Inspecting Your New Boat

The viewing, or inspecting your boat is a very important part of the buying process. Inspecting will allow you to see what you are buying before you pay up.

You may want to use a surveyor to do this, as they will perform a very detailed inspection of the boat you are interested in. You can be present if you like, as this will give you the chance to ask questions.

Although using a surveyor is the best way to do an inspection, you can do it yourself if you are experienced and confident enough. There are many parts of the boat to inspect, which makes it nearly impossible for beginners.

If you inspect it yourself, make sure you look at the bottom of the hull, the interior, the control cables, electrical system, pumps, and be sure that everything is in working order. If the boat has been well maintained, you shouldn't have a problem looking everything over.

The engine should also be checked, as it is a very important component of the boat. If you don't know a lot about boat engines or engines in general, you should get a mechanic to give it the once over. Even if you do know something about engines, you may want to do this anyway, as inspecting an engine is a skilled job.

If everything is up to par, it's time to take the boat out for a test run. Before you fire up the engine, check to see if it's already warm. If the engine has trouble starting or smokes when cold, the seller could have warmed up the engine prior to your arrival in order to mask any problems.

Check for oil leaks as well, checking the bilges at the start and end of the test run. When moving around, see how the boat performs. You should experiment with hitting the waves from different angles, looking for any type of roll or pitch.

Make sure to test all instruments to see that they are working as they should and then run the engine for a period of time to see if it overheats.

If you are buying a sail-boat, hoist the sails and see how the boat performs on wind power alone. Also, make sure you examine the mast and how the boat rigs under load.

If the boat you are planning to buy doesn't pass any of these tests, don't rule it out just yet. Size up the problem, estmate costs, and if you have the time and are in a position to spare the money to get things working, you can beneficially negotiate the purchase price of the boat.