Australia - Pacific Crossing Notes: A Sailor's Guide to the Coconut Milk Run - page 463

Selling Your Boat: Practical
Considerations for the Return Home
If you're asking yourself what the boatless sailor does with all of his or her gear, read on.
We were one of five crews to sell their boat at about the same time in Brisbane. We were
lucky in that we had a flexible schedule and a flexible buyer who asked us to deliver the
boat 800 miles north to her home in Cairns within three months of the sale. That gave us
time for a last hurrah on our floating home as well as time to think about what things we
wanted to keep. We booked our flight home at that time (three months ahead of our actual
departure). Once we reached Cairns, we spent a final two weeks on board. Since we used
evenings and weekends to orient the new owner to the boat, she let us continue to live
aboard and split marina fees with us - a very amiable arrangement for both parties.
We had already culled down our belongings when preparing the boat for viewing in Bris-
bane. At that point, we threw or gave extras away and shipped three boxes of personal
goods home (a pricey proposition at AUD$5 per 500 grams even for sea freight). Once we
reached Cairns, we shipped another two boxes home (foul weather gear, sextant, log books,
Lego, other personal gear) and packed the luggage we'd fly with (including two suitcases
bought at a second hand shop). Those were a fairly intense three days, during which time
Markus managed to inflict the worst injury of our entire trip on himself - a broken collar-
bone sustained in the local playground where he was goofing around with Nicky! Then the
new owner's friend gave us a ride to the airport, and we were off (hiding our tears at saying
goodbye to our trusty Namani ).
The other crews we knew had much quicker moving-off experiences, though all followed
the same pattern: throwing or shipping out gear before showing the boat, then taking their
remaining belongings as flight luggage. One crew paid to stay in a nearby motel during that
time so as not to have the complication of living aboard the vessel while packing and clean-
ing, but the rest of us avoided this extra expense. These crews spent a maximum of one day
interacting with the new owner, showing them the idiosyncrasies of their boats.
However, everyone had a fair period of forewarning, given that buying/selling a boat is a
step-by-step process. Once a serious buyer shows interest, it takes another week to two
weeks to set up a sea trial and survey. That gave us lead-up time to get serious about pack-
ing and shipping the last items. Even after a contract is signed, it takes a few days for