Re: [Paddlewise] selling kayaks

Ebay boat sales appear to favor more densely populated areas
closer to 'big water'. Living in landlocked Iowa, making a 6 or
10 hour round trip to p/u a boat purchased sight unseen would
be something of a gamble.

Sea kayaks are still a novelty here, and so when one comes up for
sale it usually attracts the notice of those who paddle.  A recent
Ebay sale featured a boat from the town next to me. A nice, well-known
boat by a popular brand. The minimum bid was 500-900 below what
most shops would charge for this boat Used in very good to mint 
condition.
So we took the 10 minute drive to look it over.  The hull needed some
attention...dime-to-nickel sized chips of missing gel coat revealing 
glass layers
(tho no scuffing or damage to glass), and a fairly large hull area 
beneath the
seat where the flatter, shallow vee sections had been rubbed through 
the sealer
and heavily scuffed the gel coat.   We knew that the repairs would 
likely
run in an amount that would bring the final cost of the boat more in 
line
with buying a used one in a more 'untouched' condition.

It was, by my estimation, a fair sale by an honest and very agreeable 
seller
(from whom I bought a nice array of slightly used accessories at an 
attractive
and fair price).  My point here is that we drove ten minutes to figure 
out
the boat wasn't for us.  The eventual buyer was facing an 8 hour round 
trip.
The seller had made every effort to disclose and describe the condition 
of
the boat, and I'd like to think that most in our community would be as
scrupulous as this seller.  Still. The prospect of making a long drive
for a specific used boat (versus an array of them in a shop), leads me 
to
wonder if buying a used boat on Ebay is best left to those with
repair skills or access to good repair shops.

-w

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