George:

Telling people not to trust sellers of used aircraft a 100% as the morale of your story is like telling someone that they should have their newly acquired used car inspected. Its common sense. From my point of view we all have lapses of judgement and we all learn sooner or later that our eagerness to get our newly acquired aircraft up in the air does not mix well with laziness or lack of experience.

I would argue that at some point or another everyone in this forum has lost an aircraft due to pilot and judgement error. The difference is that at the $1k range it doesn't hurt as much as the $5K range. We all understand your need to vent. But threats and finger pointing will only cause you to resent the hobby and the hobbyists. You need to accept that you took a risk in order to save money and the gamble didn't pay off due to lack of proper inspection and prior knowledge. IT IS PART of the Hobby. It wasn't be the first time you lost a plane and it won't be the last.

In the meantime just enjoy your tropical weather, waves and great flying weather and accept your mistake.
And keep enjoying the hobby.

Life is short.. go fly.