Buying a used trawler: our checklist
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We looked at a lot of boats before we found Hot ’n Dirty. We made offers, lost one, walked away from another after the survey, and learned something expensive each time. This is the checklist we wish we’d had at the start. It’s written for a buyer like us: an older diesel trawler, a big jump in size, and a plan to cruise far from home.
Before you make an offer
Name the deal-breakers first. For us it was air draft. America’s Great Loop has a fixed bridge in Chicago with about 19 feet 6 inches of clearance. Every boat we looked at was measured against that number before anything else. Know your own version of that number, whether it’s draft, beam, fuel range or a specific system, and check it before you fall in love with a boat.
Get an insurance read before you spend money. A 1980s Taiwan-built trawler is past the age limit of many carriers, and a big step up in boat size narrows the market further. You can find out whether anyone will write the boat before you pay for a survey. See our guide on insuring an older trawler.
Research the model, not just the boat. Owner forums and groups know the weak points of every model: fuel tanks, cored hulls, window leaks, how the boat must be blocked when it’s hauled. We read years of threads on our model before we viewed her, and we built a condition report from every listing photo and the owner’s walkthrough video before we flew down.
Ask for current photos and video. Listing photos can be years old. Ask for a recent walkthrough before you travel.
Don’t take “rebuilt” on faith. If a listing says the engines were rebuilt, ask for the invoices. On one boat, the owner told us the engines had not been rebuilt while he owned them, which is a different story from the listing.
Ask why earlier deals failed. If the boat was under contract before, ask in writing what happened and what that survey found.
Look in the right places. Our boat never appeared in our searches. We posted a “wanted” note on the model’s owner group, and a long-time owner answered. Model-specific owner groups are worth the time. This has been a game changer for us, and regardless of how the deal might have turned out, we met a fantastic person, passionate about their boat…as we will be.
The offer and the contract
Read the contract form before you write any terms. This was our most expensive lesson. On one boat we wrote an eight-item addendum. Five of those items were already in the standard form, contradicted it, or worked against us. The boat sold to another buyer on cleaner terms, who later rejected the boat. Now we test every added term with four questions:
- Is it already in the form (IYBA, YBAA)?
- Does it contradict a printed clause?
- Who does it take something from?
- Does it cut against us?
Three well-chosen terms beat eight.
Never put a number in writing below your own live counter. Keep a negotiation log and read it before you send anything.
Consider a buyer’s broker. In a brokered sale, the seller usually pays the commission. A broker on your side handles escrow and paperwork, and a buyer with a broker and a short addendum looks easier to deal with. It did not work out that way for us, though we did hire two buyer’s brokers to start with, and after what felt like an eternity, received very few to zero leads. These were well-respected brokers, nice people, likely too busy to properly work with all of their clients…but it was a shame whatever the reason.
For a private sale, keep it simple. We used a one-page boat purchase agreement and a short addendum. The essentials:
- An independent escrow agent holds the deposit and refunds it on the buyer’s written notice.
- A two-stage inspection: engine survey and sea trial first, with the right to stop there, then the haul-out and hull survey. You can do both the same day, and we have, but we recommend the two-stage approach, which we did toward the end of our shopping.
- A written accept-or-reject deadline, “for any reason or none.” Silence counts as rejection.
- Closing depends on an insurance binder on terms acceptable to the buyer.
- The seller carries the risk of loss until closing.
- A title problem means a full refund.
Verify wire instructions by phone. Call a number you looked up yourself, not one from an email by whoever is handling closing documentation. Wire fraud is a bigger risk than many boat problems.
Title and paperwork
Make sure the seller is the owner of record. Twice we found the seller on the contract didn’t match the owner on the Coast Guard documentation. Order an abstract of title early, check the state business registries for any company named on the documents, and fix mismatches before closing.
Understand sales tax where you close. A private sale delivered in Florida is taxable, and the nonresident exemption only works when the sale goes through a registered dealer or broker (one with a Florida Dept. of Revenue relationship). Know the rules in the state where you take delivery, and in the state where you’ll register.
Survey and sea trial
Plan the survey before you sign, because the contract sets its timeline. Our full approach is in how to prepare for a boat survey. The short version: hire the engine surveyor and the hull surveyor yourself, do the engines first (when possible; it’s not always), and don’t accept the boat until every survey item has a price that you understand…they add up quickly.
After the survey
Negotiate price, not repairs. We prefer a price adjustment to seller repairs, except for small jobs that don’t need a yard. Fuel tanks, decks and core, engines and through-hulls always go to price.
Send the seller the repair list, not the report. The survey belongs to the buyer.
Put every change in writing. A short amendment signed by both parties, extending the deadline if you need more time.
If you walk away, do it cleanly. Written notice, before the deadline, citing the contract paragraph. No reasons required.
One deal at a time
When we were working two boats at once, deadlines and details blurred together and it was more stress on top of what is already stressful, at least for me. Focus on one boat until it closes or falls through. It can be a long and frustrating process, but also very rewarding when you find ‘the boat that speaks to you’.