Selling Your Boat

Unlike selling a car, selling a boat isn't quite as clear cut as one might expect. There are only so many physical places you can bring your boat to with the hopes of finding a few prospective buyers, and there are only so many interested buyers for your specific boat type in your given area. This makes publicizing your boat extremely important, and we've listed our tips for cutting a deal on your boat as quickly as possible.

Clean Things Up

In the literal sense, your boat needs to be cleaned and in tip top shape before you promote it or put a for sale sticker on it. Fix all mechanical problems with the boat, to ensure the buyers won’t be dealing with other unearthed problems you haven’t attended to. Most of these things should be easy and do it yourself tasks, like fixing a broken light or tightening up a handrail. Quite often your first potential buyers are your most valuable ones, so it’s important to do this step first.

Advertising Your Boat

These days, people are resorting to technology to either find the most available buyers in their area or to find the most options on the market if they’re looking for a boat. That’s been eliminating the need for a middle man and results in more cash for both the buyer and the seller. Picking the right site to list your boat is important however, and there are a few things to consider. Sites will have their own way of charging people for listing their boats, and everyone has their own preference. I prefer sites where you pay one fee upfront and then you get to list your boat on it as long as you like. Also, pick a site where there’s no limitation or extra charge on the number of photos you can upload, as they will be a big part of the reason you will get leads and there’s no need to skimp on the photos you want to upload. Finally, be sure you have the ability to update your listing as often as you like without any hidden charges for doing so. If you’re looking for an example, Boatdealers.ca which has New and Used boats is a safe and reliable site and gets a large amount of traffic from both buyers and sellers every day.

Closing the Deal

Once you find the right buyer, it’s time that you make sure you close the deal and finalize the transfer of ownership. Visit your state Department of Motor Vehicles website or other governmental organization that controls your area’s boat sales, and check to see all the paperwork needed in the transfer. A bill of sale is almost always required and includes information like the purchase date, hull number, price and signatures. Like a car, your boat needs registration, and a boat title needs to be created for the new boat owner. Be wary that loans on a boat don’t get carried over to the new owner and they need to be cleared before the new boat owner can get their title. Quite often if you go through an online listing website they are able to help you out with all of this paperwork to ensure nothing is missed.

Night Sailing

If you've never done it, night sailing is an experience that you’ll never forget. The calmness (usually) of the water, the incredibly bright and starry skies on a clear night, and sometimes unexpected dolphin visitors if you’re in the right area makes night sailing an awesome experience. Quite often it’s the only option you have when you have to take advantage of tidal gates or get to your destination at a certain time. Here are a few tips from us on sailing throughout the night.

Experience is Nice

If you have a buddy or a connection with someone that has a bit more experience than you do, bring them along for the ride, especially if it’s your first time sailing at night. Plan things out in advance even for the simplest of trips, and chart out each waypoint in your GPS. Navigation at night is much more about trusting your compass and chart more than trusting your eyes.

Staying Awake

Probably the most difficult part of night sailing is staying awake throughout the night. Much like driving on a desolate highway at night, things can get a bit boring when you’re sleepy and it’s easy to accidentally drift off on a warm and comfortable night. Plan shifts out in advance with your crew, and make sure someone is at least attempting to sleep in the late afternoon if they have a tough late night shift. Coffee or tea in a thermos is always a good idea, and getting up and moving around periodically also helps combat sleepiness.

Safety

Lifejackets are always a must when on the cockpit and deck, and it’s a good idea to have ones equipped with a whistle and/or a flashing LED light. Make it a rule that anyone on deck and in the cockpit is clipped onto a jackstay especially when moving around the boat or if the weather is a bit rough. Also, keep a VHF radio handy and make sure that it is tuned to the right station, and listen in to weather forecasts if anything nasty might be coming in.

For sailing tips and advice, visit Salty Sailors, which is packed with excellent information on all things sailing related. 

Boat Purchase Researching Tips

Buying a boat ranks in one of the top purchases you’ll likely make in your entire life. Doing the proper research beforehand is critical to ensure you’ll buy a boat that will suit your needs the most and last you as long as you so desire. Buying a boat like buying any expensive item in the 21^st century is much different than it used to be, and there are a few places you need to look into while doing your initial research.

Boating Forums

When researching the specific type of boat you want to buy, it’s great to get an unbiased opinion of similar boat models from current or previous owners. There are plenty of forums to look into, and to speed up the time it takes to find the information you want, we have a bit of a shortcut. Let’s say you’re interested in learning more about the Alumacraft Trophy 175, and you want to find any info on it on the thehulltruth.com forums. In Google, use this search: “Alumacraft Trophy 175” site:thehulltruth.com to only get results related to that boat.

At the same time, don't be fooled by one or two amazing or completely negative reviews in forums. Reviews can be posted by anyone including people associated with the company or a competitor. Doing a search in Google again of “Alumacraft Trophy 175” review will yield results from online boating magazines and other credible resources that provide an honest opinion and description of the boat.

Online Sites

Once you've narrowed down the type or types of boats you are interested in, it’s time to find the right places to buy them. There are plenty of sites to find new or used boats that have been posted by either site administrators or by site users who sign up with a free or paid account. The most difficult part of speeding up the process is finding current and accurate information, and not postings from several years ago that were never taken down or modified. Additionally, you probably don’t want to find a listing on the other side of the country, as transportation costs become a significant part of the purchase decision. Boats Around Town is a great site that updates their listings on a frequent basis and geographically maps where you can find a new or used boat, or sell post and sell your boat.