The Ultimate Buyer's Guide for Purchasing SAIL 3 Auto Parts

So you&#;ve taken the first big step and you&#;ve decided to buy a boat. Congratulations to you! We&#;ve put together some hints and tips to help inform your thinking. Follow our handy checklist and advice of things to look for when buying a boat and use our boat viewing scorecard to help you shortlist your perfect boat.

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Buying a boat

Buying a boat is daunting. My goodness&#; there are so many variables, gadgets and things to consider, not to mention price points.

We bought Caladh, our bluewater Victoria 34 sailboat, in and it still feels like yesterday. We were first-time buyers, looking for a boat that we could sail around the world, and whilst Kath had sailed most of her life, T really hadn&#;t.

Neither of us had ever lived on or owned a yacht before, so it has been a steep learning curve, to say the least. So just in case you&#;re new to this, here&#;s the likely process you&#;ll go through:

1. Choose your boat type and budget
2. Determine whether you&#;d like to buy new or used
3. Browse (hundreds!) of listings, on websites like Yacht World or work with a broker or attend a boat show
4. Narrow down your options and shortlist your favourites (check out our checklist below to help you)
5. Arrange to view your shortlist
6. Before you buy, conduct a sea trial and a survey
7. Negotiate and close the deal

Boat shopping in Igoumenitsa. T was measuring the bow to see if she could fit a yoga mat on deck!

First-time buyers: things we wish we&#;d known

There are so many things we would do differently if we had our time again, so here&#;s a few dos, don&#;ts and tips from us:

• Boats are personal. What&#;s important to one owner can be negligible to another. So focus on your own personal needs and don&#;t get too bogged down in what other people think.
• Think about what kind of sailing you plan to do now, and in the future. Do you plan to take the boat further afield? Will you be living on-board, coastal cruising, racing or crossing oceans?
• Think about where you want to start your adventure. It&#;s a big world out there, so do you need to limit yourself to a location or can you expand the search? As an example, the Panama Canal is reportedly a good place to pick up a tried and tested blue-water cruiser from someone who has decided against the Pacific crossing!
• Get on as many boats as you can. Whether that&#;s to sail them of just view, it&#;ll help you build a picture of what&#;s most important to you.
• Do you need a boat you can comfortably sail with two crew or even solo? This was an important variable for us to establish early, as it affects the number of bunks needed, equipment, size, rig setup, self-steering and tacking gear etc.
• Don&#;t compromise too much on your essentials &#; there are thousands more boats out there than buyers, so stick to your guns.
• Don&#;t stretch yourself too far. Boats DRINK money. You can probably double your contingency, or even triple it if you want to do things comfortably (with rum)!
• Spend a lot of time checking out the inner organs: Engine, Rig, Sails, Electrics, Keel, Rudder, Safety Equipment, Renewables&#; conduct your own survey as best you can. Leave no locker unopened!
• Take pictures of everything.
• Ask questions (see our suggested list of questions below)!
• An ex yacht broker once told me, the best deals are when the buyer believes he could have paid slightly less, and the seller believes they could have achieved slightly more.
• A boat is a depreciating asset. It will drink your money and eat your time. There are no two ways about it(!) So be realistic about the &#;investment&#; (it&#;s not an investment, it is a depreciating asset and ongoing cost for doing something you love).
• The bigger the boat, the bigger the equipment, the bigger invoice (marinas and parts).
• Do you really need that extra cabin? If the boat&#;s not big enough for your parents/grandchildren/friends to visit and stay on, perhaps that&#;s not a bad thing and maybe they can afford a hotel?
• Are you looking to stretch your budget and take on a bit of a project, or do you want to go sailing now? Boat refits and upgrades take time and money, just be sure you know what you&#;re letting yourself in for.
• Finally&#; you&#;ll probably think that leaving (and boat shopping) is the hardest thing, but once you leave you&#;ll genuinely wonder what all the fuss was about.

T hugging Caladh just after we picked up the keys!

What to look for when buying a boat

It&#;s important to narrow down your essential items right at the start. There might be some compromises along the way, especially if budget is a restraint, but balancing &#;nice to have&#; items will be much easier if you know the non-negotiables upfront.

For us, it was important we weren&#;t going to be limited by the boat. We wanted a sturdy girl! A strong blue-water cruiser, with medium/heavy displacement, reliable engine, good sail plan, renewable energy sources and comfortable living areas (as fulltime liveaboards).

Not being limited by the boat, also extended to the budget and gadgets. We knew that if we went for a boat with all the extra gadgets and gizmos, this would increase the likelihood of things breaking and therefore be more expensive to run and maintain in the long run.

So here are a few things to think about when narrowing down your essential items:

• Bluewater cruiser or coastal cruiser? 
• Monohull or multihull? 
• A racer or a cruiser or a racer/cruiser or a cruiser/racer? 
• Older or newer? 
• How many cabins?
• Do you want to spend more time in a marina or at anchor? (renewable energy sources, battery size, water tanks and ground tackle will be important)
• Aft cockpit or centre cockpit? 
• Skeg-hung rudder?  
• Deck saloon or coach saloon? 
• Sloop, cutter or ketch rig?
• Fully battened slab reef mainsail or in-mast furling? 
• Fin keel, wing keel or bilge keel? 
• 32 foot, 45 foot or 50 foot?  What size of boat is right for you??

Extract from Yachting Monthly on the Victoria 34

Questions to ask the seller/broker when buying a boat

• How long the vendor has owned the boat and why are they selling?
• When and how was the boat last regularly used?
• How long ago were the photographs taken?
• When was the last survey? Are any available from the last 10-years?
• Is the boat ashore or afloat?
• When was the last time the broker saw the boat (if via a broker)?
• Is the seller the sole owner of the boat and free from any debt?
• If possible, ask for an equipment list with dates, makes, model (if known).
• Is there information about the maintenance history? You could ask for comments about the general condition.
• How many hours has the engine been used for?
• What is the annual cost of ownership?
• Have there EVER been any issues with osmosis?
• What paperwork is there available to prove ownership and VAT/tax paid status?
• If the owner was keeping the boat, what are the next upgrades they would do?
• Would the owner be prepared to do a sea-trial with you?
• What do you like best about the boat? Least?
• Have the water tanks or fuel tanks ever been replaced?
• Has the boat had any groundings or collisions?
• What equipment on the boat is presently not serviceable?

Not long after purchasing Caladh, the hard work began!

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Boat-Buying Checklist

Download our boat-buying checklist and boat viewing scorecard to help pinpoint what&#;s important to you. Set down your non-negotiables and then score boats you view to see which comes up top!

Download

Video: Buying our perfect liveaboard sailing boat in Greece

Most of all good luck! Do let us know how you get on or if there is anything you&#;d add to this post. We love hearing from you and will do our best to reply.

If you like this post, why not check out more of our sailing videos on YouTube, or read more about what it is like to move onto a sailing boat.

Out.

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When I think about all the boats I have been aboard in my lifetime of sailing, it amazes me what a brief inspection around a boat, even a quick glance, brings to mind. I have been very lucky to have sailed with a man, Andy Wall, who was totally absorbed in making and keeping his boat in perfect condition, always. It did not matter if we spent long months at a dock or anchorage, or made a long ocean passage, the boat always had to look and be in perfect running order. The old saying, "Shipshape and Bristol Fashion" was Andy's idea of what all sailing vessels should be.

I came to believe that as well, and as a part-time yacht broker, it became even more important for me to point out what I thought might be a suitable boat for individuals searching for their "perfect" boat. I would need to understand what they wanted, where they intended to go with the boat, and, of course, what their budget was for purchasing and getting their boat ready to set off. And how much they knew of the inevitable maintenance issues of a floating home.

I soon realized that many of the wonderful friends I made by helping them find the right boat, knew very little about any of it. It became my great pleasure to help them with the process and help them understand what they were getting into.

One such very intelligent and alert young woman asked me to go aboard a boat she really liked. We spent some long hot hours together going over this seemingly lovely boat that had captured her imagination. While I did not want to discourage her, it was important to point out a lot of things I saw while going over the deck, the rig, and below.

After our day together, she wisely asked me to put together a list for my observations, and what I had already pointed out to her. She wanted to show the list to her husband, so they would be better prepared to continue their search.

While this list is by no means complete, and certainly does not substitute for a professional survey, perhaps it will help you in your search for a good boat that fits your plans. At the very least, It will get you thinking deeper than a simple walk through as you step aboard a potentially "perfect" sailboat.

Down Below

Look at the windlass installation and chain locker to inspect chain for rust and condition under the deck under the windlass.

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