The Birth Of The Seaward Nelson Pilot Boat

The Seaward Nelson pilot boat range is one of the best known pilot boat series in the world. For example, over 300 of the Nelson 40 pilot boat have been produced and are in service day in, day out around the world. all day and every day. They have an exceptionally soft ride and are easy to handle in rough sea conditions and when boarding ship.

The story of Nelson pilot boats goes back to 1864 when Sir John Thornycroft built a steam launch on the River Thames. Two years later, in 1866, his father bought some land next to Chiswick Church and this was the beginning of the shipyard of John I. Thornycroft and Company. Ten years after that, Thornycroft built the first torpedo boat for the British Navy, HMS Lightning. The company remained in the Thornycroft family until 1965 when it became part of Vosper, Thornycroft Group.

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What To Look For When Choosing A Broker To Sell Your Motor Yacht

If you are going to sell your motor yacht, which is something that most owners do every few years, you might be considering selling it yourself. However, there is quite a lot of work involved so you are probably far better off instructing a motor yacht broker.

However, how do you choose a reliable broker to sell it for you? There are some very good brokers, and there are also some “here today, gone tomorrow” types.

First and foremost, it may be an obvious thing to say, but you really want to use a broker that has been in business for several years. You naturally want to sell your motor yacht in the shortest amount of time possible so you need a broker that has been round the block a few times and has the right sort of contacts. Any broker can put your boat on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) but not all brokers have the expertise, budget, and technology to advertise effectively.

You need a broker that can use a variety of tactics such as search engine marketing, email campaigns, and direct mail. Social media marketing is another outlet, and online chat can find a lot of buyers that might not see your boat advertised elsewhere. You also need a broker that has the ability to take some stunning photos of your boat, and preferably video as well. Videos can be uploaded to YouTube and adverts can direct potential buyers to them so that they can see your boat in action.

You also need a brokerage that has a website which loads quickly and is responsive to mobile. More and more people access the internet from their mobile or tablet when they are searching, so the website must accommodate this.

Another thing to take note of is the commission rate charged by the broker. The standard rate in the industry is 10%, which is fair enough for the work and expenses involved, but if the company that you are looking at has a lower commission rate you might want to ask yourself why this should be. 

Why Use A Broker to Sell Your Motor Cruiser?

If you are planning to sell your motor cruiser you might be tempted to advertise it yourself. After all, you will save paying a motor boat brokerage a commission, so why not do it yourself? It’s not much different from selling your car, is it? 

Well, yes and no. There is actually quite a bit of difference between selling a car and selling a boat. Just to begin with, there are far fewer people looking to buy a boat than there are looking to buy a car, so your audience is considerably smaller. You might find a buyer for your car in the next street, but it is highly unlikely that you would find a buyer for your boat there. In fact, somebody who is looking for the sort of boat that you have may well live at the other end of the country, so it is not just a matter of putting an ad in your local paper.

A motor boat brokerage on the other hand knows the right sort of places to advertise your boat, so you are more likely to make a quick sale than trying the DIY route. Furthermore, depending on the arrangement that you have with the brokerage, it is usually the broker who pays for the cost of the advertising, so it is in the broker’s own interest to sell your boat for you. This is the opposite of certain online estate agents who offer to sell your house for no commission. No, you don’t pay them a commission, you pay them a fee. If your home proves difficult to sell, what possible incentive is there for them to keep advertising it?

Furthermore, you are going to need some high quality photographs of your boat, and a motor boat brokerage will handle all this for you as well. In addition there is quite a bit of paperwork involved, as selling a boat is more like selling a home than just selling a second hand car.

Yes, you pay a commission which is usually 10%, but considering what is involved it is money well spent.