How to buy a boat to live aboard

Last time I told you all about how we’re going to start the boat plan now by trying to live aboard while we invest.

You’re probably wondering how this actually happens in practice. Alternatively, you might want to see all the big holes in this plan.

Whatever your motivation: here’s the first steps to buying a liveaboard boat in the UK!

Start with somewhere to put the boat

You’d think that boat parking spaces would be plentiful in the UK and Channel Islands. They’re islands, right?

Sadly, not the case.

If you want to buy a boat to live on, you need to talk to a marina. Not just any marina – one that has permission to offer “liveaboard berths”.

These are incredibly popular.

We managed to secure one by a combination of begging, nagging and politeness over a period of 7 months. Seriously. Marina staff on these places often live aboard themselves, and I got the distinct impression we were being vetted as potential neighbours.

Wait, how will I find a berth if I don’t know the size of the boat?

Don’t sweat it. Most liveaboard boats seem to be between 34 and 41 feet long. Have a chat with the marina and they’ll provide you with a “notional” boat length.

Beware: you start paying for your berth straight away!

We’ve already paid for April and we’re doing well if we can get the boat back before June.

For an indication of costs: we paid £620 for a notional 33 foot boat. You pay by the length and our boat (subject to survey) is 36.1 feet, so about £700 is a reasonable estimate.

Can’t you just live at anchor?

Cool kids would just live “on the hook”. Not me. I’m working for a living, which means I need somewhere secure with good laundry facilities so I can keep going to work during the week.

It’s ludicrously risks to plan to commute every day from a boat at anchor with no one left aboard until you get back at night.

You do you.

Then go boat shopping

There are loads of websites that advertise boats for sale. We found ours on Yachtworld. Boats and Outboards is also pretty good.

Photo quality for most boat brokers is poor. Most boats are sold through a broker, so you tend to see the same boats listed in several places.

You have to go see the boats in person

Technically it’s possible to do remote viewings or get someone else to see a boat for you. In reality though you’re making a huge spend and, like I said, photos aren’t usually great. Go and see them in person.

Compromise

The boat we wanted was a Hallberg Rassy 36 with half-fin keel, skeg hung rudder and an electric engine.

That’s a unicorn.

Failing that, we wanted a sturdy, full-keel vessel that could stand up to the fury of Poseidon.

Unfortunately, until you get to 40-feet plus, the living space on those is pretty tight. Great for the global voyage, crap for commuter life.

We saw lots of flashy modern boats, maybe a decade old, with plush leather settees that looked more like a spaceship than a sea ship. Sex appeal pretty high, ruggedness pretty low.

My point is that boats are all about compromise, which means you need to work out what features are important and what you’re going to live without.

We needed a decent but not massive bed, space for the dog to lie down, a reasonably functional galley and some kind of seating area. Mod cons were pretty much ignored.

We also wanted to keep it below 40 feet long and six feet deep, but that was more for cost and mooring reasons.

In the end, we put in an offer on a 2003 Maxi 1100. Pics to follow if it all works out!

Buying starts with an offer, like a house

So you find a boat that’ll do the trick. Next step is to put in an offer.

Unless you’re looking at the original Golden Hind, you’re expected to put in an offer below asking price. That’s pretty standard for most boats, anyway. Boats aren’t a particularly liquid market and the seller is paying storage for every day they haven’t sold it, which could be a full year.

I think we offered 10% under asking price. The boat is beautiful but worn, and the instruments are all out of date. Lovely, but not squeaky clean.

Unlike a house, your offer is the *highest* price you’ll pay

When you put in an offer, you usually say it’s “subject to survey” and preferably also “subject to sea trial”.

Offer is accepted – you sign a contract

Pretty much the day your offer is accepted, the broker will send you and the seller a contract to sign. You’ll return it (or a scan of it to start with) and pay a 10% deposit that the broker holds in trust.

There’s then a time period to get a survey arranged and a time period for you to get the money together for Completion. The clock is ticking and you may be forced to complete or lose out on your purchase if you miss deadlines.

The capital C is intentional.

Boat finance?

We’re not buying on finance. If you’re going for finance, good luck to you. Lenders are a bit risk averse to lending you money against an asset you can just sail away.

The broker asked us if we needed to arrange finance. I got the impression it’s usually where deals fall through.

There’s a survey

Boat surveyors are fast moving people. We booked one and he apologised that we would need to wait until first thing the next week.

This seems to be standard – they seem to be used to doing things the week they get a call. Crazy fast.

The surveyor has cost us about £1,000 including VAT. They bill by the size of the boat. The broker had a “trusted” list, so we called the guy on it with the most qualifications and best reputation.

You need to check that the surveyor knows what you’re talking about. Most are qualified for all boats but specialise in a few types. You also want to see if they’re members of a professional body.

Surveyors do a report for you. If they find anything, you stop the clock and have a negotiation on either price for the cost pf repairs or for getting the seller to just sort the repairs out.

Don’t expect a surveyor to work miracles, though. They reduce the chances of buying a lemon – but they don’t remove them.

What happens if your boat survey finds something?

If the surveyor flags something important in their report, you get the chance to tell the broker (i.e. give notice) and basically stop the clock on the whole deal.

The idea is that you negotiate with the seller to either reduce the price (so that you can get the repairs done) or they get the repairs arranged for you. You could also back out after a bad survey report.

Completion doesn’t happen until this gets sorted.

Do I really need a surveyor?

Technically, no. Practically? You’d be a fool not to get one. Pay the £1,000, learn what’s wrong with your boat. Knowledge is power and ultimately there’s only millimetres of fibreglass stopping your home and most if not all of your possessions becoming one with the deep.

If you’re a surveyor yourself or a salty seadog with decades of experience, by all means tell me I’m wrong for trying to reduce the risk that my home features as a comedy wreck on Pirates of the Caribbean 32: The Final Cash In.

There’s a sea trial

Technically a sea trial is an optional extra. That was a surprise to me, too, but I wanted one for all the obvious reasons.

A sea trial is effectively you, the broker and whomever (maybe the seller) taking the boat out into the water and showing that everything works as advertised. They aren’t necessarily long and I’m told that some places only do an “engine trial”.

Like the survey, if something doesn’t work then there’s a negotiation on repairs or money off. Think engines, winches, sails and through hull fittings, the stuff that either makes the boat go or puts you at risk of sinking.

A sea trial isn’t like a test drive of a car. You can’t pull out of a boat purchase contract because you just don’t like it anymore. You can only pull out if things weren’t as described, e.g. the engine just doesn’t work and needs a replacement, or the boat actually starts sinking.

Completion

Survey? Check. Sea trial? Check. Time to pay some money and gain a boat!

You own all responsibility for the boat from the second the money is paid over. That means you need to shift it from the broker’s yard pretty fast. This is why you needed the berth/mooring first.

In our case, we’re looking to buy in the UK and sail back to the Channel Islands, so we’re probably going to have a temporary mooring in the UK while we arrange to sail the boat back. Ouch.

You will need insurance in place for Completion. Lots of marinas don’t let you dock without at least third party. Our berth needs £2,000,000 of third party cover.

Where we are

As I write this, we’ve sorted our mooring, had our offer accepted, signed a purchase contract, and now we’re waiting on the survey next week.

Wish us luck!