Want To Buy: Boat history check

[FelisCatus]

Newbie here and wannabee boat owner, I am currently looking at purchasing a 40 footish sailboat, in order to narrow down the potential boats before throwing lots of dollars at a pre sale survey I wanted to try and tap into the many years of experience on this site as to working out the best way to research vessels before taking the financial plunge.
I understand if there are previous surveys that's a big win, but do unscrupulous sales people plead ignorance to such things?
I understand the Hull Identification Number data base exists, what if the boat pre dates this is there another way?
I am primarily looking at boats in the USA, the Coast Guard registry is a source of some information but only title and registration as far as I am aware?

Any feedback or tips about the best way to go about this task gratefully received. Thanks in advance Phil

[JoeRobertJr]

Hi, Phil and to the forum!

I don't think you are going to find a large amount of useful historical info on a particular boat, like you might find with a car via CarFAX. I have found blogs on particular boats of interest, which revealed interesting details.

A previous survey could be helpful, but that is not likely to be nearly as useful as a current survey done for you by someone you feel is competent. There are several threads on here discussing surveys. Reading some of them may help. I wouldn't worry at all about someone hiding a previous survey. Whoever paid for that survey owns it, and has no obligation to share it.

In case you haven't seen this, check out Marine Survey 101, pre-survey inspection
That may help you avoid some wasted survey $.

Hope this helps.

[FelisCatus]

Thanks JoeRobertJnr, appreciate the information lots to go at there.

[flightlead404]

Pick up a copy of Don Casey's Sailboat Maintenance.

There's a "how to do your own survey" in there.

I read the whole book cover to cover, then tweaked his survey checklist. I used that when I looked at boats.

More than one broker commented about the thoroughness and the time I spend on the boat.

[JPA Cate]

Here's a link to learning to do a preliminary boat survey, written by a CF member who is also a surveyor. There are threads, here, too, about what to look for in a surveyor, as they vary considerably in their knowledge.

Also, you might look at the Boat forums, like, say, Catalina, but whatever marques you are interested in, and see what kinds of problems show up, like in Hunter rudders, of a certain age, and so on.

fwiw, the question of clear title is usually solved by a broker, if they're involved in the sale, while the money is in escrow. This can get really difficult if you're purchasing in a nation where you are not fluid in their dominant language.



Ann