Glenn Cooper

In May 2023 my wife and I returned from the Bahamas after spending the winter there on our Seawind catamaran. Prior to that we had been full time liveaboard cruisers for 15 years. During our recent cruise we realized it was time for us to retire from the cruising life. We had our boat hauled at the St. Augustine Marine Center in Florida where it had been in the prior hurricane season. Before we left for the Bahamas we met Andrew Hodgdon who ran the Multihull Company brokerage office at that facility. Upon returning to St Augustine we met with Andrew and told him that we were now interested in selling the boat. It was clear to us that Andrew was fully qualified to manage our sale. Along with being a broker he had been a technical director at Balance Catamarans and had done numerous deliveries of multihulls to some of the most distant locations in the world. With Andrew’s help we put together an informal plan for the sale. Andrew guided us in preparing the boat for prospective buyers and provided advice on pricing. In a softening used boat market our boat sold in less than five months at a price that exceeded our May, 2020 purchase price. Rather than just listing our boat Andrew took steps to promote a successful sale. Most important perhaps was Andrew’s encouragement that any prospective buyer of another yacht in our price and size range should also visit our boat while in the facility. This worked to perfection as the new owner of our boat had originally come to tour another boat that Andrew had for sale. It was a huge advantage having our boat close to Andrew’s office. He took the initiative to make sure that our boat was well cared for. When we had arranged for the boat to be detailed Andrew watched over the work being done. Once when a threatening storm was approaching the facility Andrew, on his own, made sure that sails were removed and the boat was secure. During the course of finding a new owner I would call Andrew from time to time to discuss progress and I could count on him to return my call in about an hour. Selling a boat is often confusing and laborious especially for us who live over a thousand miles away in Rhode Island. Moreover, Andrew helped us through the process of all the online document signing, etc. Andrew’s management of all those elements was a major factor in our successful sale.