Sail - July 2018

SAIL MAGAZINE

limits placed on when the boat is to be moved

make sure you understand that as well.

Many auction companies require that win-

ning bids be moved within a short period of

time, ater which you will have to start paying

storage fees. You also want to make sure that

what you think you are bidding on is what you

are going to get. For example, make sure any

gear aboard when you viewed the boat is going

to remain there ater the sale. You do not want

to bid thinking there is a full set of sails only

to ind out the previous owner removed them

ater they became yours.

Finally, knowing how to bid is also impor-

tant. here are basically two types of auctions

held with salvage boats. he irst is an open bid,

where you know just what the other person is

bidding. he other is a closed bid, where you

submit your best bid and hope for the best as

you have no clue what other bids may have been

placed. You may also come across modiied ver-

sions of these, such as eBay, where you knew the

high bid but may not know a person’s proxy bid.

Speaking of eBay, the days of the small closed

auction are coming to an end as an increasing

number of liquidation companies turn to this

site to reach a larger group of the bidders in an

efort to get the best price possible.

In many ways, bidding in an auction is

a bit of an art. However, the key is to never

get caught up in the excitement and end up

bidding more than the boat may be worth.

Again, set your top bid based on boat value less

estimated repairs and expenses, and then stick

to this number!

Returning to last year’s hurricanes, with so

many boats damaged in the Caribbean, many

have expressed interest in inding a storm-dam-

aged boat in places like the BVI. However, for

several reasons, I feel this is not a practical option.

For one thing, many of the damaged boats

there were in charter service, and the charter

companies are going to do, and did do what

is needed to get back in business as quickly

as possible. his means (and meant) strip-

ping boats not worth ixing to get the ones

that were repairable back up and into service.

Many facilities in the area were also dam-

aged, so getting help may be diicult at best,

especially since many local yards are going to

give priority to their regular customers—the

charter companies. Getting parts to make even

temporary repairs may also be diicult and

expensive, and many of the boats were under

foreign ownership, which will only serve to

complicate things further still.

Bottom line: although it may be tempting,

you are better of sticking close to home when

looking for that great deal. s

Wayne Canning is a marine surveyor based in

Southwest Florida who has sailed extensively

aboard his Irwin 40, Va y u, which he purchased as

hurricane salvage in 2006. Wayne also recently

PHOTO BY

WAYNE CANNING



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Beware of injury whenever

you step aboard a

hurricane-damaged boat