carfax for boats

[Iron E]

Been looking at Sailboats for the last 7 months. Recently, I've seen a few that show quite nicely go from a "Pending Sale" to back on the market.

It would be great to know why.

Buying brokers seem to be able to find all the history and info about the boats.

Is hiring a buyer broker the best way to weed out the lemons?

[Heathenly Twins]

I'm going to preface this by saying I've only owned 3 boats so I'm not terribly experienced but using a broker is definitely no guarantee you'll get a quality boat with no surprises. I've had surveyors, brokers and owners miss critical safety issues or just outright lie through their teeth to me. They're trying to sell boats and it's generally in their interest to claim ignorance on stuff an untrained eye might not catch. Buyer beware.

No matter how much money you spend you can't be certain something wasn't missed or omitted from the report. Since the integrity of the boat can be a matter of life and death I suggest reading Marine survey 101 online and going over the boat with a fine tooth comb. In my experience most used boats in Canada and the USA have unsafe wiring and propane systems are often not up to code, these are big issues. Also, it seems like on lower end boats a lot of people choose to skip preventive maintenance and just wait until something breaks so be on the lookout for that, too. "I don't know" is an acceptable answer to obvious questions like: "when was the standing rigging last replaced?" Or "when did you last change the fuel filters?". If I didn't already have a boat I'd just skip people who answered those questions like that, you'll end up spending thousands figuratively wiping the previous owner's arse, no bueno.

Don't rush in. Learn as much as you can and do a thorough inspection and sea trial.