Buy a Used Sailboat
A used sailboat can either be an incredible bargain or a colossal wallet-drainer. Much depends on how sharp and informed you are during the buying process.
Here's what to look for (and walk away from) when you're shopping for your dream boat.
Contents
Steps
General
- Take an expert with you. Some of the faults of a sailboat can look awful but are easy to repair while other faults are hidden and expensive. For a beginner, it's really hard to spot the difference. Hire a professional surveyor. You'll need a survey done for insurance purposes anyway. It will be money well-spent, especially if the boat is an expensive one.
- Figure out what kind of boat you want to own before you go shopping. If you go looking at boats without a clear idea of what kind of boat you want to sail, you may fall in love with a boat that won't meet your needs. Think: Do you want to race? Then, buy the kind of boat people in your area are racing. Do you want to trailer it to distant cruising grounds? Then, restrict your search to smaller boats with trailers. Do you want performance or a big fat cabin? If you don't know the answers, you risk wasting your money.
- If you are new to sailing, look for a boat that is basically ready to sail away. Learning to sail involves lots and lots of sailing. Fixing up a junker boat can take months or years and won't teach you a thing about sailing.
- If you are interested in racing a sailboat, always hook up with local sailboat racers before you buy a boat. There is all sorts of obscure knowledge about racing boats that you will be helpless without.
Material
- Stick with fiberglass construction if you're a beginner -- most wooden boats require a good deal more maintenance and care, and damage and rot in wooden boats can be hard to find without a massive tear down and/or lots of professional experience.
- Check for: boat pox (blisters on the bottom); spongy deck; leaking chain plates; water running down the inside from the hull-deck joint; severe cracks around deck fittings and mast step; fittings pulling out of the deck; large gel coat gouges below the waterline; cracks along the top of keel; wobbly rudder; wobbly drive shaft. These are all potentially expensive fixes.
- If the gel coat looks dull or faded, make sure it just needs a polish and not a new paint job.
- Don't like fiberglass? Steel is generally unbreakable but watch out for serious rust. Concrete? Walk away unless you built it yourself.
Deck and Cabin
- In cabin sailboats, much more damage involves leakage of rainwater from above than seawater from below. Check for signs of leaking decks and cabin tops, such as streaks, stains and mildew inside the cabin. Watch for gobs of sealant around the port lights (windows), which is a sign that somebody has been chasing down leaks.
- Leaking decks can lead to very expensive damage to the deck itself and to bulkheads below. Many fiberglass boats have decks with plywood or balsa wood core material. If water has leaked in around improperly sealed deck fittings, the plywood or balsa wood core of the deck may have de-laminated and rotted. If you find spots or areas of the deck that are mushy in the least, run away. This is a huge pain to fix.
- Water damage and rot in the interior bulkheads and woodwork may cause more than cosmetic damage. In some boats, the chain plates (attachments for the rigging that holds up the mast) are attached to plywood bulkheads inside the cabin. In some boats, the interior woodwork holds up a deck-stepped mast. If such structural woodwork is water damaged, rotted, or otherwise unsound, be alarmed.
Engine
- Steer clear of rare or very old engines unless you're certain there's an adequate supply of parts.
- Do the Smoke Test: healthy diesels make small amounts of black smoke with some white on cold starts. Sick ones make blue or continuous white. Diesels are generally robust but require a strict schedule of oil changes. Bonus points for proof of maintenance.
- Check for fuel leaks and a working bilge blower in gasoline engines. Again, bonus points for maintenance records and a spare parts kit. Common ailments of gas engines: wet or worn-out electric components, bad points and plugs.
- Before the seller cranks the engine, check to see if it is already warm. If the seller took the trouble to warm up the engine before showing you the boat, it may be because it is hard to start the engine when it is cold.
Sails and Rigging
- Take all of the sails out of their bags and spread them out. Look for chafing, repairs, stretches, pulled-out stitches and broken slides. Mildew is harmless but tough to get rid of. Check spinnakers for excessive bagginess. Hoist the windward sails and check for excessive draft and stretch. Remember that replacing the sails can cost you half the price of an old sailboat.
- Rigging will show the general quality of the boat's maintenance. You can pretty much count on replacing a lot of rigging on any old boat, though. Check for worn pins and shackles, unraveling wire, broken blocks, worn-out lines. These items are relatively easy to fix and replace, however. Winches should work smoothly, but if they don't, you can almost always get them running right with a quick cleaning and greasing.
- If possible, hoist all the sails and work all the halyards, sheets, winches and furlers.
Troubleshooting
- Check the wiring -- it's commonly done by people who have no clue about what they're doing. If you have no clue, then get an expert.
- Check sea cocks. Beware if they're seized open.
- Look for leaks around portholes and hatches.
- Work the engine controls; cables and linkages should move smoothly. If possible, do a battery load test.
- Check spreader and mast lights. Listen for wires banging around inside the mast -- a sure way to lose a night's sleep.
- Dodgers and other canvas get bonus points for being made from high quality, high performance outdoor fabric (like Sunbrella®) and having clean, clear plastic windows.
- Make sure safety equipment complies with government regulations and in good condition. In the galley, the propane should be installed properly. Propane, which is heavier than air, will accumulate in the bilge from leaking propane connections and is very difficult to remove.
- Ensure that the bilge doesn't smell like a bilge!
Tips
- When bargaining, make a list of stuff that needs attention and refer to it when you make an offer. When sailboat owners sell, they've either got the hots for a bigger boat or they're getting out of sailing for good. In either case, they're motivated- so don't be afraid to lowball. If need be, walk away. Chances are you'll get a call the next morning.
- Find a reliable mover/transporter to transport your sailboat. There are hundreds of feedback-rated sailboat transporters on www.uShip.com.
