Members' Online Book: How To Buy a Cruising Boat, Chapter 23 of 27

The Three Biggest Lies Yacht Brokers Tell

Published Jan 3, 2015 39 comments Updated February 12, 2019

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OK, that was a bit of a clickbait headline. I really don't think that all, or even most, yacht brokers are liars.

Having said that, have a look through Yachtworld some time. You will see the following text, or something like it, a lot:

  1. Just back from a circumnavigation and ready to go again.
  2. Completely refitted and ready to go.
  3. Just surveyed and ready to go.

Since we see these statements so often it's logical to assume that they work at getting people to buy the boat in question. And that's pretty disturbing since in many (perhaps most) cases believing these claims can be seriously bad for your financial health, your sanity, and even the safety of you and your family.

Let's look at why I say that and at how to call "bullshit" on the broker (without being too much of a jerk) so you can inject some reality into the negotiations.

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Meet the Author

John

John was born and brought up in Bermuda and started sailing as a child, racing locally and offshore before turning to cruising. He has sailed over 100,000 miles, most of it on his McCurdy & Rhodes 56, Morgan's Cloud, including eight ocean races to Bermuda, culminating in winning his class twice in the Newport Bermuda Race. He has skippered a series of voyages in the North Atlantic, the majority of which have been to the high latitudes. John has been helping others go voyaging by sharing his experience for twenty years, first in yachting magazines and, for the last 12 years, as co-editor/publisher of AAC.

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