Our Guide to Buying Your First Boat
Type of Vessels, Pre-Owned Vs New Built, Materials, Safety, Licences
Type of Vessels, Pre-Owned Vs New Built, Materials, Safety, Licences
Boating opens up a realm of new possibilities. Owning a boat grants you access to the world’s oceans, harbors, rivers, and lakes.
Aboard a boat, you can see things and have experiences that are simply not easily available or even possible when confined on land or traveling by any other means. Imagine being able to travel around the coasts of Europe with your own transportation and at your own pace.
Owning a boat also opens up many new social opportunities. With recreational racing, fishing tournaments, yacht clubs, and cruising clubs, there are many new groups and activities to enjoy being a part of.
Buying a boat, however, is a much more significant decision than buying a car. Boating is a kind of lifestyle, and there are many things to consider when choosing which boat to buy.
BE SAFE
Whether your interests are in speed, relaxation, or fishing, there’s a boat type that fits your needs. The first thing you’ll need to do is determine what kind of boat you’re looking for. If you’re looking for fun and adrenaline on the water, a watersports boat is probably the choice for you. Within this category, you can find speedboats perfect for zooming around the ocean at high speeds.
There are also boats specifically designed to tow watersport toys, including water-skis, wakeboards, and inflatable tubes. These boats are a lot of fun. If your goal is to enjoy the water in comfort, you’re probably looking for a cruising boat.
These vessels are usually more stable and designed to be enjoyed with your guests. If you plan to go boating overnight, you can find a cruising boat with cabins and other entertainment features like sunbathing areas, a galley (kitchen) air conditioning which comes useful if you plan to sleep on board in very warm climates.
For people who love to fish, purchasing a boat can open up a world of opportunities for ocean fishing, but also for sweet and tidal water fishing.Fishing boats are usually designed with minimum seating area and often have no dedicated sunbathing area on deck, however, these type of vessels are often designed to maximize free deck space to provide more room for casting.
All of these boats will come in a range of sizes, so you’ll also need to think about how large you want your boat to be. Larger boats have more features, including toilet areas, galleys, cabins, and more seating. They will also use more fuel and be more difficult to operate. If you have never owned a boat before, it is not advisable to purchase a boat any longer than 24 feet.
This will keep boating manageable and fun and keep both you and your passengers safe. Once you’ve gotten used to boating, you can consider upgrading to a larger boat.
Before starting to shop for boats, you should pause to consider whether you want to look at exclusively new or used boats, or perhaps both. New boats will come to you in perfect condition without any problems.
They will also be protected under a warranty, which is a great thing to have if you run into any problems. If you opt to buy new, you’ll be buying from a dealer. Take the time to read some reviews of your dealer to ensure that they are reputable and care for their customers. A good boat dealer should provide support throughout ownership, not just during the sale.
If you’re considering to buying a used boat, you can save quite a bit of money. Of course, a used boat will not be in perfect condition and you are to take some risk on the vessel reliability if it’s not maintained properly .
It’s an important purchase decision, therefore, it’s better to be safe thank sorry. If you are considering a pre-owned vessel you will greatly benefit from hiring a marine surveyor of your choice contact Rodriquez Consulting to professionally review the vessel before you go ahead and complete the purchase.
A surveyor can estimate the value of the boat to tell you if you’re getting a fair deal and can warn you if there are any problems or potential issues. At Rodriquez Consulting we take a more elaborated approach and consider the use the prospective owner is planning to do, the future value, his/her intention to keep the vessel in a specific geographical area, as well as the time frame the prospective owner is looking forward to keeping the vessel for before trading it for another vessel (bigger, smaller or of different type) or simply sell it for other personal reasons.
Boats/Yachts can be of different materials, depending on their size, use they were designed for, performances, style etc. Essentially there are three main categories of materials a vessel can be built with Metal, Wood, and Composite materials. There used to be a fourth one, which is Ferro-Cement, our advise is to stay very much away from it for many reasons we are not going to explain in this article. The other three main categories or a mix of those can be found on the majority of already built vessels and those to be built.
Now, if you are thinking of going green wood or metals are your choice as fiberglass or composite fibres are not very environmentally friendly however, as you might expect there are many types of wood a few different metals and many uses of composite fibres. Depending on the geographical area were the vessels are built you can find woods like Iroko, (very popular in Turkey) Mahogany, (Very used in interior fittings) Cherry, Oak, and may others or variations of these such as bleached cherry wood which has been very popular on luxury yachts with minimalistic interior design.
In world of metals usually you will find steel and aluminium the first is usually used in slower vessels whereas aluminium being much harder to weld is usually employed by high speed crafts such as hydrofoils. Both materials are extremely durable and relatively easy to repair in competent hands.
Last but not least in terms of quantity of boats are all fibreglass boats and other composite materials such as Carbon fibre, Kevlar and a mix of these. Carbon fibre and Kevlar are usually used on very high performance boats such as speed boats, race sailing yachts, multi-hulls such as those used in the Americas Cup. Fiberglass instead is used in the vast majority of current production boats. Fiberglass is oftentimes hand-laid and vacuum bagged (suction of air out of the fibres) to get the air out of the fibres, which are glued together by epoxy resin.
Another important aspect of this type of construction is the core, which is used between two fibre layers, which can be of foam, balsa wood, or other type. The core that is typically used in the so-called sandwich construction technique is important as it influence the rigidity and durability of the overall structure. Fibres unfortunately have a common problem, which can occur more frequently especially if hand-laid without any proper vacuum bagging procedure, this problem is called osmosis and it basically is the filtering of fluids through the fibres which can ultimately cause delamination with consequent decline of the all structure of the hull of a vessel.
If buying a used boat carrying a survey to determine the hull has no signs of osmosis and/or delamination is of utmost importance and highly recommended. Feel free to get in contact with Rodriquez Consulting technical team and we will address this check in the area you need.
Operating a boat of any size is a major responsibility to be taken very seriously not only for the safety of yourself and that of others on-board that you as the vessel operator/skipper/captain are responsible for, but also for the safety of other boat owners and operators, swimmers and divers.
If you don’t know how to operate a boat already, you can take classes, and in many countries like Italy for example you will need a licence for boats over 33 feet or powered by more than 40HP.
You’ll also need to be aware of traffic regulations and on-board safety. For instance, you’ll need to carry safety equipment and be familiar with distress signals. It’s important to familiarize yourself with these practices and make sure you’re comfortable operating a boat before you proceed too far into your search. That way, you can test drive boats yourself.
Once you have a boat, you’ll need to follow the proper governmental procedures to operate it legally in open waters. If you’re in the UK, you’ll need to get insurance and a Boat Safety Scheme certificate.
Once you’ve done all the preparation, you can get to the fun part: shopping for your new boat. You should already have an idea of the type of boat you want, and consumer reviews can help you to choose a few makes and models that interest you.
Next, you’ll want to see the makes you like in person in a showroom or at a boat show unless you are hiring an owner representative to visit the yards or the boat of your behalf. Contact Rodriquez Consulting an enquire about our purchase assistance service we have a track record of saving 20-35% to yacht buyers.
If you are doing it personally take the time to climb into the boat and examine the controls, storage space, engine hatch, deck surface, fittings and hardware, and other features. Once you’ve narrowed down the list of boats you like, you can schedule a sea trial on the water. This is the time to see how well you like operating the boat.
Think about how well it manoeuvres and gets up to cruising speed, how easy it is to control and steer, how it responds to waves, and how loud the engine/s is/are, but also the fuel capacity to asses if the vessel is suitable for the type of use you have in mind. All of these elements will affect your experience on the boat.
Once you have settled on a boat or yacht you like and that suits your needs, congratulations! You are ready to become a boat owner and you join the world of boating. Welcome, and enjoy your time on the water.
Should you prefer to have assistance and save time and money in the selection, purchase, registration and insurance of your new vessel don’t hesitate to contact us. We will schedule a 20 minutes free consultation to better understand your needs.
Rodriquez Consulting is NOT a yacht broker full impartiality is as good as gold in this business.
I had read everything I could find about boats but being a woman in a very man-oriented business I felt much safer with my purchase, with these pros at my fingertip. I love my new boat I can go off for the weekend to my favourite spots with all my girlfriends and no crew.