Five Tips for Selling a Sailboat

First, find an experienced, full-time sailboat broker. A broker will help you handle the legal and financial paperwork necessary for a sale, and can help you market your boat as well.

Clean out your boat.

Make sure the hull and bilge are clean, but also go over living areas, rigging, and sails. This makes the boat more attractive to prospective buyers, but also gives you a chance to remove anything you want to keep.

Find every defect.

Fix what you can and itemized and disclose everything else to potential buyers. They will appreciate your honesty.

Market your boat.

This is especially important if you don’t use a broker. Take photos of the inside and out (use a wide angle lens for tight spaces). Write up a specification list of features, and summarize the boat’s maintenance history. Buyers are attracted to complete and thorough information and will be more motivated to see the boat for themselves.

Finally, let the buyer pay for the inspection or survey. Since you are already familiar with the condition of your boat, there is no need to for you to spend money on the survey.