BUYING AND SELLING A BOAT

Former CB editor and regular contributor Nic Compton is a serial boat-owner. Here, he tells us some of the lessons he has learned

- NIC COMPTON

“How many boats should a man, or for that matter a woman, reasonably own in a lifetime?” was the question posed by Adrian Morgan in this magazine a few months ago (CB377). The answer for him was just two (so far), which speaks of a high degree of commitment. I wish I could say the same. Over the past 33 years, I’ve bought and sold more boats than is really considered decent. ‘Serial boatowner’ is one of the more polite terms levelled at me. So, as I closed the deal on yet another sale and waved a fond farewell to yet another boat, I got thinking about all the boats I’ve owned over the years – what made me buy them in first place and why, ultimately, each one had to go. Are there any patterns in my boat-buying, and does the ‘right’ boat for me (or anyone else) really even exist?

Firstly, in case I’ve given the impression that I’m a complete boat tart, I should clarify my level of boat consumption. Since I bought my first boat in 1987, I’ve owned five yachts (excluding my 14ft skiff, which is another story). They cover a fair spectrum of ages and designs, though all were, arguably, classic. The biggest was a 36ft wooden sloop; the smallest a 22ft glassfibre lugger. The oldest was built in 1936; the newest in 1999. Three were double-enders; two transom-sterned. Three were wooden; two glassfibre. Four were bermudan, and only one was lug-rigged – sorry, old gaffers! My shortest tenure was 18 months; my longest 8 years.

Significantly, I’ve never lost money on a boat. Perhaps I should rephrase that: I’ve never sold a boat for less than I bought it for. I’ve only made an actual profit on two, both GRP – sorry woodies! Even then we are talking relatively small sums, my biggest ‘profit’ being less than £5,000 – but it does show it can be done, contrary to the usual view you that can only lose money on boats.