I began this (ie selling CW myself) with not so much a requirement but a personal goal of trying to find a good home for her, as I have always attempted to do so for machines/products/designs/ideas/tools I hold in high esteem. The usual case when I describe this to people in boating and elsewhere is that they either think such a perspective on machines/products/designs is just BS that one paints on an image to impress others, and that's fine though call me thankful I spend so little time in their world... .or who think they "get" that though I can report those moments often feel like they're being polite and waiting for the subject to change. Again, no matter... it's my own long-held philosophy.
During this journey, I've met many people. and there have been several for whom I was rooting for various reasons that resonate with me. In several of these instances, I have been willing to go the extra distance (boot camp and such). Not always, but some people did just seem like they'd be that good home.. or if not that... at least a good use of a good machine, like a family devoted to using it and taking care of it.
A good home would still be a nice result but I now have to conclude that holding out for that may be eating too many heartbeats. I gave it a good try. This new purchase option and my choices about who to work with hopefully eases that for me.
Recent RAGING Wastes of Heartbeats vis a vis CW
Most of the time, selling activities for CW is not a big time sink though the process seems to know when I should be focused elsewhere and spins up more for me to do. [the blue is just me venting... no prob for you skipping it]
For example, I just pissed away over a week of my free time (NOT an insignificant penalty at my fricking age) repairing issues with this site that all occurred spontaneously (i.e. no help from me) at some point in the past 6-8 weeks (I rarely come to this site).
[Insert a well-informed expletive-laced rant here on the pathetic state of modern technology and product design... I should have become a fireman... engineer/paramedic] I truly did not mind building the site the first time, but I'm sure as hell pissed off I had to spend so many heartbeats fixing things that just vibrated loose... on their own. You know...... software... crapping out... ON ITS OWN... is not how computing began or operated for decades, just FYI to those fortunate enough to be external to the tech and systems/hardware-design worlds. Every bullshit customer-hostile life-sucking techno-landmine I have stepped on in recent years was because some idiot-in-a-cubicle "had an idea".. that was then instantly and effusively praise, built and rolled out..... over the corpses of those earlier adopters who foolishly relied on how it worked yesterday. And then.. of course.. the idiot's crayon drawing of their BFD idea was taped up on the corporate ice box during yet another stockholder-funded cake/self-esteem party for everyone to celebrate how totally wonderful the idiot is. Just lithe did for the idiot in computer camp last summer. Hell will be something like eternity in a room full of democrat millennial "designers" (mere coders/computer-camp grads) parroting crap they googled about how smooth and authentic vacuum tube audio sounds, especially on vinyl.
Oh yea.... speaking of crap technology, a major vendor of email addresses and ass-raper extraordinaire of customer personal information that shall remain nameless but rhymes assonantly with bugle reached into its exhaust pipe and pulled yet another gem of research-perfected customer hostility.. namely that the email client I have used since mid-90's and in which I can search for any message I might wish to find since then is no longer usable. Merde and fall in it bugle. The upshot of this is that the email tied to this web site is one of several dozen that are now pointlessly harder to use (must be dealt with separately) so I'm not checking as frequently as I used to. I'm ancient.
Recent work with interested parties this year
This spring, I had actually two very interested buyers that were serious and able and the sort of "good home" for CW I was seeking. Both seemed headed for the finish line and both were out of CA, and both appeared to have the resources already in place. And after getting to know them, I was prepared to go the extra mile for both, which included travelling to CA for the second to put on a boot camp for operation and maintenance. Not 100% noble in that at least one of them was within driving distance for one of my oldest customers. Both deals ultimately collapsed for medical reasons. The first gentleman got hit with an unfortunate diagnosis out of left field and understandably lost interest in boating.. hopefully just for now.
The second.. a couple.. included a moderately severe medical condition already in place when they approached me, but still great attitude. Inspiring actually. And the most prepared potential buyers so far. Shipping was not/is not my problem but I'd done some research on best options to move the boat and actually on a major yet low-effort change to the boat to reduce the shipping cost significantly (or even make $), and IMO make CW more useful. The husband with the medical issue was accepted into a study that will eat I think a year for them, so the deal was understandably shelved. I sincerely wish those nice people the very best and I was really looking forward to operating their tractor.. it's bigger than mine:).
The Origin of Purchase Option #2
In one phone conversation with the first interested party mentioned above, I commented about getting sucked into long overly detailed exchanges with a "certain kind of person". At the time, I was mostly talking about the marine services guys I'd need to coordinate from a distance rather than potential buyers. He thought the opposite (also not inaccurate) interpretation. He came back to me the next day with an idea.. would I sell it where-is/as-is on the hard, no sea trial needed, for a discount to him. He already knew a lot about the boat from this site and CW's history, noting I "drown the interested buyer in a tidal wave of details and related philosophies about machines" (ed. - and I would add "systems".) I hesitated since he was already interested at the price shown, though after a couple of more days, I called to say I did think it was a actually good idea for both of us. Unfortunately for him, in that brief interval, he just got his not-wonderful diagnosis, but the idea stuck with me. (Very best of luck if you're reading this.).
So I think it's time for me to add what I'll call Purchase Option #2 (PO2) to the menu (see adjacent blog). My experience with all the parts of the process has demonstrated that at the mere drop of a hat, this process.. people.. technology... just the act of waking up in the morning and thinking something in boating will.. you know... work like it does in the real world.. constitutes a frequently-crappy assumption that can swallow a bunch of heartbeats. Purchase Option #2 is now officially a second/parallel option to the conventional one which has existed right along. There was at least one serious buyer for whom this was appealing, but my own business sense says there will be more and I wish I thought of it. There are still no/few 42's available on YW, let along the pinnacle of the NT42 breed... the modern layout... .the fully mechanical controlled engine... fly bridge... new/updated thruster set with dock hold... and 75% of the Cummins-projected service life left, which a Cummins engineer casually shared something like "probably more like 85 or 90%". Whatever, they're all good numbers.
For buyers, this equates to more choice. For me, it has the potential to remove me from the loop of such things I do not do well like coordinating all of the parties needed to do a sea trial or the lazy/obviously-low-seriousness emails from the habitually bored that dominate the email traffic. Going even deeper on the value of firing me from my process is that this work fluctuates between a second and third priority, and because of or probably in combination with, I strongly tend to work one deal at a time and I'm not an aggressive seller (no way in hell would I last 2 days selling for my company). Though that said, there's plenty of evidence I become more engaged (boot camp offers and such) for certain interested parties. And less for the other kind. PO2 makes potentially everything the other guy's job.. and the business logic feels right.... take enough $ off and at some point and even if you aren't working the project aggressively, you encounter the buyer. And WHATEVER I CAN DO to avoid any further interaction with the half-screwed-together farrago of pathetic/low-imagination/pathological/customer-hostile "ideas" that modern technology has become, and with which one is forced to use in this, WORKS for me. [HAH!!! HAHAhahahahaha... Hilarious and sad at the same time... the screenshot below popped up while I was typing the preceding sentence and I got to
type it in again! These are NOT the kind of guys that got us to the Moon.] And the long drives down and back. If you want a traditional path, it's still available but I'm rooting for OP2 at this point.
"He's obviously trying to sneak something by us!!"
Despite the "'definitive conclusion-sans-evidence" nature of that, I wouldn't blame anyone for reacting that way. To instantly wonder this is how I'm wired too. Though I know I'd look at the totality of circumstances/evidence before chiseling anything in stone. Regardless, this purchase option will not be comfortable for most. And no worries.. the traditional option isn't going anywhere. But I believe there will open up interest to new people who have the ability to be interested and comfortable with it.
So, some thoughts that might constitute useful consideration.
If I were advising a friend on this matter, my starting point would be their wiring. Are they wired up to jump into a decision process like this proficiently and comfortably? Every super enthusiastic newly-mechanical boater "thinks" they can do everything.. just ask the forum! Well, F forums for developing beyond-mediocre thinking/reasoning/judgement/experience. You don't snap your fingers and grow judgment and a background of relevant experience, regardless of how much one really really really super believes they can. The "hard stuff" is always invisible to the neophyte... but remember.. the ocean gets deeper the further out you go. I internally (graciously) bail out when I'm around high-confidence/low-resolution yuppies, and yes they exist (and concentrate at marinas and cut de sacs) and I math'd out once what dealing with that costs you in a lifetime. IMO, the right kind of person for this is someone with non-trivial practitioner-caliber diagnostic and YouTube-free wrenching experience around boats/machines, and who "thinks for a living"... that is has experience looking at new situations/problems and expeditiously applying their cultivated personal experience to manage risk and exploit opportunity. Someone who runs to YouTube when their lawnmower won't start is not that person, though I would put the gentleman who suggested this approach squarely in those qualifications.
The sea trial is all about the running gear - engine, transmission and thruster set. This is, IMO, where one should focus their attention for this purchase option. Consider...
The thrusters are brand new, fore and aft. Minutes of operating time on them.
What is the likelihood a 6CT engine 25% of the way into its factory-projected service life has an expensive, or any other kind of problem at all?
What further effect on the preceding likelihood is created by an owner bursting with severe opinions on reliability, systems design, mission-readiness and machine-maintenance (read the blogs that all predate this purchase option)... from his training and day job flying around the world applying that and related thinking, half-assed the care of the engine/transmission he searched for 18 months to find?
Then add in the enthusiastic endorsements of his standard of care from responsible highly technically-trained professionals/experienced long-time boaters. They are willing to speak with any serious potential buyer.
Then add in the pre-sale survey immediately prior to going on the hard, and the fact that if there was something to fix beyond the punch list, that guy would have done it.
Then add in the only thing that happened after that.. a run from Essex CT where the NT service tech was back to Portsmouth RI immediately prior to going on the hard. This passage had to be through a storm (not my call... the guy who owned the dock forced us) with big, chaotic waves.. The only other boats we saw on LI Sound en route were at least 3-4 times our length. CW was extremely well-shaken... My laptop HIT THE CEILING of the pilot house. Nothing at all was left in any cabinet or drawer, though unfortunately, nothing happened to that fricking seagull lamp. And still.. that engine ran like a top every single inch. No fuel issues. No hiccups. No nothing. At the end of the passage, this return to base was observed by long-time marina staff who came out help with docking. And they still remember a normal no-drama approach in a bitch of a wind. I'm sure they'd be happy to speak with a serious interested party.
There were zero problems with CW when she went on the hard.. it was perfect. One of the first blogs I wrote on this site, and have maintained since, reviewed the few issues with CW that, again, only bled in existence after it was on the hard and finished being put away. The few items on the list (cf blog) are entropy, not wear.
Punchline - I would summarize this set of facts this way - In any reasonable worst case following these verifiable facts, what is the probability it was put away with any issues and if you still think maybe it was, what do you see as the probability that any issue that might be there is more than a small fraction of the discount?
Summary - I'm trying to have the least possible contact I can have with a "certain kind of person" and put in place a defense for random crap in the universe just burning up heartbeats I invested in the process. And for that, provide an equitable trade with a smart buyer. Logic, to the sort of person I suggest is suited to Purchase Option #2 might find the prior two sentences potentially reasonable, and I believe might view this as an opportunity. There have been several people who I am certain would have purchased CW if the price were lower, several of whom I was rooting for. Regardless... first across the finish line wins.