Let me begin by saying that I have not actually purchased a boat or any other item from Lanier Marine Liquidators so I have not actually been ripped off. Nevertheless, I have seen things going on there that I think people should be aware of before doing business with this company.
Like Loafer3105, I, too, dealt with Lanier Marine and have felt that you have to be very, very careful in dealing with them. I have been trying to purchase a vintage cruiser from Lanier for some time and have had the boat's condition misrepresented on more than one occasion.
Examples include:
*During my initial inquiries, Shane and others (depending on who I talked to that day) reported the boat's condition (a 1950s era Chris Craft cruiser) as "very good" to "excellent".
*They also extolled the fact that the previous owner had begun restoring the wooden hull and made repairs, implying that most of the major work was completed.
Lanier's representations of the boat's condition did not seem to jive with what I saw in the photographs on their website. The pics clearly showed the boat had been left unprotected in the elements for some time (never a good thing for a 56 year old wooden boat). Pine needles and other crud can be seen on the open deck and in the interior. Also the helm station on deck was stripped of parts.
Even with those warning signs, I was still interested in the boat. So I decided to hire a marine surveyor for an objective opinion. He found that the boat was in exceedingly poor condition throughout. There was extensive dry rot in the cabin and several places in the hull. Moreover, the repairs completed by the previous owner were amateurishly done and the materials used were standard home construction lumber (not marine grade) which meant that his repairs would not last once the boat went in the water.
The surveyor estimated the cost of repairing just the problems with the wood hull (not even touching the engines or electrical systems which he did not test) would run a minimum of $25,000 by a qualified boatyard. He said I might consider, if I was determined to have that style boat, to buy it simply to use as a template in building a copy as that might be cheaper and easier.
My recommendation to anyone thinking of buying a boat from Lanier is to either (a) go see it for yourself if you know boats or (b) if you cannot travel to Lanier, get it surveyed by an accredited marine surveyor before any money exchanges hands.
Take nothing that any Lanier employee says at face value
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