Jefferson 56 Marquessa for the Great Loop -- Yes? No? Maybe? Virtual Boat Shopping, ep. 19

[@slong2329]

VBS #19, wow! Another person, Rich Selo, suggested looking at a Jefferson Rivanna so I took a look (on Boat Trader, yacht "LL Seas"). What a great suggestion, seems to fit more of your requirements than the Jefferson showcased on VBS. Wing doors on the California deck and a cockpit. Appears professionally maintained, and nice list of upgrades. No Freedom Lift on the swim platform (when I slip on the swim platform and fall into the water, which I will, I don't want to be caught by a Freedom Lift. Or, if I had kids, them jumping off the swim platform and landing on one of those lifts. Ouch.) Thanks as always for your great videos. S.

[@TheBoomershines]

Episode 20 on Wednesday!

[@pbroad87]

Very nice boat for the money, like you said would be nice to have stabilizers.

[@richselo9007]

There is a Jefferson Rivanna (2000) for sale also. Lower air draft and some updating that might suit your requirements at about the same price point. Agree with the interior updating. Bow and stern thrusters would be nice. Stabilizer would be helpful. If you could plumb a larger holding tank(3 adults and 2 kids) you will be happier. Also think about a Yacht Controller(I love mine).

[@TheBoomershines]

We prefer upper and lower helms. The Rivanna seems to only have an upper helm.

[@richselo9007]

It’s a pilot house

[@TheBoomershines]

@@richselo9007 I’ll look back at it.

[@Scottoh23]

Very nice boat! Jefferson made a very nice boat and that vintage was the newer models made in the 2000’s or late 90’s lacked a lot of the window issues found in earlier models. I’d say with that beam of only 16’, she is gonna roll! Sea Keepers are great but they don’t generally retrofit well to an older boat, especially a motor yacht. Maybe there is room under the cockpit but might be too far aft. Love the cockpit, it’s such useful space!

[@TheBoomershines]

Thanks Scott. She is nice inside. Maybe add an electric cable reel.

[@Scottoh23]

@@TheBoomershines that would be a nice addition plus I love the hydraulic tender lift off the cockpit. Makes launching and retrieving your tender so easy! Love the Freedom Lift and will definitely add one to my next boat!

[@paulcunningham2859]

If you are selling after the loop this kind of boat is the way to go

[@TheBoomershines]

Thanks Paul!

[@cruising5to1]

Two comments from my experiences: (1) We've been looking for our Loop Boat from California for the past year. The market is so hot right now, we've made offers sight unseen on several boats that looked good on Yachtworld and made the offer contingent upon our personal inspection, sea trial and survey...We still don't have a Loop Boat...The market is hot, but the boats are not!!! So that leads to the next comment, (2) It's taken us a year and we still haven't found a boat, so I think you might want to look at your timeframe. We have decided to stick our California boat on a ship in Ensenada and ship it to Fort Lauderdale. At least I know what we have...and we own it. Plus, I don't have to postpone our adventure. Oh by the way, I love my Hatteras.

[@TheBoomershines]

What year is your Hatteras?! 😎 We have a pretty wide swath of budget that we are looking at so as to adjust to the market conditions. There seems to be pockets of hotness in price and size and not so hotness in a larger price and size. If needed we will adjust upwards and we are not totally dismissing additional crew for a larger vessel (within Loop height, draft, and beam constraints of course) if needed for insurance purposes. Our agent isn’t worried yet… so we aren’t either. Yet:) Thanks for tuning in!

[@TheBoomershines]

Curious what you are budgeting for shipping you boat CA to FL?

[@cruising5to1]

@@TheBoomershines We have quotes between $27,000 and $33,000. We have so far spent $15,000 in flights, hotels, and surveys to discover the boats we like are complete crap. We haven't even made counter offers after the surveys. We think it's going to be much more economical just to ship our boat rather than to continue the insanity of searching for the right boat. That said, my budget for a Loop boat was under $225,000, so it's not like we were looking for a newer boat; but the whole searching for our Loop Boat has been ungoddly disappointing!

[@TheBoomershines]

@@cruising5to1 aren’t you working with a broker? We have had ours look at three preliminary boats in FL, and two in MD and we did not spend a dime to count those off our list. That is the reason to have someone represent you and your position prior to investing in travel. That’s our approach anyway.

[@cruising5to1]

@@TheBoomershines We are working with a broker. Our deals disintegrated at or after survey. A couple of other boats are over priced and we haven't been able to negotiate a price we feel is reasonable (it's a hot market and thus there are unreasonable expectations), so those boat haven't been surveyed, but I think they would do very well. I really want one of those boats and we are waiting to see what happens. But with both listed more than a year age, there is little expectation that the price is coming down before our drop-dead date :(

[@ThomasKuhar]

I would've bought it so I could name it "Weezy"!

[@TheBoomershines]

LOL that is funny!