We recently were asked to survey a boat that had been purchased after it was seized by the Department of the Treasury, for running drugs (and maybe people).
The boat was a 1988 AquaSport 281 equipped with a Volvo Penta gasoline inboard engine. Our client purchased it from an online auction for less than $1,500.
If you are interested in looking at boats for sale via a US Department of the Treasury seizure, go to https://cwsmarketing.com/ or Google CWSAMS. This is the auction site that all treasury seizures are sold.
Boats are seized for many different reasons, smuggling and drug running are among them.
Our San Diego connection to treasury sales is Nielsen Beaumont Marine. They have become a primary provider for storing Department of the Treasury seized vessels. They have a few vessels in the water at their Shelter Island (San Diego) facility, a larger storage facility in Spring Valley, San Diego, an in water facility in San Pedro and two locations on the east coast.
Vessels which are purchased through the CWSAMS website can be inspected on a specific date and time, by appointment only. The buyers of the AquaSport were told that the engine ran, which meant that post seizure, Nielsen Beaumont Marine was aware that the engine had started and run. The vessels are sold as is, where is, with no guarantees or warranties. While you can schedule an inspection, there is no test operating the engine or any equipment.
The buyers of the AquaSport were willing to take the risk. On the day that they took ownership at Nielsen Beaumont Marine on Shelter Island, they were unable to start the engine. The batteries were dead, so they used S.U.P. paddles and paddled the vessel to Kohler Kraft Boatyard, a few hundred yards away.
The vessel was hauled and blocked for survey. The buyers of the AquaSport won their gamble as later that day, with new batteries aboard, the engine started and the transmission spun the propeller.
If you would like to see a reel of this vessel, check out our Instagram –