My X is finally in its Box and on the High-Seas.

[Phillip]

I purchased this 2000 26X out of San Diego.

You will have to go to "Boats for Sale" and find it on the list, if interested.
Got it for a bit less than asking price.
The inventory is very long, with what seems 'good stuff' like radar, inverter, GPS etc etc.
Survey came up well.
Needs a tidy-up inside, but if I throw $1,000 at it in materials and put the staff on to in in a quiet time, it will be all over.

I got to the point I HAD-TO-HAVE-ONE, and this Broker was prepared to go the extra for me, so the Broker was more important to me than the boat I suppose.
He was excellant, hence he is in for a good bonus.

I really wanted a new M....badly. If this works out well, then I will decide my next move.

Shipping is a hassel from my point of view....mainly as I had to rely on a lot of people I do not know, and trying to co-ordinate everyone is time consuming, especially when you don't know what you are doing.

Looking back, best way to go is to have someone to do "everything" for you, at the American end, and pay them for the service.

E-mail is a nightmare. It is slow, terribly inefficient and a hopless means of communicating.
Next time I will work out the time difference, and use the phone.
The ground you cover in a 5 minute $5 phone call is = to weeks on the e-mail.
A member here may agree. Had I spent 30 minutes on the phone over 2-3 days, both of us would have had a better understanding of each ones needs, and the boat would be in my hands right now.

Benefits are: I should land the boat in my back-yard for around Aud$15,000-20,000 (US$12,000-15,000) less than I would have paid here.


Have had contact with 2 shippers and one agent.
Between then there are 5 others Macs purchased in the USA.
2 have arrived, and 3 are on the high seas, then there is mine of course. Our Aud$ has risen to approx US$ .80c so at that rate, importing is on for-young-and-old.

If anyone wants and "info" on this exercise, let me know. Only too happy to pass on what I have learnt.
Cheers
Phillip


Mod's edit: formatted URL for page width - fc

[jackie m]

Aud$15,000-20,000 (US$12,000-15,000)

Is that rate correct?

Congratulations! What's the ETA?

jackie m

[eric3a]

..

[Phillip]

Thanks for fixing the link....didn't know how to do that.


(Australian $ = Aud$)
Aud$1 is worth just under US$0.80cents.
So: Aud$15,000 should =US$12,000
Aud$20,000 should =US$16,000 (oooops!)
hope thats right........got me worried there for a moment mate.

Anyway, I will have the boat landed here with everything paid for, for Aud$28-32,000 (gives a little tolerance for any surprises) and they sell here for Aud$48-58,000, with very few extras.

There were other costs of course....like the flash-est new stove/dishwasher/upgrade to patio/bit of botox/new golf clubs and who knows what else is in the pipeline........ to keep the other half quiet. Got a '75 F100 coming out of the paint shop soon, so that could cause a riot in the camp if I don't play my cards right there too. Am normally pretty good at handling those type of crisis......just do it and ignore the consequences. Tell you what you blokes: nothing like a little Aussie Sheila; every bloke should have one.

ETA:
I have gone for a trans-shipment in Tokyo, so told 40-60 days .
Direct is more expensive but much quicker.
I am tied to the business in hot months, so end of Feb beginning of March will be perfect.

Going by the formula on this site for determining its age, it is MACX3208H900 which I interpret it to being a '99 made to 2000 standards. Bit confusing as Broker/Surveyor/Shipper all called it a 2000 make.
Dosn't matter.
Another point. The seat backs appear to be white vynal. Have not seen that on any of the other X's.
Cheers
Phillip

[NiceAft]

Good luck Phillip.

Let us know how she handles in your breezy area of the world

Here, it's about four more months before splash time.

Ray

[Frank C]

... it is MACX3208H900 which I interpret it to being a '99 made to 2000 standards ...
Another point. The seat backs appear to be white vynal. Have not seen that on any of the other X's.
Cheers

Phillip,
That hull ID means a model 2000 that went thru final assembly in Aug '99.
Mine is just a few tics earlier, hull 3067 (as seen at left), ass'y during July.
The model year changes on first of July each year (G=July, H=Aug, etc.)

My seatbacks in the cabin are the same fabric as bottom cushions. I never bought the cockpit cushions, if that's your comment.

[Lease]

Congrats Phillip, hope you enjoy your new toy.

Gotta do some sort of audit on the number of Antipodean Macs soon. Must be getting towards the 100 mark.

[Phillip]

Ray:
I live in the sub-tropics. Summer is really hot and sticky and a day on the water is pleasant, but the other 3 seasons are excellant, so boating is a 365 day a year interest.

Frank:
Thank you for the info re the number. Much appreciated.
Re the seat fabric; in the photos it seems the v-berth covers are blue and the dinette seat cover white....both vynal.
Of all the X-boats pictures I have looked at over past 2yrs, I hadn't seen those colors/materials. Maybe it has been changed.
Don't believe it has cockpit cushions, and if I require them then will have some made up locally.

Lease
Thanks mate.
My good neighbour tells me last week when coming back fron Sanctuary Cove he passed 2 Macs racing each other (under power....reckons it looked hilarious), plus I have seen another 2 in Canal Estates on Sunshine Coast, so there must be a lot of them up this way.

One of the little things i had to do with the shipping was sign a Power-of-Attorney allowing the shippers to remove 'things', and I see noted on the Insurance Policy they removed guards, wheels, axels. They thought originally they would only have to remove guards and wheels.

Cheers
Phillip

[leighcoleman]

can you give any details of who you used to ship boat, and any tips of course. Will be shipping to Mlebourne. can i call you pls provide contact details

regards

Leigh Coleman




Mod's edit: It's a generally good idea to refrain from posting any personal info to any open internet forum (i.e. phone, address or email info). Heath provides the PM (personal message) system that keeps personal stuff behind the scenes. Click the PM button beneath any member's post to send a private message to that individual. Each member gets a notice of messages when he next signs-on. Also, each member can see your Personal Message link at the top center of every page - which will indicate if messages are waiting for your review. -fc

[Phillip]

I will give you a call Leigh.
As I said above, the big thing I learnt from all this was, "pick up the blxx@* phone". You cover weeks of e-mails in minutes.
You will hear from me.
Cheers
Phillip

[Frank C]

Phillip,

See Mod's note above, then check your PM inbox.

It's the top-center link on every forum page.

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

I wonder if the resale value of 2000 X's has gone down slightly. Its always hard to tell because I think these boats are generally sold for cheaper on the west coast versus other parts of the country. When I was shopping a few years ago, I think the delta was about $2-4K between California and Florida. I guess that means there is probably more Macs closer to the factory that built them. But hey, with the dollar losing so much value lately, maybe they will all start getting snapped up for other parts of the world which will drive the price up

[Phillip]

Dimitri,
I have not been to the States to look at boats....I can only express the views I have formed by enquiries I have made via internet.
What it appears to me is:
the West Coast boats may hit the market NEW at a cheaper price than the equivalent on the East Coast, due to what seems to be around US$2,000 (very approx) which I thought may be the cost ot transporting the boat from Coast-to-Coast. Does that make sence?
I also found that dealing with a Broker (2nd hand stock) had advantages as opposed to buying from a Private Seller/Owner.
The Broker is more realistic in his pricing: either that or he knows the value of boats.
He is also in a postion to show you an overpriced boat, then show you a correctly priced boat, then show you an underpriced boat (as seller wants out for whatever reason). Guess that applies to all commodities (houses/cars etc).
I also used the NADA value chart, and believe me, it is pretty accurate, remembering of course it values that actual boat and not necessarily the "extras", and I also learnt that although extras may be of value to seller, in reality they depreciate quickly.
I actually found more stock on Eastern half of USA than Western when I was looking.
At the end of the day, the critical point for me was the "Broker" as opposed to the boat.
I could have bought the best Mac in the USA, but WILL the seller deliver it to my shipper, meaning, I pay and don't get the goods. And if I don't get the goods, then what do I do????
My attitude my be different to some. To me a boat is a hunk of fibre-glass, and it is easier to work with than say motor body parts, so I put it thru a Surveyor, and when it gets here should it need any tidying up, raw materials are cheap, and I just put my workers on to it when we have a quiet day. (Some call it creative accounting)
As for the motor, who cares: one worker is a mechanic,so either repair, or sell, and plonk a new e-tec on it.
It should be in Tokyo by about now.
Cheers
Phillip

[Catigale]

on NADA pricing - Ive noticed the accessories pricing on their website is too generic to be useful

For my 2002 for instance, it adjust the price for adding a spinnaker
as

Spinnaker w/Bag: $820 $930

low retail high retail

whereas a new Mac spin is about $600 IIRC.

ditto across many other options.

My boat hull was listed at about 15k value btw....with motor that probably makes it an 18-20k value which I think would be pretty close to what I could get.

Boat not for sale....exercise only....

[LOUIS B HOLUB]

on NADA pricing - Ive noticed the accessories pricing on their website is too generic to be usespin

My boat hull was listed at about 15k value btw....with motor that probably makes it an 18-20k value which I think would be pretty close to what I could get.
:

Interestingly, the Mac-X seems to hold its value. I also run the figures occasionally and discovered that the Mac-X, when kept up properly, holds a marketable value quite well (in my opinion). I dont think theyre an investment by anyone's imagination, but factoring in the fun for the buck, a good used Mac-X is a nice family splurge and tough to beat.