The Big Day is Close

I'm heading down to Florida to attend the survey, mechanical inspection and sea trial of Gallinero. To be precise, Fort Pierce is my destination, Harbortown Marina, E-dock, Slip 12.

There we'll meet up with the two brokers, the captain, the surveyor and the diesel mechanic. This is all new to Karen and me. We're so happy that our broker, Scott Bake of NW Explorations is able to attend to help bring some experience and clarity to the process.

About to land at West Palm Beach as the sun sets

Karen is already in Florida working on a project for one of our clients, so I’m traveling alone. She’s going to drive down from Orlando tomorrow morning and meet us at the marina. Scott is flying to West Palm Beach, as I am, but he lands two hours later than I do, so all told we’ll have three rental cars between the three of us. If this deal does not go though, at least the rental car companies will make some money on this adventure.

I budgeted $5,000 in out-of-pocket expenses for this phase of the purchase process. We’ll incur these expenses whether the sales goes through or not. This is an important cost of buying a boat that most people forget to include when they calculate the initial cost of a boat.

I‘m optimistic that all will go well, but I’m also prepared to walk away if the boat does not live up to how it is represented.