pre purchase checklist for sailboat?

davethedog

davethedog

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Hi all,

Looking to get a flight to look at a 47ft sail boat next week, so does anyone have a decent surveyor type checklist I could use as a reference to try not to miss anything?

Thanks

DTD
 
Compare a few inventories and check the presence and condition of 'stuff'.

Check the age of major things like rigging, sails, engine, liferaft, batteries, instruments.....
Make lists of stuff that needs attention.
Small stuff adds up.

The rest of it, it's mostly checking for problems?
Just generally look for things 'not as the maker intended' will root out a lot of problems.
Obviously if the maker was not 'mainstream' then you have to consider the vagaries of the builder as well as previous owners!
Is it a design you know and like, or are you having to worry whether it's the right design as well as the condition of it?

I was obviously looking at smaller cheaper boats, but the problem in assessing condition seemed to be separating what would look fine after a day spent cleaning and what was beyond simple cleaning.
A lot of boats are not brilliantly presented IMHO. Lots of stuff that needs cleaning or other TLC.

Main thing is 'does the wife like it?'
There seem to be a lot of boats doomed to be bought by single blokes.
 
No, but when we did something similar one priority was to take a photo of absolutely everything - took over 100 photos of all equipment and in every nook and cranny. The process of taking all the photos helped ensure a thorough look - and after purchase created the start of a detailed photo reference library for all maintenance purposes.
 
Have a good look at the wiring and the engine and ancillaries there condition and appearance will go a long way in telling you how the boat has been treated and looked after.
 
Not really, as we like the boat we have and a lot newer than the one I am going to see, and all sounds good from the questions I have been asking...but until I see it and test stuff then who knows.

And then we could be in the position of do we end up with 2 boats until we sell the one I am sat in now? Or sell first and hope the other one is still there....
 
We had the similar situation 5 years ago, however SWMBO saw the new boat and 5 days later we also had two boats, luckily we sold our old one within 2 days
 
A good starting point is the list surveyors use such as this one here htbettleyachtsurveys.com/pre-purchase-condition-and-valuation Most surveyors have similar lists on their websites. also worth buying the RYA book on buying and selling boats which in addition to what to look for in the boat covers the process.

Having just been through this process, I found lists such as this and sample surveys, which again some surveyors publish, such as this one turbolink.co.uk/seasurveys2011/aboutUs.html which I used when looking at wooden boats. (John posts here from time to time and has surveyed a wooden boat for me in the past).

Allow at least 2 days to view a boat that size and complexity. The first day to get a feel for whether this is the boat for you - mostly the "heart" bit and practical things such as are you comfortable in the cockpit and working on deck, can you move around the boat easily without banging into things; is there enough storage; has it got the bits of kit you want/need. As you are liveaboards there are perhaps more things of this nature to consider than a weekend sailor.

At the end of the day your head(s) will be spinning and you could decide to just go to the beach and forget the boat - but if you are still positive the second day is going through that survey list to get a feel for whether it would justify making an offer and having a full survey. You can't hope to pick up every thing but you should get a strong impression.

I had a list of 3 boats, all the same type. The first was rejected fairly quickly as too much of a project, second went to offer and survey, but a day with the surveyor and I withdrew. The third, that I had initially not viewed because it was a long way away, I bought without a survey, mainly because I had learned enough from the first 2 to be confident of what I saw. A subsequent survey to get insurance did not show anything of consequence which I had not already seen.

Nowhere near your size/complexity/price level, but you may be surprised how quickly you learn to spot what is good and more importantly what is bad.

Good luck
 
Do we know the make of 47ft yacht as surely it might help to identify known weakness in advance of any trip ? I guess questions on an owners forum might elicit use info as well?
 
I wrote this before going to look at the Sadler 29 we subsequently bought back in 2007, so I wouldn't miss anything when viewing. I don't claim it is perfect, and I'm sure there are bits missing, but you're welcome to use it. I did try to attach it as a word doc, so you easily adapt it, but the forum software doesn't like that...
 

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Hi all and plan is to fly to mainland Spain and have a 5 or 6 hr look over the boat myself. If that is all good then have a serious discusssion with the wife to decide if she is worth us changing the present boat for. If so then go back over with a friend, who is a surveyor and a third party with no emotive interest, to have a longer look.

We are currently on our 4th boat so happy with the main things to look for but just want a list to be more methodical etc

The boat is a 1989 northwind 47, and all the answers to the questions I have had back seem positive such as new teak deck 10 years ago, new sails 10 years ago, standing rigging replaced in 2016, this owner had it since 1999 etc

Then the real quandary will start... Do we buy it before selling the current boat! Lol
 
Well, thanks for all the advice but the broker let me know this morning the boat is sold...so that is that answered then.
 
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