Survey and sea trial: what happens before you are committed

Where they sit in the purchase

On a used yacht of any size, the usual sequence is an offer, a signed contract, a deposit, and then an inspection period. The contract most often used for larger yachts, the MYBA Memorandum of Agreement, is built around exactly this order: the deposit is paid to a stakeholder, the yacht is made available for a sea trial and a condition survey, and the buyer then accepts her, accepts her subject to agreed repairs, or rejects her within a fixed notice period.

The point of that order is protection on both sides. The seller knows the buyer is serious because the deposit is lodged. The buyer knows that nothing is final until the yacht has been seen at sea and examined by someone working for them. We agree the dates for both with the seller's side as soon as the contract is signed, because the notice periods in the contract run from fixed events, and a week lost to scheduling is a week taken from your inspection time.

The sea trial

A sea trial is a working passage, not a demonstration. The yacht leaves her berth under her own power with her captain and crew, and you see how she starts, manoeuvres, holds her speed, steers and stops. On a motor yacht the engines are run up to full load so that their temperatures and pressures can be watched; on a sailing yacht the sails are set and the rig is loaded. Stabilisers, thrusters, generators, the watermaker and the navigation electronics are run wherever conditions allow.

Under the MYBA form the sea trial is normally at the seller's expense, including crew and fuel, and its length is limited by the contract. Your surveyor, and where it makes sense an engine specialist, should be aboard. Much of what a surveyor needs to know about machinery only shows itself under load and at temperature, and it is far easier to observe on the day than to reconstruct from notes afterwards.

We attend the trial with you. Our part is to make sure the agreed programme is actually run, that anything unusual is noted at the time, and that the questions you think of halfway through are put to the captain while the engines are still warm.

The condition survey

The condition survey is an independent inspection by a marine surveyor you appoint and instruct. It is usually the buyer's cost, as are the haul-out and yard charges needed to lift the yacht so that her underwater hull, running gear and through-hull fittings can be examined. On a yacht of any real size the surveyor works alongside specialists: an engine surveyor, often from the manufacturer's own network, for the main engines and generators, and on some yachts a rigger for the mast and standing rigging, or an electronics or coatings specialist.

A thorough survey covers the structure and the hull, including moisture readings on composite hulls, the machinery and its service history, the electrical and plumbing systems, the safety equipment and its certification dates, and the condition of the deck and interior. Oil samples are commonly taken from engines and gearboxes for laboratory analysis. Some things cannot be seen without dismantling part of the yacht, and a good report says plainly what the surveyor could not reach.

Choose your surveyor for relevant experience with yachts of this type and size. We can suggest names if you would like them, but the appointment and the instructions are yours, and the report is written for you.

What happens with the findings

Once the report is in, the contract gives you a short window to respond. Under the MYBA form the buyer serves notice of any defects the surveyor has identified, and the contract's definition of a defect matters: broadly, it covers faults that affect seaworthiness or the operation of the yacht's systems and machinery and that were not disclosed in writing beforehand. Cosmetic wear and routine maintenance items are not usually defects in that sense.

For genuine defects the usual outcomes are that the seller repairs them before closing, that the price is adjusted to reflect the cost of putting them right, or, where the defects are serious enough, that the buyer rejects the yacht and the deposit is returned less the costs the contract allows to be deducted. We put the findings to the seller's side on your behalf, with the surveyor's evidence behind them, and we tell you plainly what we think a fair outcome looks like.

If the notice period lapses without a response, most contracts treat the yacht as accepted. That is the single most important date in the inspection stage, and we keep it in front of you.

Smaller yachts and private sales

Below the superyacht market the same principles apply with less formality. The RYA publishes a standard agreement for the sale of a second-hand boat that makes the purchase subject to survey and a satisfactory sea trial, and its advice to buyers matches ours: make the survey a condition of the sale, and confirm in writing when and how the deposit is refundable.

Whatever the size of the yacht, we would not recommend a purchase without a survey. A buyer who already knows the yacht well may narrow its scope, but the independent report is also what an insurer and a lender will ask to see.