Closed Captions (CC):
[Music]
last time

on sailing bella chandra we joined a

race team in the 2020 round

karakou cruisers regatta checked out the

local jab jab celebrations

hung out on beautiful sailing island

then joined in birthday celebrations on

the beach in hillsboro

if you're new to our channel hello i'm

noelle and i'm dan

and we're sailing bella chandra we've

sailed all the way from nova scotia

canada

to the caribbean and we've been cruising

for about a year now

that's right if you haven't subscribed

to our channel just go below this video

and look for the big red subscribe

button

press that button hey guys in this

week's video we're going to take a

little trip back in time and talk about

how i bought this boat and i'm going to

share with you some of the things i

learned about the boat buying process

that i found

very helpful if you're currently looking

or planning on buying a cruising boat in

the future hopefully this video will

help you out

if you're new to boating and want to buy

a boat you may want to contact a broker

bella chandra is a 44-foot boat i had no

experience with a boat this large

i found it very helpful to have a broker

who would drive me around

show me boats and help with a lot of

information that a novice boat buyer

may not have i couldn't see doing it any

other way at that time

if i were to buy a boat today i probably

wouldn't need a broker now that i know

so much about boats having been a boat

owner all these years

most brokers will work with you as they

assume you already have the money and

are willing to help you out

the broker's commission is paid by the

seller in my case there was two brokers

a buying broker and a selling broker

both brokers involved in the sale split

the commission just like with real

estate

when i started out i didn't have the

money to buy this boat i needed a boat

loan

if you're looking to purchase a large

yacht you will need a fairly substantial

loan

i had some trouble here in canada

finding a bank who would finance my boat

i had already sold my home and it turns

out that banks don't want to hear that

they want to sell you a secured loan

meaning if things go wrong

you could always sell your home to pay

off the loan if you don't have a home

or any assets to secure that loan they

will be very

reluctant to give you a loan in fact it

will be impossible

i tried several local banks here in

canada with no luck

even with a fairly large down payment

they would not give me a loan

it was made very clear to me that the

economy

in society at large does not support

your choice to be nomadic

it seemed to me that our banking system

saw me as a radically thinking

individual

someone trying to escape their economic

prison one bank even told

me why are you buying a boat why not buy

a house i had just sold a house

another banker told me had you not sold

your house i would have given you this

boat loan

it seemed absurd to me and at the same

time it made it very clear

that the world does not want people to

do this kind of thing

but these were eye-opening moments for

me that only strengthened my decision to

want to live on a boat

as though i woke up like neil from the

matrix and realized that everyone is

tied into this system

and if only they could wake up they

would see that this money their spending

this employer they work for this bank

who they owe money to

are all just ideas ideas created by

people to control

other people which is essentially a form

of slavery

but we are free and we can make our own

choices to do what we want to do with

our own lives

in the end i was able to obtain a loan

from a smaller private company

who were willing to finance a boat i was

very lucky

i know that by getting this loan to

purchase my boat i am creating debt

and it's probably my last tie into the

economic system of the world

however this is my only debt it's not a

substantial debt

i will pay this off at some point and

i'm not accumulating other loans and

other debts as i would if i owned a home

on shore

and was considering improvements or

buying a cottage or buying a car

or buying a second car or any of the

things that people crave when they're

living in modern society

the more debt we have the deeper we are

tied into this system

the deeper we're tied into this system

the more likely we will carry it through

to retirement

when you retire you may decide to buy a

boat and maybe move aboard

and go sailing until your health

declines perhaps

but those years are numbered and it

seems very unfair that something is

physically taxing is sailing

is most commonly done in people's golden

years as it is the only time they were

able to do so

due to the inflated prices of yachts and

the myth that one has to have a

financial nest egg saved up in order to

enjoy this lifestyle

basically in our society there are rules

and roadblocks these are controlled

ultimately by the banks but also by the

media but even more so by

ourselves i've found my own parents

telling me that

i should buy a car or that i should buy

a house that this house would be a

security

or an investment and that would be

important for securing my future in my

retirement

this is all propaganda to support your

slavery and to keep you from living free

and doing as you please

not only did i have a broker but i also

did a lot of searching on my own to buy

a boat

it took me almost an entire year to

finally find the boat i wanted

it's not something you should do quickly

there's lots of boats for sale and they

don't sell

fast most people selling boats have to

wait a very long time to get an

interested buyer

it's a buyer's market and i knew i could

take my time and do it right

mostly i used yacht world chances are

you will find your boat there

some boat owners might just put a for

sale sign on a boat sitting in a marina

and i've heard of boats being sold that

way but you would have to visit a lot of

marinas and it would be very time

consuming

i would not recommend looking for a boat

like that many brokers will sell boats

on their websites

but chances are they're also on yacht

world another place to look is kijiji in

canada

or craigslist in the states a lot of

boats get listed there

again some of them might also be on

yacht world but at least you can do a

search

and find a boat fairly easily using a

website i recommend you take your time

and look at a lot of

boats especially if you're looking over

a broad area

i had a spreadsheet with about 26

different boats i was looking at at one

time

it would be easy to find a boat within

driving distance of your location

but a boat that has everything you're

actually looking for might be hundreds

of kilometers away

balachandra was 300 nautical miles

distance from where i lived and i had to

sail at home

but i was willing to purchase a boat as

far away as new york or even florida and

i would have sailed at home if i had to

i would recommend that you start

searching for your financing early

if you're getting a boat loan or other

means of financing

it may take some time and when the

selling broker is looking to have papers

signed

you will want to be able to write a

check on the spot i was a little late

getting my financing together to buy

this

boat and it created a little tension

because when the deal closed and the

selling broker was ready to have his

paper signed

i did not have my financing secured and

there was some question as to whether

the sale would proceed

if i were to do this again i would

definitely have my finances

in order before the deal goes through

when you're boat shopping it's really

important to consider what your boat

will be used for

if you're just cruising around on

evenings and weekends you definitely

don't need a 40-foot yacht

i was looking for a boat that is capable

of crossing oceans

we haven't yet crossed an ocean but we

did plan a trip to bermuda

and we did cross the caribbean sea from

st thomas all the way to grenada which

took

five days and i'm very thankful that we

have a boat that is large enough and

capable of doing a crossing like that

these are things you definitely need to

consider

if you go back and watch our video the

cost of living aboard for one year

you'll see that a lot of costs were

involved right up front

when i first bought the boat like

stepping the mast or renting a crane to

put the boat into the water

when considering my budget on this boat

i not only had to consider

the cost of the boat itself i also had

to consider

all of the extra costs that will come up

like the cost of a surveyor the cost of

launching

the cost of hiring a captain to bring it

home if you need one

the cost of insurance and most

importantly the cost of any necessary

improvements you might want to do to the

boat

it's very rare to buy a boat that

doesn't need something done

or that requires some modification in

order to make the boat capable to do

what you need it to do

or even the cost of a flight in an

airbnb

if you need to travel to visit the boat

like i did as the boat i bought was

relatively far away

and i needed several days to complete

the deal when searching for a boat there

were several criteria

i listed in my spreadsheet like boat

length

length of water line type of rig full or

fin keel the boat's draft the engine

hours on the diesel engine

the age of the rigging the age of the

spars

how many spars the age of the batteries

any recent or new items added to the

boat

or if the boat is more of a racing boat

or more of a cruising boat

balachandra turned out to be both the

racing and cruising boat

and it's been great for us because

sometimes we'll want to do a fast

passage

and it's nice to have that ability at

our fingertips

once i found a boat that i was really

interested in the first thing i would do

was contact the seller or the selling

broker

and request the most recent survey

sometimes this throws them off a little

bit but in most cases they

will produce a survey and send it to you

this is very helpful

with the survey you can find out if the

boat has had any recent problems and had

any repairs done to correct those

problems

whether the boat is insurable and

whether or not you will need to also

pay for a survey depending how recent

this survey is

i always ask for additional photos even

if it means the broker has to go and

take more photos and send them to you

most brokers will actually do that for

you don't be afraid to ask for photos

if you see a boat that you really love

don't jump at it

that's a very common mistake you can

fall in love with a boat from a

photograph

i added plenty of boats to my list just

because i love the way they looked or

felt or the photos just really got me

but as i thoroughly investigated each

boat i would realize that there were

very good reasons for me not to buy some

of these boats

sometimes the boat that will do what you

want it to do may not look

or feel like the boat you thought you

needed or may not fit within your budget

my boat search took almost an entire

year that's a long time to put off

sailing

to me this was down time i used this

time to build my chops i joined a

sailboat racing crew and raced

every week i read books watched youtube

videos and sharpened up all of my

sailing skills

to be ready for the day that i actually

started my journey

another thing i discovered is that if i

was going to buy a boat in a different

country

chances are you'll have to pay duties

taxes

import fees registration licensing

or other costs depending on where you

live that can be prohibitively expensive

i discovered it was much cheaper for me

to purchase a boat within my own country

rather than to import a boat even if the

price tag of the foreign boat was

much lower i guess the alternative would

be if you were not planning to return to

your home country and to start cruising

right away on your new boat

this may not be an issue for you unless

you decide to one day return home

at which point these fees and charges

could become a real problem for you

i would highly recommend anyone to pay

for a full marine survey of their boat

before purchasing if there's a problem

with the boat the surveyor can get you

out of the deal

most insurance companies will require a

recent survey before they will insure

abode

my insurance company certainly did and

i'm glad i had a survey done

however before i paid for a survey i did

a lot of groundwork on my own

which helped me to prep my surveyor for

items to look for

and also gave me a lot of background

information about the model of boat i

was looking at

chances are there will be an online

owners group for that model of boat

if you can find it sign up and start

asking questions

they'll tell you about common problems

and things that have gone wrong with

their boats

and will help you ask the right

questions in my case there was a boat i

was looking at before i bought

balachandra

that had a problem with its chain plates

i wouldn't have known about this at all

had i not contacted other owners of the

same model boat through facebook

who warned me about this chain plate

issue and i did not buy that boat

i would definitely go to see the boat in

person before hiring a surveyor

here is a list of the things i would

check for before ever considering

spending a dime on a survey hall damage

osmosis blistering recent bottom coat

if the prop is in good shape if there's

play in the rudder

if there's play in the prop shaft is the

hull wet can you tap the fiberglass for

wet spots

are there any soft spots in the deck

check for wet spots with a moisture

meter if possible

check the condition of the deck fittings

check the condition of the standing and

running rigging

check the gel coat for spider cracking

check for water damage on the interior

teak

check the bilge for an oil spill what is

the general appearance of the engine

is there an odor is there any mold or

mildew

are the keel bolts rusty is there any

obvious damage

are the chain plates corroded is there

any weakening in the bulkheads

due to wood rot or maybe separated

tabbing i found the surveyors i've hired

have missed many of these things

a good surveyor should check a boat over

from top to bottom

but they usually don't get that deep

into a survey

and any one of these items could be

missed that said

a decent surveyor can save you on a good

deal or help you out to kill a bad deal

finding a good surveyor can be tough

brokers will usually have a list of

local surveyors

but don't be afraid to find one on your

own make sure it's not the broker's

buddy

i found it helpful to share some of my

own research with the surveyor

make sure you mention any known flaws

with that model of boat that you've read

about online

and make sure they have a moisture meter

and a hammer and do a decent check for

moisture in the hall

and on the deck another good idea is to

pay for a mechanical engine inspection

i needed to sail balachandra back to

nova scotia the day i bought her

the engine had to work so for me it was

a no-brainer to pay for a full

mechanical engine inspection on her

before closing the deal for me items i

considered to be deal

killers would be deck and haul moisture

problems with the chain plates major

problems with the standing rigging

any issues with an engine or any

structural damage to the hull

chances are you will do a sea trial i

did a sea trial on balachandra and i

found it very helpful as i was able

to meet the previous owner and find out

some good information about the boat's

operations

on my seat trial i had the owner and the

broker present

if you can have your surveyor present as

well make sure you run through all of

the systems

electronics engine and rigging when it

comes time to do the deal

you want to make sure you get a list of

everything that is included with the

boat

get this list early in the deal don't be

afraid to ask for items that are not on

the list on the day the deal closes

check to make sure all of the items that

are on your list are actually in or with

the boat

if there's one final thing i would

recommend to anyone purchasing a boat

is to try to be amicable with the

previous owner

and if you can set up a small boat tour

with them and have them show you all of

the systems and all of the tricks they

know

on operating that boat it may save you a

lot of time and trial and error

or mishaps and mistakes that could

easily be avoided

so that's the end of this boat buying

video i hope you guys found it helpful

if you have any questions for me just

leave them in the comments below or

contact me on facebook thanks see you

later thanks for watching

if you enjoyed this week's video please

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