Tips on Buying a Sailboat

By Peter15 mins read

So You Want To Buy A Sailboat Well first off, let me say congratulations. There is nothing like being the skipper of your own boat. That said, buying a boat, especially a first boat, can be a daunting task. It is not like buying a car, a VCR, or a bowie knife off some home shopping television network. If you approach it that way, then you’re asking to get burned. No.

Buying a sailboat is more like buying a house. A house that will sink if not cared for properly. So as I write this, my approach will be as if you are a first-time buyer. And in doing so, I will be as bluntly honest as possible, and at the same time, I’ll try and make the reading a bit entertaining. Because after all, sailing is fun, right? Looking for your sailboat should be fun as well. So let’s get to it.

Take Your Time and Control Your Emotions

For most, buying a sailboat is an emotional undertaking. It should not be taken lightly. It is easy to get caught up in the sheer beauty of sailing. Warm breezes fill the sails as the boat cruises along to the sounds of Jimmy Buffett or Bob Marley. You’ve got your hand on the helm as you fetch a far off island in the Caribbean or your own fake sea (commonly known as a lake). You drop the hook in that exotic cove, and as the sun leaves you to begin a new day on the other side of the world, you settle in with a cold one. Life is good. Who wouldn’t want to do that?

Visions such as these often move people to buy a first boat, which is perhaps, a bit too large for their actual needs. Be rational about your wants, needs, and skill level when it comes to buying a boat. I can promise you, there’s a lot more to sailing a 30-35-foot boat than an 18-22 footer. Big boats are great, but without a doubt, a good small boat can perfectly serve your sailing needs, is less expensive overall, and easier to handle.

Research!

Do your homework? Keep an open mind, but have an idea what kind of boat you would like to have. With the availability of the Internet, becoming an informed boat owner is so much easier. There is simply so much information available, and people willing to help you make an informed decision. With this in mind, beware; a lot of the info available is just bad! So hit that Internet, there are a number of sites dedicated to boats and their ownership. If you already have an idea what kind of boat you would like, just do a Google search on that boat, and chances are you will be in for more information than you know what to do with.

Talk to people in your sailing community, and not just a few, but a lot of people. Remember what I said about bad information, by talking to a number of folks, your chances of getting consistently bad information decreases. For example, if you are talking to someone and they say, “Look at a MacGregor 26; those right there are really nice” chances are, if you speak with enough folks knowledgeable at all about sailboats, you will not hear that theme often repeated. By doing a lot of homework, you will be in a better position to evaluate what is good, what is bad, and where to look for trouble spots.

Don’t Be Shy About Getting Some Help

Hiring a sailboat broker to help you with your search is probably not a bad idea, either. Interview several and have each provide you with a resume about their sailing experience and references. Ideally, your broker should have at least two years of experience as a broker, but preferably five. They should also be a member in good standing of the Yacht Broker’s Association of America (YBAA). A broker in European should belong to the Mediterranean Yacht Brokers Association.

Being a marine broker is much like selling real estate. An agent may work for on reality but is more than willing to show you homes listed by another. The marine brokerage business is the same way. A good broker is going to spend a lot of time listening to you describe your needs. He should ask a lot of questions, then take that information and show your sailboats within your expectations. Having a good knowledgeable broker can be quite the asset. However, if a broker spends a lot of time showing you boats that don’t match your needs, or if they only show your boats from their own firm’s inventory, questioning their motives may be in order.

So you’ve done your homework, you’ve hired a qualified broker to assist you in your search, he or she has shown you a bunch of boats that should fit your needs. Then it happens, after several weeks of looking and climbing through boats, you go home with the thoughts of just one boat in your mind. You like it, more importantly, your spouse likes it, it will perfectly meet your needs, and best of all, it will fit within your budget. What now?

Control Them Hormones Some More

Take a deep breath. This is where the emotional part of buying a boat really enters the picture. As I see it, it isn’t a whole lot different than teenage love. You get all newey, newey, gooey, gooey, and the brain stops working, and that almost always leads to mistakes. Slow down, shipmate. You still have work to do. This is the time to be strong and prevent the emotional from taking over the business part of the acquisition. Do not allow yourself to take mental possession of the boat before the rest of the deal has been completed. If this is truly the one, there will plenty of time to get emotionally intimate with the boat; after the sale.

With every boat you look at, especially the one you have just fallen for, keep this in mind, “Everything that glitters isn’t gold”. There are a lot of issues and potential concerns about a boat that don’t immediately present themselves during an initial viewing. The strength of the rigging, the condition of the sails, the integrity of the hull and deck, the quality of the electrical system, the functionality of the instrumentation. And, of course, the sound of the engine are all systems that require an expert’s eye before you buy.

Even if the owner is capable of producing a comprehensive maintenance log, each one of the systems I just mentioned could have a list of problems a mile long, and to the untrained eye, be completely unnoticed until it’s too late. And that’s usually after you have already bought the problem.

Survey the Boat By an Inspector

Even with all that doom and gloom, let not your heart be troubled. This is where the marine surveyor comes into play. Like a home inspector that will scrutinize a home before you buy it. A qualified surveyor will check all those systems I mentioned earlier, and then some, to make sure you are not about to spend too much on your new, used boat.

When selecting a surveyor, be cautious. First off, don’t just get a recommendation from the broker as to who should do the survey. Brokers know which surveyors are soft and easy, and which ones are thorough and tough. If you were a broker looking to make a sale, which surveyor would you recommend?

Secondly, and most importantly, remember this, any bilge rat can hang a shingle up and call themselves a marine surveyor, and there are many that do. However, like the broker, he or she will be a member in good standing of an accredited professional society that requires its members to meet strict professional, technical, and ethical standards. The two largest of such entities is The Society of Accredited Marine Surveyors-SAMS (marinesurvey.org) and the National Association of Marine Surveyors-NAMS (nams-cms.org).

I would encourage you to spend a great deal of time researching the subject of hiring a good surveyor. Their role in your successful purchase of a sound boat of acceptable quality is far too important for you not to.

A Little True Story

Case in point and true story. My good friend Joe was in the market for a bigger boat a few years back. Another friend of ours, Mike, was doing some cruising on the Intra Coastal Waterway. Mike and his wife stopped in North Carolina for stores and fuel when they came across just what Joe was looking for in a bigger boat. It was a 37-foot cutter and in like-new condition. Mike immediately called Joe to share his findings and to promise a digital camera full of pictures upon their arrival home. When Joe showed me the pictures, my mouth just dropped. It was a drop-dead gorgeous boat. That next weekend, Joe and his bride were on their way to Oriental, NC to see the boat. Everything was as they expected, and the boat was a jewel. Placing a down payment and contract on the boat, they both returned home to begin the planning process for getting the new boat home.

With cash in hand, he went back to eastern Carolina to seal the deal. Joe was ready to deal, but Joe wasn’t born yesterday. He was actually born the day before yesterday, but that’s a different story. Anyway, Joe was smart enough to include in his contract conditions that called for the final sale of the boat to be contingent upon a complete survey and sea trials.

Well, I guess you can probably guess where this is going. The survey was never completed. It was a disaster. The cabin top was saturated with water, a problem serious enough that the surveyor stopped his inspection and conferred with Joe about the need to continue. Once Joe heard about the damage, and that repairs would be 10 to 15 thousand dollars, it was over. He paid the surveyor for his time, collected his deposit money, and returned home to break the news to his family and friends. They were heartbroken.

The lesson here is important. From all outward appearances, the boat was perfect. It showed no obvious sign of troubled, none. Heck, Joe had cash to cement the deal. He never expected the survey would find anything wrong with the boat. But there was something wrong, very wrong. And because he was smart enough to arrange a survey, he was only out a few hundred dollars and a couple trips to coastal NC. If you ask me, I’d say he still came out ahead on the deal. Any excuse to spend time on an eastern Carolina shore is reason enough and worth the trip.

I’ll say it again, “All that shines isn’t gold”.