What to Expect When You’re Expecting… Your First Boat
Published: Friday, September 18, 2020
By: Melissa Walsh
The summer of 2020 will go down in history as the great staycation, with rocketing boat sales and a spike of first-time boat buyers.
Baird Equity Research’s reports reveal this season’s unusually strong sales. Dealers, surveyors, and mechanics felt the boom, scrambling to meet overwhelming demand and also facing customers new to boating.
If you’re considering your first boat purchase, below is guidance on what to expect when shopping for, maintaining, and operating a boat.
Know What You Want
“[Boating] is really for one thing: escape,” says Scott Croft, Vice President of Public Affairs for the Boat Owners Association of the United States (BoatUS). “What kind of escape is that going to be?”
Dropping into a dealer or brokerage office to “kick tires” is inefficient for the buyer and difficult for the broker to accommodate. Brokerage boats are scattered among several marinas or storage facilities or stored at a seller’s home. In addition, boat brokers are busy juggling multiple deals, investing time and effort into each one.
Browse online first. Know what you want in a new or used boat before contacting a dealer or broker.
“The reality is that boaters are not all alike,” stresses Croft. “…you’ve really got to sit down with your family and say, ‘What are we trying to get out of a boat? Is it going to be a waterfront cabin that we’re going to live in from Friday to Sunday six weekends this summer? Or is it going to be a boat we have a bunch of friends out on and we’re going to ride around the lake and do some wake-boarding? Or are we just going to chill out?’”
When you have identified a boat you’re interested in, make an appointment for a showing. The broker will call the seller to make sure the boat is available for viewing. If the broker has shown the boat previously or taken it on sea trial, he or she will be able to provide more detail than the listing information, which might have been published during the off-season.
Know the Process
It’s wise to get financing pre-approval prior to shopping for a boat. From there, the process continues in finding the right boat. If a brokerage boat is in the water and powered, the broker will start the engine for a customer, but will not take them on a boat ride. If the buyer wants to purchase the boat, the broker will negotiate an offer with the seller. When making an offer, understand that freshwater-only boats hold more value and options, such as a generator or trailer, and will add thousands of dollars to a boat’s price. A broker will offer a sea trial with a deposit and an accepted offer.
Once the sales price is determined, the broker will write up a bill of sale. If you want to pay cash for a boat, know that brokerage businesses and dealerships are required to report a cash purchase of more than $10,000 by filing IRS Form 8300 – Report of Cash Payments Over $10,000 Received in a Trade or Business.
Before a deal is closed, the buyer can—and should—opt to order a marine survey and mechanical survey. Purchasing a used boat is an as-is transaction, which is why a good broker will urge a buyer to invest in commissioning a Society of Accredited Marine Surveyors (SAMS)-certified surveyor. If the boat is in a slip, this may cost you a hoist fee charged by the marina—about $150 to $200. The surveyor will charge between $17 and $20 a foot for the survey.
A marine survey is a report on a boat’s condition and value, including hull moisture readings, fiberglass delamination levels, state of the stringers, and signs of imminent repairs. A mechanical survey is performed by a marine mechanic to check the integrity of the engines, drives, and generator. A survey is not necessarily a pass/fail test, rather a report of what kind of project the boat will be to maintain. Understand that every boat is a project and demands tender loving care. Noted issues can be negotiated via the broker, who will speak to the seller about correcting issues or lowering the boat’s price.
“It’s always better to get the repair done than to get the money to get the repair done,” says BoatUS Consumer Affairs Editor Charles Fort.
A surveyor works for you, the buyer. Though the broker does not choose the surveyor, he or she may offer you a roster of qualified surveyors in the area.
“Call two or three of them and see if they have a specialty in the kind of boat you’re looking at,” says Croft. “Some do sail; some do trawlers. Interview them like you would anyone else.”
“If someone is buying something more than a jon boat or a little aluminum fishing boat,” says Fort, “they’re going to need to have a survey, unless they’re an expert. Not too many of us are experts.”
If you’re financing, you’ll need to get the boat insured ahead of closing. Most marinas also require proof of insurance before renting a slip. Depending on the age, size, or price of the boat, an insurance underwriter may require a boat survey.
Know the Costs of Boat Ownership
Steve Bleich, who has been selling boats in metro Detroit for 28 years says, “A lot of [new boaters] don’t know the overall expenses of owning a boat year-round. Between regular oil changes and maintenance and winterization, shrink-wrap, storage, and just unexpected things that always break on boats—I think most people look at their payment and insurance and don’t factor in quite a bit more than that, as far as taking care of a boat properly.”
For someone who’s never had a boat before, “Oftentimes, their biggest shock is all these costs,” says Fort. “So we try to counsel them: understand what your fixed costs are.”
A new boat owner also should calculate non-fixed costs, such as for gas and unexpected repairs. Owning an older boat tends to be more costly to maintain, which can be overwhelming. It’s important to understand why you love boating, what it will add to your lifestyle, and what it will require of your priorities. Will it be worth the money you’ll spend? If you’re just discovering boating, start simple.
“Keep it small,” says Croft. “Keep it realistic.”
Know How to Boat Smartly and Safely
Any experienced boater can share a first-hand account about a bad docking experience. Until you get accustomed to your boat and your slip, you’ll encounter hiccups in docking. To lessen the learning curve, it’s smart to hire a licensed captain for a few lessons in docking and other boat operation techniques, such as maneuvering in wake, adjusting trim, and navigating.
Says Croft, “Rather than just get in the boat, hit the key, and then go, take some time to build some skills and look at the rules of the road, because they’re certainly different than what they are for cars.”
As far as offering new boaters operation and safety tips, Bleich says, “We really haven’t had as much time this year to help people in that. I always recommend to them that they take a Coast Guard class. Most of them don’t know the safety rules like ‘red, right, returning’ and who has the right of way.”
In addition to taking a boating safety class, a new boat owner should schedule a vessel safety check by visiting www.safetyseal.net. The check is conducted by the US Coast Guard Auxiliary, US Power Squadron, and other boating safety agencies. A local examiner will visit the boat to identify and inspect required safety equipment and review federal, state, and local safety regulations with the boat owner.
The boat owner or designated skipper should not be the only person on board who knows how to operate the boat safely.
“I’ve always told couples,” says Bleich, “‘Hey, I know he’ll probably primarily drive the boat, but what if he gets sick or knocked out or unconscious somehow? How is the boat going to get back to the dock?’”
You, your partner, and even your older children should know the basics, including conventional navigation skills like how to use a paper chart, compass, and depth finder as well as how to react in an emergency, such as how to use the VHF radio to call for help.
“TowBoatUS assists a lot of people out on the water,” says Fort, “and the number one reason people need to be towed is engine-related and usually it’s battery-related. So if your battery dies, all that fancy stuff that you have—your chart plotters and radars—none of that stuff works anymore.”
If you know what to expect in boating, then that “happiest day of a boater’s life” will remain happy for you for many seasons.
For more from the experts at BoatUS, visit boatus.com/expert-advice.
About the Author
Melissa Walsh was raised on the shores of the heart-shaped lake nestled between the St. Clair and Detroit rivers that pumps the lifeblood of water recreation and the “blue economy” in Southeast Michigan. She’s enjoyed learning to navigate the shallow depths and sail the shifty winds of Lake St. Clair. So naturally, as a freelance journalist and boat broker in Detroit, Walsh delights in writing about power boating and sailing.
This article first appeared in the Fall Issue (Sep/Oct) 2020 of Great Lakes Scuttlebutt magazine.
tags: Boating 101, Brokerage, Dealerships, Financing