trial, they were willing to take it as is, without having a survey done. And they even had an available slip at a marina a few hours away, as they had recently sold their existing boat. Plus they wanted the dinghy with the motor and our dock boarding steps. Sold! In less than two days!

 

 

 

A date of September 11th was set for them to sail away with her. Until then, we had a lot to do especially from a paperwork perspective (purchase agreement, Bill of Sale, completing a form to transfer the USCG documentation, etc.).

It seemed over the next few weeks between our purchase of Her Idea and selling Quantum Leap, we would spend a lot of time at the nearby AAA office, not for anything to do with automobiles, but to make use of their free Notary Public Services! Luckily we had a lot of recent experience with the paperwork from the purchase of Pivot/Her Idea, so we were able to apply those steps to the sale of Quantum Leap. Despite our lack of experience with the paperwork aspects of selling a boat, although it was a little stressful, amazingly everything fell into place relatively easy and quickly.

In the midst of everything going on with the sale of Quantum Leap, yours truly got to experience cataract surgery, not once but twice – my right eye on August 31st and my left on September 8th.  See this post.

On September 11th, the very excited, new owners of Quantum Leap arrived at EGYC. After spending several hours reviewing things with them, we stood on the dock and waved goodbye to her. Although it was sad saying goodbye, we knew she was in good hands and that the new owners would care for her like we did. We made so many wonderful memories and now it was time for them to create their own. And who knows, perhaps we will see her (and them) on the seas at some point in time in the future! I’m sure we will stay in touch!