Making sure your dreamboat is really the boat of your dreams.

by Capt. Dan

OK, you think you’ve found your dream boat and the broker assures you that she’s perfect for you and your family. You’ve spent a week or so visualizing yourself at the helm as the bow slices the swell and you head off towards the islands on your first cruise. If your imagination has really cranked up, you’ve also visualized the bottle of champagne and the lovely Mediterranean lunch basket that’s been assembled for lunch.

This boat is what you’ve always wanted and you’re bound and determined to get it.

And it’s going to happen. The nautical stars are aligned: you’ve made a deposit, the day is perfect, the broker is smiling and the boat looks simply gorgeous. The broker has arranged to have a captain aboard for two hours, and you’re on your way.

Ninety-nine percent of the time, (remember, all statistics are made up. But most times ….) this boat is already sold. In your head, you’ve already bought it. One of the reasons brokers demand a deposit before sea trial is to get you accustomed to writing checks to them.

There is a chance that this great boat of yours has no significant defects, but 99.7% of the time the prospective buyer is not taking a critical look during the sea trial. In his head, this is a done deal. And the broker is there to make sure the deal stays done and that you don’t take too close a look.

The last time I bought a boat, the broker said he had arranged for a captain for two hours for the sea trial. Since it takes an hour and change to get the boat ready, get underway and get out of Marina del Rey and then about a half hour to get back, that would leave very little time to check out the boat. Exactly the way the broker wanted it. The fewer winches you crank, the fewer knobs you turn, the more you overlook, the better you’ll like the boat. One of the warning signs that you’re off track is that you and your wife are discussing the “window” treatments rather than checking the head operation.

We said we needed the captain for eight hours.

“Oh no,” says the broker; “traditionally this is an out-and-back, couple of hours,max.”

“Eight hours,” we said. “We’re going to inspect everything. That’s when he started to whine about how much the captain would cost. He hated the idea, didn’t want to pay for that long a stint. But he finally relented.

My partners and I arrived early for the sail and the sight of our boat – we just couldn’t help saying that – was – I don’t know – out of proportion: She’s gorgeous.

Then we got our minds right: “Not our boat, not our boat, not our boat,” we chanted. (I tried to get us chanting, “not that pretty, not that pretty,” but couldn’t sell that idea.)

We gave her a very thorough preflight and did not find much we didn’t like. We got underway in about an hour and a half. The captain was driving and we observed. We checked out the electronics: the radio, radar (and all its features), the GPS/Chartplotter at the helm and below. We pulled the engine cover off and checked everything visually and noted water below the engine. (Finally a defect.) We tried to check the bilge but couldn’t find the access. (Turned out to be under a settee). We checked all the holds, the operation of the cabinets and locks, the head, the cabin lights, the hatches. We were being as nit-picky as we could be.

Once in open water, we got the helm. We tacked, we jibed, we put her in irons and sailed all points of sail. And, frankly, she was not all we’d hoped, particularly in downwind performance. But we did exercise everything – all the winches, which we operated manually and electrically. We reefed, shook out the reef and noted some stiffness. We noted a bent stanchion and some chafed life line. We ran the engine at full power for 20 minutes, checked for overheating and for steam coming from the exhaust. We checked the maintenance records. We did not pump out the holding tanks – broker said we didn’t have time to go out to three miles – that turned out to be an oversight as the pump was dead. We did not check the refrigerator operation – that turned out to have a bad compressor. We did not check out the stove/oven – that worked OK.

Finally we said we wanted to anchor. That met some more resistance, but we insisted. (It’s pretty evident that everything the broker resisted was an attempt to avoid a defect.)

So we anchored. She had 180 feet of chain and 180 of nylon rode. And we discovered two problems: the windlass/hawse were only set up to handle chain. If we paid out more than 180 feet, we were going to be hauling a lot of line by hand. And no matter what, the rode required hand flaking to get it all in the anchor locker. It’s a fairly serious concern.

Bottom Line: We bought the boat at a somewhat reduced price. The owner came down a bit and the broker kicked in a piece.

Lessons learned: I’d make checklist of everything I wanted to check on the boat. The list would contain everything. We missed a couple of items that day and they bit us for about $1200 down the line and these were all defects for which the owner should have been responsible. I’d bring as many knowledgeable sailors on the sea trial as the boat would hold. I’d assign them various aspects of the boat for particular scrutiny.

We had the boat surveyed by a guy that brought a frown to the broker’s face. He had a reputation for being very thorough, very tough. He frightened the broker. Even so, he found no deal-killing issues. If we do this again, I’ll get a separate engine survey, including oil analysis.

Hindsight shows we should have bargained harder on the bent stanchion, but let the broker explain it away. The next time around, we’re not buying any excuses. Even though we know that brokers misrepresent stuff and sometimes just lie, we let our manners get in the way and were too nice. Do not buy “that’s normal operation” if you feel it is not. Do not buy “all boats are that way after a few years,” not true if they are well maintained.

Don’t accept out of hand anything the broker says other than the price. He only wants to sell the boat. He’d like it if you were happy with the deal, but that’s way down his priority list. He wants his commission and that is his immediate focus.

The first guy who sold me a boat was a gentleman, a man of integrity. He, I have come to learn, was a rarity in the business.

Next step: survey – more chances to find defects and deficiencies. Again, don’t let the broker try to explain those away. Someone is going to pay to rectify those issues. Our last broker tried to talk us into having the survey after we bought the boat. I don’t know how that would work as you can’t get insurance without a survey and you can’t get a loan without insurance. It was a stupid request but did give us a read on just how far he was willing to go to avoid a thorough inspection.

Above all, remember that you can get out of the deal until you write the final check and sign the contract. Even though you’ve made a deposit, you are not locked in. YOU ARE NOT LOCKED IN. You will not feel good about backing out, but you’ll feel much worse if you make a bad bargain. And you’re going to live with that bargain for a long and expensive time.

Part 2

There are bargain boats available in Oxnard, Ventura and MdR, but buyer beware!

How to save money and grief without really trying.

by Wayne Roper, “The Engineer”

We humans have one thing in common, and that is as soon as the sailing lessons are over, we feel the urge to buy a boat. Some of us don’t wait that long and are not very careful.

Some of us will take a prospective used car to six mechanics before a purchase decision. But many in that same group will purchase a boat based strictly on what the owner (or worse – broker) tells us about the vessel, often without as much as sea trial.

For these people and other prospective boat buyers we are going to attempt to explore the wonderful world of surveys.

A survey doesn’t give a 100% guarantee that the boat is 100% up to standard, in fact surveyors will usually tell you what they won’t look at or what they won’t test before they start. Make sure you know what you’re buying in terms of survey service. Done correctly, a survey goes a long way to assuring the safety of your crew and the overall condition and value of the boat. It also satisfies both insurance and bank loan requirements.

A marine survey is nothing more than an inspection of the boat’s hull, rigging and its various operating systems. These systems can be complex and are always expensive to repair or replace. Onboard operating systems such as electrical, water and sanitation are inspected and tested for proper operation; the engine is inspected for leaks and proper mounting. All the deck-level rigging mount points are inspected, along with the hull above the water line. Most insurance/bank surveys will also require the haul out of the vessel for a below waterline inspection. This will uncover hull damage, blisters, shaft issues, as well as any damage caused by the lack of maintenance of zinc’s. Steering mechanism and rudder can also be checked along with straightness of the propeller shaft and condition of the bottom paint. Finally, the surveyor will attempt to assign a value to the vessel, considering its condition.

Most of the surveyors that I have talked with charge approximately fifteen to twenty dollars per foot to survey the vessel. A couple of notes at this point, surveyors do not go aloft to inspect masts or rigging. So a visit from a good rigging specialist would probably be a good investment, particularly if the boat is more than 10 years old. Surveyors do not perform in-depth condition reports on engines. Therefore, an outside mechanic, and the purchase of a couple of his hours for an inspection, compression test and oil sampling would be money well spent. And surveyors do not look at the sails or running rigging on sailboats.

I know this seems like a lot of time and trouble but a marine survey is the best money you will ever spend, affording you more protection than most insurance policies. A boat that looks good and floats could be a better candidate for a chain saw and the recycler than a boat for you and your crew. A survey will help identify the correct boat for you.

At no time in my memory have their been better boat bargains. The recession has forced many quality boats onto the market at very attractive prices. By using a well performed survey as your compass you will insure the fact that you get the most value for your boating dollars.

But even before the survey is the sea trial … we’ll deal with that next.

Here, btw, is a list of Society of Accredited Marine Surveyors and the International Association of Marine Surveyors and some case studies and other valuable information about the surveying business and survey procedures.

And, finally, an example of what might happen if you don’t have a bit of help when you buy – Country Bumpkin Buys a Boat

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