This was written April 23, 2022. Change 1
After Chad spent a few hours on the boat last weekend, we have decided that we are moving forward with the purchase of Promises Kept! Next Friday, April 29th, we will have the survey (like a home appraisal) done. We will go over all the systems, check how the engine runs in the water and even take it out of the water “onto the hard” to check for weak spots. We fly out on Wednesday night, so that we can look for marina/boatyards to get some of the work (that we already know about) done. We are hoping there is not going to be much discovered at the survey!
Chad’s first reaction to the boat was so-so. We think it has been sitting in the dock without any real use for nearly 2 years. It is VERY dirty, in and out, and in need of some updates and repairs. Chad and the broker spent about 3+ hours climbing around, looking in cabinets, engine compartments and just “being” on Promises Kept. He felt better after, about the bones but is worried we offered too much. We may have to walk away from Promises if we find too much “wrong” and they won’t negotiate a different price.
Boatyards in VA can work year round if they want, but they seem to be nearly as busy in the spring as the yards in MN. The boat craze is nearly as bad as thehousing market we’ve heard. We are having trouble finding anyone that will be able to start the work for us before August. Would love to have some of it fixed/updated while we are on our trip out West in May/June, so that we can use it on the Chesapeake Bay later this summer!
While in VA, Chad also went to 5 different marinas just to get a feel for them. He is a little overwhelmed I think. They are all so different – amenities, how clean/updated, kind of docks, locations, restaurants, parking, green space for the dogs, etc. We are planning to visit more of them while we have time on Thursday. We don’t have too many wishes for a marina… we like the feel, security, has slip openings, is reasonably priced and has the ability to do the work that we need. Should be a piece of cake right???
It is not easy getting to Norfolk/Portsmouth area. There are no direct flights from Minneapolis. The drive would be 20+ hours and while gas and flights are both fairly expensive right now we decided flying would be better this time. I did a ton of research, looking at many nearby airports, made a spreadsheet to compare and finally decided to fly right into Norfolk. Chad flew into Richmond VA last week. The drive is an easy 1 1/2 hours but we will be out there a few extra days and don’t want to make that drive several times.