I chose the path of least resistance. It would have taken weeks of back and forth and increased my anxiety level.

It took my wife and I about 2 hours to finish the job. Other than having to swim around to find the pulley we dropped in the water, all went well. Now we have a lift ready for the new boat.

alls well that ends well. glad for you. lifts are great especially for a giant boat like that.

I'm curious about this lift.

On a normal day, you drive into the lift, tie the boat to the dock, and leave. But, if you need to do some under-the-hull maintenance, it allows you to somehow strap on the boat, and it allows you to bring the boat up out of the water.

Something like that? If so, I'm interested in how the boat is attached to the lift, and what sorts of maintenance is done to use the lift.

Imagine he always picks the boat up out of the water. Our lift was with 2 large canvas straps.

it keeps all the saltwater things from growing on the bottom. otherwise you have to pull it every week to ten days and clean and scrub the bottom or get a diver to do it for you.

So, below is a picture of a lift.

To take the boat on and off, the entire frame that you see is underwater. You just drive the boat onto it. The two black boards support the entire boat. It just sits on them with the center of the boat in the middle. Then you just raise the entire frame with the boat on it out of the water. The boat stays up above the water until you want to use it again.

Notice the white poles. When you drive onto the lift. they guide both sides of the hull so the boat stays centered.

You don't have to tie anything at all.

You can't really get to the underside unless, I guess, you get on a paddleboard or something. But you really don't ever need to. Since the boat is out of the water, it stays relatively clean. At least clean of barnacles and such.

This thread really has reinforced my life decision to likely never own a boat. What a bunch of asshats you have to deal with.

However, when you're out in the boat finally I'm pretty sure it's gonna be .

There is a saying about boats.

The two happiest days of your life are the day you get a boat, and the day you get rid of it.

Thanks for the explanation and pictures of the lift.

My initial reaction is that it might be better in a storm, too. Instead of the boat banging around against the dock ans the wind and water blow, you'd be relatively safer up there.

True?

Well, certainly better than being in the water. But I'm not sure it would be better than pulling it out of the water and putting it on a trailer.

We went through Irma. I pulled my boat out of the water but others in my complex left theirs in the lift. But, they tied them down somewhat. Everyone's boat (in and out) came out ok.

I think I would rather have my boat off the lift in a bad hurricane. Storm surge water can do really bad things.

Soooo much stuff to deal with on my mom's estate. Fortunately, my sister and I are splitting duties but it is still a lot.

Since she lives where my mom lived, she is taking care of the sale of the condo and anything that requires a physical presence.

I am taking care of all her accounts and outstanding bills and such. Things keep popping up as she gets stuff in the mail.

It has been an almost full time job for both of us.

Both of us have had to shell out quite a bit of money so far. We'll get it back but I'm going to have to dip into retirement money to get this all settled.

I have tentatively sold the boat.

That was the easy part. I've been on the phone (well on hold mostly) trying to figure out how to complete the transaction. I was hoping that we could simply go into the local branch with the money and have the title signed over to the buyer. Not so fast.

The first time I called the bank they told me that the entire transaction had to go through the coast guard and it would take 45 days to get a clear title.

That didn't seem right so I did a little googling and from what I could tell all that nonsense was applicable to ships or something.

So I called back and got a somewhat more helpful person that took my questions and called someone in the loan department. I asked him if I could speak directly to them and he said no.

He relayed to me that the bank does not have a title. They will get some sort of universal commercial code or something and sent that to me. I don't really understand this but from what I gather it is just a release of lien. I pressed them on the title and he insisted they have no title.

So I called the place I bought the boat from and he indicated it is probably just an electronically filed title - no paper title.

I'm on hold now (for going on an hour now) to talk to the county tax collector. I'm going to guess the solution to all of this is to give the guy a bill of sale and let him apply for a title.

Doesn't have to be this hard. But it is.

I guess if you make enough calls and wait on hold long enough you might finally get what you were searching for. It really just takes the right people on the other end of the phone.

Finally talked to a lady at the local branch here that was super helpful. We can go in with either cash or cashier's check, pay off the loan and get the lien release form on the spot.

The title is indeed electronic. The fastest way to take care of this is for both of us to go in and get it transferred at the county tax collector.

I think the actual act of doing this will be less painful than the phone journey I just spent all day on.

yes you can go to the tax place and make the trade. if you want the electronic title you go there and they charge you and give you a paper one.
you have to get the buyer on board.
a smart buyer wont pay you until he has the title there as if you use his money to pay off the loan a person could then not turn over the title and the buyer would be in deep crap.

a good bank will do the whole transaction for you there. thats why i pay for the paper title when i buy in florida.

The key words are "a good bank". BB&T has crappy customer service but I was able to find one person that has been helpful. This is the best I could do.

The guy knows where I live. I'll sign a bill of sale and hand over the boat. E

This is smallerboat, right? Any ETA on biggerboat?

Yes, and it appears as if we might get everything done today. Fingers crossed.

No ETA on the biggerboat He has been in constant contact though, asking about things he might do now that it is apart. All are reasonable and I've approved everything. He pretty much has to be on this now since the boat and the tanks are taking up space in his shop.

just be super careful with making sure you are getting the money before the boat disappears. no checks or cashiers checks. have him wire the money to your bank from his.

or do it at his bank and have his bank wire the money to yours while you are there.

im waiting for the picture of your new boat after it finally finished

We are both going to the bank to finalize it. The bank will verify the cashier check and give us the release of lien.

Minor hiccup. They did not give me the release of lien. They will mail it and it should get here in 3-5 business days.

I handed the boat over with a bill of sale.

Meanwhile....

While I was waiting in the bank (and grocery store) parking lot for the guy a large landscaping truck pulled into the parking lot and parked. I was standing next to my truck facing towards that truck because it was the direction the guy I was meeting would be coming from. I wanted to flag him down if I saw him.

A second large landscaping vehicle pulled up next to me and the guy in the passenger seat started yelling at me. He accused me of scoping out the first truck so I could steal something out of it. He would not let it go. His buddy got out and walked past me and sort of rolled his eyes about the whole thing but the first guy just kept yelling at me.

Sounds like you're running just as well IRL as on the phone!

Welcome to Florida!

Not much progress on the boat. I think he has it outside which is annoying. He suggested that the weather there is slowing him down. He cleaned out the area where the tanks were but I don't think he's done much else



On the bright side, my wife and I were able to get out and fish this weekend with a friend. We caught a LOT of fish.

Most of these are mangrove snapper. A few huge yellowtails. One red grouper and one tripletail which we ate yesterday. Yummy!

We had a few of mom's things shipped to me. My sister set it all up. They sat in a warehouse for a while before finally getting here.

The driver texted me and told me I had to give him the balance ($1400) in cash. I verified with my sister that this was indeed the balance. But cash? Oh well, I got the cash and waited for the guy.

The guy shows up at the gate with an 18 wheeler. Apparently he was hauling a bunch of different deliveries. All we had was a small table, a cedar chest, two paintings, and an upright piano. I had a feeling the piano was going to be an issue.

He calls at the gate and tells me that the guard won't let his truck in and it would cost me an additional $450 to get a smaller truck. Much yelling ensued. I asked if they could simply put the stuff in the back of my truck and then unload it. They told me they would do it for $250. Much more yelling ensued.

After about 30 minutes of back and forth I walked over to the guard and made sure the driver wasn't allowed. The guard said it was perfectly fine for him to enter and they had regular deliveries with 18 wheelers. So the driver was just lying because he didn't want to have to maneuver in our complex.

Much more yelling and the driver finally relented, but not without him telling me I was liable for anything that went wrong.

They eventually got it all in and it didn't cost me any extra, but the piano was damaged

put a claim in with the company. and tell them how the driver ruined the piano and tried to extort you for more money.