Questions and answers

A viewing is booked as a 60 minute appointment on the showroom pontoon and carries no charge. The broker holding the listing opens the boat up, starts the engine on the mooring and goes through engine hours, service records and ownership history during the visit rather than afterwards. Boats are shown by appointment because the pontoon gates are locked and most boats are closed up between viewings, so an unannounced visit usually means looking at a hull from the dock.

Yes. A sea trial is a separate service at US$475 and runs three to four hours with a broker and a skipper aboard. It is normally arranged once a viewing has happened and the boat is genuinely shortlisted, because the trial is where cold starting, oil pressure and engine temperature under load, gearbox engagement ahead and astern, rpm against the figures the engine should make and, under sail, how she points and how she reefs are actually tested. Trials are weather dependent and are rescheduled rather than run in unsuitable conditions.

The condition appraisal at US$850 is a structured report on one vessel: moisture readings across the hull bottom and deck, blistering and any sign of osmosis logged and photographed, keel bolts and the hull-to-deck joint examined, and the ages of standing rigging, chainplates and swages recorded where a record exists. Many buyers use it in place of a separate survey, while others prefer to instruct a surveyor of their own, and the brokerage books the lift either way. An insurer or a lender may specify whose report it will accept, which is worth establishing before a lift is paid for.

Below roughly 26 feet, with a beam under about eight and a half feet, a boat can usually be trailed behind a suitable vehicle and kept at home, which removes berth dues and turns winter storage into a driveway question. Above that, and for almost any fixed-keel boat, a berth or a mooring is the practical answer and is best arranged before completion rather than after it. The brokerage states the towing weight fully loaded, with engine, fuel, water and gear aboard, rather than the dry weight printed in a brochure, because that is the figure a tow vehicle has to match.

The offer is put in writing, usually subject to sea trial and survey, and a deposit of ten per cent takes the boat off the open market. The buyer then has an agreed period, commonly two to three weeks, in which to complete the trial and the appraisal or survey. If the findings are material the price is renegotiated, the deposit is returned, or the sale proceeds as agreed, and whichever it is, it is confirmed in writing before completion.

In a separate client account, not in the brokerage's own working account, and it is not released to a seller until the sale completes and the bill of sale is signed. The conditions under which a deposit is returned, including what counts as a material adverse finding, are set out before it is paid rather than argued about afterwards. While the brokerage is acting, nothing is paid directly between buyer and seller.

Sometimes, and it is treated as two transactions rather than one. The boat being offered is viewed and appraised on its own merits, and the figure put against it reflects comparable boats that have actually sold rather than what is hoped for. Where the brokerage would rather not take a boat onto its own floor, the alternative is an owner representation listing at 8% of the agreed sale price running alongside the purchase, which often returns more to the owner although it takes longer.

A bill of sale, the ownership history as far back as it exists, and evidence that any duty or excise due on the vessel has been paid. A federally documented vessel has her Coast Guard documentation transferred, while a Maryland registered boat is handled through state registration and title instead, and the brokerage confirms which applies before an offer is made. Any outstanding marine loan or recorded lien is checked and cleared before completion, never after it.

Not automatically. A marina berth is a contract between the marina and the current owner, and most Annapolis marinas require an application and their own approval before it is reassigned. The brokerage asks the marina early, because a boat that has to move on completion needs somewhere to go, and where a transfer is refused, alternative berths are looked for in parallel rather than after the fact.

Winter lay-up and storage coordination is a seasonal service carrying a US$390 coordination fee. The lift, pressure wash and cradle are booked with the yard, and winterisation is specified in writing: engine and saildrive oil changed warm, coolant strength checked, freshwater and heads systems drained or filled with non-toxic antifreeze, batteries removed or kept on charge, and sails, canvas and running rigging bagged and stored dry. Shrink-wrap and a fitted frame cover are quoted both ways, with the ventilation a covered boat needs so that condensation does not do more harm than the weather. Yard, lift and storage charges are the yard's own and are billed by the yard.