The purchase of a boat is often the culmination of the dream of many boaters, including novices, who enter the ground floor in the joys of boating and yachting.

Yachting Art Magazine  details the 8 major points to take into consideration so that his boat dream does not turn quickly into a... Raft of the Medusa!!

1 / OPTING FOR A BOAT SUITABLE FOR YOUR OWN NAVIGATION PROGRAM 

The crush that one can have at the sight of a boat on a site of classified advertisements or moored in a marina, can quickly turn to a nightmare if the boat does not, in the end, correspond to the person’s program of navigation. Engine, sail or mixed sail-engine, coastal sailing, cruising, racing and regatta: the first thing to do is to define well what you want to do with your boat. A good tip: deviation from the navigation program well thought out because of a new crush... are to be avoided!

2 / WHICH MODEL FOR WHICH NAVIGATION REGION? 

Once the navigation program is well defined, the question to ask is about its navigation basin. Will you choose a transportable boat or not? If the boat is not transportable, or will it be moored or stored? From this question will ultimately depend the type of unit chosen, a boat, whether sailing or motor will indeed not be the same whether one navigates in the Mediterranean, Atlantic, or North Sea, to the exception of units intended for cruising...

3 / EXPERT... INDISPENSABLE ! 

The expertise of a specialist when buying a second-hand boat may, at first sight, only represent an additional cost. Yet it is not so, and the less the acquirer knows about boat, the more this expertise will be unavoidable. Unpleasant surprises can be numerous and very high costs can be hidden in proportion to the value of some units. And this not to mention that the administrative formalities relating to the sale can be complex: to control the act of francization, make sure there is no debt garnishment measure or mortgage on the boat... In matter of new boat, it can also be useful to be advised by specialists who will establish with you a specification and help define the essential equipment for the boat.

4 / BENEFITS OF LEASING 

When using leasing to finance a boat you enjoy many tax benefits: the VAT is indeed 10% vs. 20%, the administration considering - why is it that - a rented unit spends part of its time outside the Community waters! At the level of the taxation then, the boat being property of the leasing company, it thus does not enter in the calculation of the tax...

5 / ANTICIPATING HIDDEN COSTS RELATED TO PURCHASE

Let it be said, the displayed price of a boat never corresponds to that of a ship ready to sail! To the advertised price, the yachtsman will have to add the cost for the safety equipment as well as for a sailboat, those relating to the delivery and to stepping the mast ... In the matter of sailing, the boats are delivered with a set of sails generally sufficient but not always complete. In terms of safety, the owner must choose one of the 3 levels of packs available, depending on his program and the homologation of his boat: less than 2 miles from the coast, less than 6 miles offshore or offshore. Note that if the boat is financed in LOA (leasing contract with option to purchase), it will have to be armed in deep sea...

6 / THE HEADACHE OF THE MARINA BERTH 

If one opts for a transportable unit, much of this problem disappears. For the others, besides the negotiated marina berth with the concessionaire, which seems to be a transitional solution, the berth is an endemic problem linked to the possession of a boat. Some will have registered for years in 3 or 4 ports to benefit from the first free spot (thus participating in a speculative bubble concerning the real needs in rings...), others will opt for foreign marinas (Spain, Tunisia...), and finally others will choose mooring outside the port. In all cases, this problem is often a headache that must be tackled well in advance of the purchase...

7 / LICENSE... INDISPENSABLE ! 

Although it is not mandatory when you have a sailboat not equipped with VHF, the license seems essential to control your boat. With a VHF, it will be necessary for the skipper of a sailboat to hold either the option pleasure license (to be in good standing in French waters) or the restricted Radiotelephone Operator's Certificate (CRR) authorizing him to sail abroad. For any motor boat whose power exceeds 6hp, the license is mandatory: it's easier!

8 / BUDGETIZE, BUDGETIZE, BUDGETIZE... 

It is better to mention it from the get go, a boat costs each year about 10% of its purchase price in maintenance.

To this, it is obviously necessary to add insurance costs. This is an area in which there are either contracts called "third-party insurance", covering the damage caused by your boat to other boats but not yours, or "multi-risk insurance" covering damage, theft and, according to the contract, repatriation and medical expenses.

Attention, it is necessary to also make sure the rigging of your sailboat is also insured, a detail that is not always clearly announced.