Sailing purchase sea trial advice wanted...

VanIslandGuy

VanIslandGuy

.
Jan 12, 2016
273
Hunter 410 Ladysmith, BC
We are in the process of completing a purchase on a Hunter 410. This is our second sailboat, (we've been without a sailboat for 5+ years now). Our last boat was a full keel Bayfield. Between then and now we've chartered quite a few catamarans down south.

Purchase will be on condition of survey, mechanical inspection and sea trial. I've got a fantastic broker, (offshore racer/yachtsman) who will be with me during the sea trial, plus the surveyor.

What I'm looking for is any things to watch out for, or stories from sea trials that went well or not so well to help me properly ensure that this yacht is good to go. Once the deal is completed we need to bring it up a couple hundred miles to our home port. If all goes without issue, we'll be getting the engine serviced, (oil, filters, tranny fluid), before taking it home.
 
Tom J

Tom J

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Sep 30, 2008
2,325
Catalina 310 Quincy, MA
Our sea trial went well. We stopped at a boatyard for a quick-haul so the surveyor could inspect the bottom. As we headed out to Tampa Bay, I thought it might be too windy for a sea trial, but the surveyor said, no, a little wind would be a good thing. He was right. We had a good sail and, of course, bought the boat.
 
Gunni

Gunni

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Mar 16, 2010
5,937
Beneteau 411 Oceanis Annapolis
Ask the owner for the service log and use that to inform your inspection and testing regime. No log? Uh oh.
 
tjar

tjar

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Aug 8, 2011
166
Hunter Legend 35.5 Tacoma, WA
When we first looked at Alibi, the seller's broker told us the boat hadn't been sailed in 5 years and the owner had some engine work done to get ready to sell. There were some problems when relocating the boat, so some additional engine work needed to be done. We made an offer contingent on a survey, passing a mechanical inspection, and a sea trial.
On the day the survey was planned, we learned the engine had been removed and taken to the shop. My surveyor proceeded with the rest of the survey and said that he could finish the engine portion when we take it our for a sea trial. He was familiar with the diesel shop doing the work and confident they would do a good job.
After the engine was replaced, he inspected the installation and was very impressed with the quality of the work. I also received a copy of the invoice from the diesel shop and saw they had done a complete lower end rebuild and provided a 90-day warranty.
The sea trail started out uneventfully, but after increasing the RPM and hitting some swells, the engine died. We were unable to get it restarted and had to be towed in. The mechanic was waiting at the pier and had it running in a few minutes. There was some corrosion on the negative terminal and some sediment in the tank had clogged the fuel filter. The owner had the tank professionally polished again (already done once) and we were assured it was now clean as a whistle.
We ended up buying the boat below market value with essentially a new engine. There were some other minor things wrong, but nothing that I couldn't take care of. We've had no further engine issues and have been very happy with our purchase.
 
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