We’ve been through this before, quite a few in the last couple of years, so going to inspect a boat to see if it comes close to the virtual pics and specs is always exciting, yet stressful. After flying into Manchester on Monday and renting a car to get to Newington the plan was to meet with Michael, our buyer-broker, on Tuesday at the boat. Of course waiting all night causes a lot of anxiety so a sneak-peak was in order.
Once at Great Bay Marine it wasn’t hard to spot SEA BEAR II, the Pilgrim 40, even though it seemed a mile away at the far end of a pier. Approaching closer it was a surprise to see a Ranger Tug tucked in directly in front of her, one of our early interests while boat-searching. Rounding the corner and….. there she was. One of those “gotcha” moments that you knew wouldn’t let go. Better yet, Barry, the current owner, was there sprucing her up to prepare for the next day tour. He graciously allowed us onboard for a preview of what was to come.
Meeting the current owner was a real treat since with boat-buying, like house-buying, there is usually a wall set up to keep buyer and seller at distance. It wasn’t to be with Barry though, and he was there in the morning to greet us and even offered to return later to give us a short cruise up the Piscataqua River if the weather cooperated. Then we were left to ourselves to carry on with the inspection. Later that afternoon Barry returned and, as promised, fired up the diesel and we were off.
All in all the day left very positive impressions both with the boat and with the comfort of knowing she had been in good hands in previous years. There was no doubt that a survey was in order but there was none scheduled. To avoid turning around and taking a 1,000 mile trip home and back it was time to get something going.
