Purcell Yacht Brokerage & Charters

I bought my first boat in 1960 while in college. I have purchased and sold many boats since then had dealings with many brokers; some positive and some not so positive. I made contact with Gerry Purcell when I called regarding a boat that he had listed for sale on Yachtworld. I had no idea who he was nor did he know who I was. After asking what I planned to do with the boat he discouraged me and spent 45 minutes on the phone offering advice. That kind of honesty and willingness to spend time with a stranger convinced me that regardless of where I found a boat of interest he would be my broker. Subsequently, I found him to have an encyclopedic knowledge of all things boats and uncompromising honesty. You can’t go wrong at Purcell Yacht Brokerage. He is expanding to San Diego.

I was interested in a boat that Mr. Purcell had listed at his brokerage. Marina Del Rey is quite far from me and required a flight to go there and view the particular boat I was interested in. Since the boat was quite far, I called and emailed him several times regarding the condition of the boat. His asking price was quite high in comparison to identical boats listed elsewhere. He assured me that all the boat needed was some upholstery work and was ready to sail away. Ok, no problem. Upholstery is no big deal in the big picture. I carefully planned and saved and eventually took a day off from work and hopped a flight to Marina Del Rey. Mr Purcell greeted me and led me to the boat for sale. Uuuuugh! Upon my first visual inspection of the outside of the boat it looked as if the boat had been sunk and just hauled off the bottom of the ocean! It was very dirty and unkempt. Before going inside the boat I found that all the running rigging was rotten, the painted epoxy grip on the deck was worn off, the hull was cracked in several places and was ‘covered up’ with silicon caulking, the sails were over 35 years old, the paint was faded, worn and scratched. There was no bottom paint on it and it was fouled with weeds.
At this point I only proceeded into the cabin because I had traveled so far to see the boat. Mr. Purcell was right. The upholstery did need replacing. What Mr. Purcell also failed to mention was that It also needed extensive carpentry work as there were random holes in all the walls with rats nests of wires hanging out, the hull/​deck was leaking into the main salon, a refrigerator was completely demolished and dis-​assembled, the sink was full of termites, there were 110 outlets in the shower!, the finished carpentry in the main cabin did not match, there was broken glass inside the boat, and there were rats nests of wires in the engine compartment.
After I had ‘viewed’ the boat, I wanted to ask him about the price. I told him the boat was going to be quite a project for some one to which he agreed. (On the telephone, the boat was ready to sail away!) I then asked him what he thought about the price and he told me the boat was only going to go up in value. At this point I didn’t know what to say and I left rather stunned at the whole experience.
I was actually pretty stunned that I had flown so far and at great expense to look at this boat when I had specifically asked questions about the sails, the rigging, the engine, the systems and the interior and Mr. Purcell had specifically assured me that all the systems were fine, and the boat was in excellent working order.
Mr Purcell clearly misrepresented the boat he was selling (for what reason I cannot imagine) and really wasted my time and money in pursuit of something I was not interested in (at least at anywhere near the price he was asking). I would not recommend buying a boat from Mr. Purcell nor would I recommend listing a boat with him as he also clearly lacks the social skills to properly conduct himself with buyers or sellers.