I made an offer...

[Robin]

I was contacted by a person (a widow selling her husbands canoes) who wanted to know if I was interested in 3 canoes for sale. They hadn't been used in over 12 years, but they where stored inside. When I got there today, the seller was there along with a canoe "expert" (well, she did know alot about canoes, just not much about resales)

#1-An old Mad River Explorer royalex, wood trim. The gunnels looked dry rotted but are solid to the touch. The hull was hanging in the rafters of a garage so I couldn't see the bottom and there is a 6 inch crack from gunnel down, near the center thwart. I just repaired a similar crack with G-Flex and it worked well, but it's a visible repair so it won't sell for much. No one knew how the crack got there. They kept reminding me that they don't make Royalex anymore, I kept reminding them that a cracked royalex hull is not worth much. I asked for a step ladder but that seemed to be a problem so I never got to see the bottom of this canoe or the next canoe.

#2- It looks like a 15-16' tandem White fiberglass, but the expert thought it was kevlar. I stuck with fiberglass. It's a clean old canoe with wood trim, same as the Explorer, dry gunnels but solid. It looks like a nice canoe and should sell when cleaned up.

#3- Old Town Pack canoe, very light, nice condition hull except for the bird poops and trashed seat. I would rip off the factory alum (?) trim and fugly decks and replace them with wood with a nice webbed seat. It looked like it would be a decent resale.

So I made an offer, $200 each, but they must sell all three for $200 each. I don't think it was well received. On the way home I actually thought my offer was too high.
If they call and accept I want to see the first 2 canoes up close first. If she says she'll pass on my offer, I'm ok with that too.
BTW, her house is up for sale at 1.4 mil., nothing wrong with that, "just sayin"

 

[Boatman53]

It's always a good feeling the be able to walk away from a deal. Your offer sounds about right to me, but then again I didn't see them.
A friend of mine has what he believes is a Rushton Indian Girl . No canvas, gunnels are off, hull looks in OK shape, it's up in the rafters but the hull looks smooth and fair. The bad news is he thinks it's worth $1000 as is, where it is. I hope the drag it down sometime the summer and give it a good looking over, if nothing else I'll take the lines. What do you this hull would be worth Robin? Indian Girl or not.
Jim

 

[Guest]

#3- Old Town Pack canoe, very light, nice condition hull except for the bird poops and trashed seat. I would rip off the factory alum (?) trim and fugly decks and replace them with wood with a nice webbed seat. It looked like it would be a decent resale.

I have never seen an OT Pack with aluminum trim. Might it be a Dagger Tupelo? That was a neat little boat.

 

[Odyssey]

Ooooh I've come across too many well heeled wheeler dealers in my line of work. It took me years to grow enough backbone and loose tongue to learn to finally say "Um, no thanks. That's my price, these are my terms. You have my number if you change your mind...but I might be too busy elsewhere by then."
That's not to say I haven't done a billion favours for nice folks, but respect and understanding has to go both ways. Sometimes you have to spend a buck to make a buck, but it needn't be all the time, nor always your buck. Good luck with the poker game. Sometimes these things work out.

 

[Mihun09]

IF it is a original Rushton, $1000 isn't out of place at all depending on condition and most of the bits are present. Best bet, put up photo's at the WCHA and the experts will know if it is indeed a Rushton.

A fellow in town here, from whom we bought the Chestnut Fox 5 years ago, has a Y-stern he paid $400 for last year and wants to sell it to us for, well, $400 and we have to drive the 7 hour round trip to get it. Needs canvas too, no idea what it is.We have no rack space and 2 more boats coming in September, which we are doing 5000km round trip to get, so likely he gets to keep it.

It is looking like it could be 10 years before I get back to the Morris.

 

[yellowcanoe]

I have never seen an OT Pack with aluminum trim. Might it be a Dagger Tupelo? That was a neat little boat.

Me either. I demand a pic! Please!

I expect you have a trailer. If not I doo.
but it does not fit the house. even in CT.. 1.4 mill..Funny what folks will haggle over..

 

[Robin]

Opps, that OT Pack was on horses and I just leaned it over and checked the inside quick. It says OT and Pack on the side iirc, so I must have made a mistake on the gunnels id. What would they be made of?

 

[yellowcanoe]

We dont think youre lyin,, but the only Pack gunwales I have seen are vinyl clad alu.. So pics pls. You might need to go back for a rare find.. Go on... promise to stage her 1.4 mil house! Or plead dropped keys...

 

[Robin]

OK, I'm pretty sure they where vinyl clad aluminum

As far as that Indian Girl goes, I would not know. I paid $500 for a vg Chestnut Chum hull 5 years ago, and $100 for a vg Farber hull last week. Prices are all over the place for wood canvas canoes, better do your homework, WCHA is the place to start for sure.

 

[yellowcanoe]

The Pack is going to have a cult following though no big dollars. Its scion ( the Disco 119 ) is heavy with a rotomolded seat. So even if there never was an oddball variant it may be worth grabbing. I might consider $300 but never more. It remains the benchmark for affordable and relatively light maintenance free canoes. Not the best design but gets people on the water. As of now its under appreciated and is one of the few Royalex designs that might hold value over long term because of its lighter weight.

 

[Boatman53]

Yea, I know WCHA is probably the best place to ask. I'm a long time member. But it's all academic until I spend some time with the boat and get some pics.
Jim

 

[Canotrouge]

I like "expert" in every fields, they make me smile.... I use to get work up some time whit there talking... But now I just smile! No matter if you know more then them, they will alway s be right. Smile!!

 

[southcove]

I wonder if we were at the same house two weeks ago, shoreline of CT...gold coast. My son looking at a 'as new' inflatable boat for fishing on the CT river and some smooth days on LI Sound...course it hadn't been blown up in 10+ years and looked like rat or mice poops on it, but sure it was worth at the very least full list price and no we didn't have a 12v inflator handy... shame about that. Wasted alot of time on that one. They closed on us about 6 times, pressuring us to take their deal...nope. We invested about $25 at Shake Shack on the way home, money much better spent in my book!

 

[cflcanoe]

Was part of the family antique business for 30 years. Learned to buy and sell. You always must set a realistic limit on what you wish to pay. Into you business plan you need to incorporate an allowance for losses when bad leads and people who believe that their item is solid gold when it is solid rotted wood cost you time and money. Some think they are great used car sales men.

Then there are the buyers. Some think you some how are making a killing and can afford to cut your price in half.

One time at the end of a three day sale another dealer came around that always looked everything over before we were open to the public. He stated that since the items he wanted did not sell he should get 20% off. I countered that we should get 20% more for having to unload the trailer for him and wait three days for him to buy. He never came back and we sold the items first thing the next show.

 

[Iskweo]

A fellow in town here, from whom we bought the Chestnut Fox 5 years ago, has a Y-stern he paid $400 for last year and wants to sell it to us for, well, $400 and we have to drive the 7 hour round trip to get it. Needs canvas too, no idea what it is.We have no rack space and 2 more boats coming in September, which we are doing 5000km round trip to get, so likely he gets to keep it.

.

HEY wait a minute here woman. $400 and a measly round trip to Loon Straights? You know I would have been all over that. Wait till we stop in Sudbury on the way home for the rest of the load, ( or Geraldton maybe).

We will set the Morris up in the warehouse and get started on at least the cleaning and cutting inners. I have a kitchen to finish but there is no reason for you to slack off.

Christy