Making the right mistakes

Not that mistakes are bad, but boat-buying can be expensive if you make too many or not the right mistakes. Yes, the right mistakes - Because as you know, the only way to learn is to make mistakes.

But boats are expensive and when buying your first boat it is really hard to know what to look for. And what are those ‘‘red flags’’ that just indicate that you should leave a good-looking boat and find another?

Before buying our current sailboat, a Jeanneau S.O. 42.1 from 1995, we looked at quite a few different other options. Several we were very close to buying - but luckily some good boat surveyors found the critical faults they had - which made us call of several deals.

#Payitforward

But what if we could have spared those thousand of euros and made an initial survey ourselves? That would really have been a big deal to us. And it is not everyone, who can afford making those mistakes.

We have therefore compiled all of the knowledge we believe is needed to make the initial boat survey yourself.

Sorted it out and made an ‘‘easy to use’’ guide that enables you to find out if you want to hire a professional boat surveyor. The guide covers the areas that we believe are most relevant for an initial survey.

It will hopefully help you gain the right information about the boat you are looking at, and be able to decide if you want to go on with the deal and get a professional surveyor to help you.