With the modern ease of ‘shopping online’ you can literally sit there in the comfort of your home or office, in fact even on a bus, in a taxi, waiting in a queue, and let your fingers do the walking to research and buy just about anything by searching online - for everything and anything from groceries to houses, from cars to airplanes - you can peruse site after site, page after page and with the case of ‘boat shopping’ go from broker to broker websites, portal to portal, looking for that ‘right boat’ to flash up on the screen and scream out at you “I’m THE ONE!”

Boat Interior - clean and well presented

It’s very exciting to be looking for your new yacht, new boat, be it second-hand yacht, but it can also be rather daunting, as mentioned, with the incredible ease of doing the search in comfortable privacy you are exposed to so many choices across the globe!

Here below some starters and hopefully readers will find the information helpful and pointers to consider and keep in mind when on your ‘search for the right boat’ trip. Although it may seem to be stating the obvious, there are many out there doing this second-hand boat buying for the very first time.

What will be the main purpose for your boat and your plans - consider mainly for the next two years? Where do you predominantly want to USE your boat? Is it for local / regional cruising? How many people will USUALLY / Majority of the time be expected to be living aboard? Consider whether you will be Full or part-time live-aboard. Maybe you’re looking for a boat just for weekends and for holidays. Or perhaps looking at having a bit of fun in local regattas as well as a live-aboard, weekender boat, holiday boat? Keep in mind - If you are not going to go on any ocean passage-making, blue water sailing within say the next two years, don’t get caught up on insisting that your boat options have all the inventory commensurate with true ocean passage-making and with all the safety gear ‘in date’, water makers, EPIRBs, life raft etc etc and discarding perfectly good vessels because they ‘lack inventory’, not enough ‘toys’. You’ll only be replacing the flares and servicing your life raft before you even need them and you’ll throw the membranes out from your water-maker because even ‘pickled’ (a treatment for ‘laying up’ water makers) they only have a certain shelf-life.

Decide on your comfortable budget range. Stretching to uncomfortable limits with budget is not a great start to owning a boat. If you haven’t got the money for what you think you want, then you are either better to settle on something smaller and/or less elaborate or keep on saving. Be realistic. The same goes in the other direction, that is, expecting a hell of a lot for for a tiny budget. It brings to mind of the saying ‘Champagne taste on a beer budget’. Although you should know how much your top limit is, really think of the reality of your budget, allowing for funds aside for those personalization jobs. Also, no point telling your broker you have say top of 150k to spend, when really, for the right boat you could extend that to 200k. Many fear the broker will ‘push you to your limits’ - you can read further below on working with the right broker for you too. You may then miss out the yacht broker telling you of a great boat that is not yet publicly listed, one that is coming, and would actually suit you and is one of those ‘bring your toothbrush, load your food, and go!’ There is a ‘boat budget’ for your purchase, all things considered, and there’s the on-going maintenance/replacement and cruising budget/costs to consider. We will cover more into the reality of keeping a boat in another blog/discussion, and more focused/specific to SE ASIA.

Swan 46 - The beauty of a Teak-laid deck

Make a List of your general preferred criteria including construction material. Consider your Preferred length and desired layout and number of needed sleeping cabins, type of rig ie sloop, ketch, gaff and although many people list all the ‘toys’ they want on board, the ‘toys’, including navigation electronics are all easy to purchase/upgrade and aren’t the arm and leg in cost as they once were. When we were ‘shopping’ for one of our boats, we had a teenage boy, who definitely would need his own ‘space’, cabin and two younger kids, boy and girl who got along tremendously well. Therefore we were looking for 3 sleeping cabin layout - one v-berth for the two little ones, one cabin for the teenager, and one for parents. We found the perfect layout on an Adams 12m - after looking at /considering every Adams 12m and 13m for sale in Australia, we found our Adams 12 just a boat ride down from our brokerage at the time in Sydney harbour - funny, those days we had to wait for the mail to get photos of boats! anyway the Adams 12 that was nearby had the perfect layout for us:- 2 double (cozy doubles) aft cabins, one forward double which could also be a simple v-berth, 2 singles. Our other option was two doubles and throw the little ones in the saloon and Put the lee cloths up and that would have been fine. Mostly, especially once in the warmer climes, you’re all eating and living outside and in the cockpit, not hiding below in the cabins, except to sleep and cook.

Deal with reputable and experienced yacht brokers - truly strongly advise to deal with those who are well established in the region that you are wanting to purchase your boat. Sometimes you/people have established a good rapport and trust with a recommended broker in your /their own region, but you are buying elsewhere or your trusted broker doesn’t have the boat for you. The broker you have your trusted relationship with can represent you and look after your interests and indeed ‘find’ the right boat. The brokers will do a mutually agreeable conjunction, usually, and everyone is happy, that’s what is aimed for at least as the best outcome.

There is usually a big difference between a salesman and an experienced Yacht Broker. The broker, who is representing the owner /vendor in the first place to market, promote and sell the vessel; the broker also has a professional responsibility, or should have, to advise and assist the buyer/purchaser the best he can. If your brokers don’t know details off the top of their heads or have at hand on file, they will endeavour to find out the information for you or point you in the right direction for further clarification and advise from other experts. Best to source expertise within the region you are purchasing. I wouldn’t know who the best person in Melbourne to go to for fixing a marine diesel, or who is best to do a full clean, tidy and detailing of my boat. But I would be able to list a few reputable people/operations here in Langkawi and in the region for you to make your valuation and choose.

Brokers are not acting or are they expected and instructed as marine surveyors, so best not to expect them to give you a full surveyor’s report and estimate for you the cost of rectification. However, they have eyes and noses and cameras and for the most can see possible areas for concern. If they haven’t had a chance to more closely scrutinize a vessel, ask them to please take some specific photos for you - this is more common when buyers are long distance from the targeted boats and therefore need to feel more confident that spending time and money to fly and view personally will not put them into shock and it be a waste of everyone’s time and their money. Some vendors actually do try to hide faults/defects, so also understand that the Broker indeed does not always know or is aware about a major defect or problems on a vessel. Back in the times of having ‘more time’ I would try to assist the buyers in costing out upgrades/refits. It’s not a practical thing to do these days and the surveyor usually does / assists in this area. One estimation I gave was spot on, had it kept to the needs and basics which were pertinent to coastal sailing; nevertheless the buyer decided to have an affair with a yacht equipment catalogue and totally over-capitilized on his initial investment.

Scrutinize the text write-ups. I have read many descriptions for second hand boats that are somewhat over-embellished (that’s being polite) or even such a stretch of the truth that it shameful. Does the ‘write-up’ reflect well to what you are seeing on the photo examples? Does it appear that so much is explained about the layout with many adjectives (descriptive words) that it is just filling in space rather than truly being informative? Remember, that not all information is available to the Brokers and there are many owners who also do not know absolutely every thing about their own vessel. Sad but true. They often can’t remember the manufacturer of equipment, even major equipment, perhaps as it was so long ago since they bought and installed it, or perhaps they just are not ‘geared’ that way to be mindful as to remember such details. We can all be a bit forgetful - Do you know what brand your car radio is? Do you remember what brand your TV is? What about your micro-wave? Your stove in your kitchen? Do you remember how old those items are?

Once upon a time I could more or less remember loads of individual boat details, up to about 20-25 listings, could rattle off the fuel capacity, water capacity, engine, navigation equipment, ownership history, if the owners knew and shared that information - that was once upon a time. Now I have to use my brain for thinking and the computer for storage - so perhaps owners are doing the same thing these days.

How much information/detail do you really need? More than likely you are still ‘fishing’ for that right boat and you’re not yet on the ‘short list’ and ready to book your flights and go through the pre-purchase protocols. Try to be reasonable with your questioning and querying of information / details, especially if you are very early in your looking stage - some buyers want to know every little detail, full history, the ins and the outs and how to run the boat, but have no intention of going to see any boats at all or it may be another year before they are really and honestly ‘ready to purchase’.

If you are in the early stages of ‘fishing’ for your boat, with no intention of purchasing for quite some time, you don’t really need to know the full history and every little detail of every boat that catches your eye. Best to keep looking generally, if you haven’t built a good rapport with one particular broker, and note the price that boats are listed up at the first, whether there are ‘price reductions’, note when the vessels are sold, this helps with gauging the status of the buy/sell climate. And then when you are ready to move forward, get your funds ready for transfer, and enjoy the next steps of the second-hand boat search and buy.

Published Photo Files. Sometimes, due to distance from vessel/owner and the listing brokers, the Brokers have to rely on photos provided by the vendor/owner and trust to an extent that they are accurate. Most owners don’t actually think the ‘nitty gritty’ of the boat needs photos, eg bilges, engine/machinery, pumps, inside lockers, mast step, rigging screws, full deck photos etc. There is more on this further in this blog.

Looking outside your own country. This is either for reasons of ‘bargain hunting’ 0r indeed you want to start your adventures from another country or region by choice. If it is not where you really want your boat, start your cruising life, then research thoroughly the realities of getting the boat ‘home’. Often you are looking outside your own country intentionally for the want of starting off there - as is often the case for buyers coming here to Langkawi, Malaysia and SE Asia generally, is this a wonderful starting point for your boat ownership and cruising and live-aboard lifestyle.

Marine Surveyor: It is strongly advised to have the vessel that you finally choose undergo a full marine survey thereby your agreement/contract to purchase will be conditional upon satisfactory results of that survey, both in water and out of water inspection. Even if you are very experienced, you will need a survey for your proposal for marine insurance, as a rule, unless the vessel was surveyed within say the past 12 months.

For the most, ideally, the buyer already has a good idea to the existing needs, ie rigging may be very old and obviously needing replacement, sails may be tired and reached their effective use-able condition, upholstery may be worn and dated, some sanding and varnishing may need to be addressed, updated electronics etc - the costs of these best to be taken into consideration already when making your offer to purchase, but further conditional upon a full marine survey. Some things are not able to be assessed for costing and your surveyor will advise.

Best to use local/regional surveyors - sending someone from Australia, or the States, who has no idea of the logistics of repairs and costs in SE Asia, would not be the best option for your surveyor choice.

Nicely positioned dockside - 37′ Colvic Countess Cutter-Rigged Sloop

There are usually qualified and capable marine surveyors in most regions: your broker can, and usually does, provide a list of a few for you to then contact directly; the surveyor must be impartial and without bias; and then YOU decide on who you wish to commission to carry out a pre-purchase marine survey of your prospective yacht; don’t opt for the cheapest deal in town - not always to your advantage; most brokers will only provide ‘qualified and capable surveyors’ contact details, but not always, so you ought to do your own further research as well; best to use those who are experienced in surveying Small Pleasurecraft , as Ship Surveyors are usually very much more expensive and also do not understand sailing yachts and small pleasure vessels. Retired Ship Captains may not be the best avenue either unless they are indeed up to date on marine surveying practices and are up to date on building techniques and materials. They are often not up-to-date in latest building techniques for small craft and systems and usually are not qualified marine engineers, so their assessment of the machinery may well be visual and basic. I recommend buyers request a qualified marine engineer or experienced marine diesel mechanic for the machinery when and if available and practical, unless it is just one very simple engine that has relatively low hours etc. Though sometimes the surveyor has excellent machinery background, but not always, and they have to cover their backsides, so may over-emphasize an engine issue when the fact is that the engine doesn’t need a rebuild, just needs a good running under some load. Remember, an ugly looking engine doesn’t mean it’s ready for the funeral parlour. It takes a lot to kill a good diesel engine. We can go into a lot about marine diesel engines in another blog - lots of practical, no frills advice. We have an excellent source of expertise to consult and back it all up. One of the best diagnosticians in the entire region is based right here in Langkawi Malaysia.