Buying or selling a boat, yacht or ship is a bigger, more technical deal than most people expect — but none of it is mysterious once you know the order of operations. Here is the plain-English version every buyer and seller should read: the marine survey and sea trial, how a vessel is titled, what flag and VAT mean for bigger yachts, how money moves safely at closing, and how to insure and finance what you buy. This is guidance, not legal or marine-survey advice — always commission a qualified, accredited surveyor and, on a large or cross-border deal, a marine attorney.
There is no law anywhere that requires you to use a yacht broker. A broker is a convenience and a salesperson, not a notary — and the commission, typically 8–10% of the sale price, comes out of the seller's pocket (and therefore, indirectly, yours). Plenty of boats change hands every day between an owner and a buyer who simply know the steps. Those steps, in order, are:
The survey is the single most important thing a buyer does. A pre-purchase (condition & valuation) survey by an accredited surveyor — look for SAMS (Society of Accredited Marine Surveyors) or NAMS (National Association of Marine Surveyors) credentials, or the equivalent overseas — is a top-to-bottom inspection that protects you, satisfies your insurer, and is usually required by any lender.
1. Out of the water (haul-out). The boat is lifted on a travel-lift or hauled at a yard so the surveyor can see the entire hull below the waterline — the part you can never inspect at the dock. This is where the expensive surprises hide: blisters and osmosis in fibreglass, corrosion or wastage in steel and aluminium, soft or wet core, keel-to-hull joint, rudder bearings, through-hulls and seacocks, prop, shaft and cutless bearing, and the condition of the running gear and anodes.
2. The sea trial (in the water, under way). The surveyor (and you) take the boat out under power and, on a sailboat, under sail. Engines are run up to full operating temperature and full RPM, systems are exercised, the rig is loaded, and the boat is put through manoeuvres. A boat that runs fine at the dock can reveal an overheating engine, a vibrating shaft, a slipping clutch or a soft spot only once it is working.
On many deals an engine survey is commissioned separately — a marine mechanic who specialises in that make pulls samples for oil and coolant analysis, checks compression, reads the engine's ECU, and inspects the gearbox. On a boat whose value lives in its engines (a sportfisher, a trawler, a commercial vessel), this is money very well spent.
Need a surveyor near the boat? The HulloShips Atlas surveyors & brokers database lists accredited marine surveyors by region, and the marinas database helps you find a yard with a travel-lift for the haul-out.
A good survey report is long and reads like a punch-list. Don't be alarmed by the length — every used boat has findings. What matters is the severity, which surveyors usually flag in tiers:
The report will also carry a fair market value and a replacement value — the insurer cares about both. Read the moisture-meter readings on the hull and deck (high readings can mean wet core), the rig age on a sailboat (insurers often want standing rigging replaced at ~10–15 years), and any note that something "could not be inspected" — sealed compartments and inaccessible tankage are where unknown risk lives.
Even with a surveyor aboard, know what you're watching for. Bring this list:
"How many hours?" is the first question buyers ask and the most misunderstood number on the boat. Hours matter, but maintenance matters more. A well-serviced engine outlives a neglected one with half the hours. Rough, defensible benchmarks:
Proving who owns the boat — and that it comes to you free of debt — is the legal heart of the deal. In the United States there are two parallel systems, and many vessels use both.
A vessel of 5 net tons or more (in practice roughly 26 feet and up, depending on hull volume) is eligible for federal documentation with the US Coast Guard's National Vessel Documentation Center. Documentation gives a clean federal record of ownership and the official name and hailing port, and — crucially for buyers and lenders — supports a Preferred Ship's Mortgage, the strongest lien position a marine lender can hold. A documented vessel must be owned by a US citizen and carries an Abstract of Title you (or a documentation/title service) can pull to verify the chain of ownership and check for recorded liens.
Smaller boats — and many larger ones too — are registered (numbered) and titled by the state. This is the "TX-1234-AB" hull number on the bow and a state title document much like a car's. Rules, sales tax and titling differ by state. A boat can be both federally documented and state-registered for tax/use purposes — that's common and legitimate.
The document that actually transfers ownership is the bill of sale — a signed (often notarised) statement that the seller transfers the vessel, engines and gear to the buyer for the agreed price, free of liens. Get it right and keep originals. Ask the seller for the supporting paper trail too:
On bigger and internationally-traded yachts, ownership gets a layer more involved: the vessel flies a flag and is entered on a registry, and in Europe there is VAT to think about.
Beyond the US, a yacht is registered in a country whose flag it flies. Owners of larger or commercially-operated yachts often choose well-run offshore registries — the British Red Ensign group (Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Bermuda, Jersey), the Marshall Islands, Malta and others — for their respected legal frameworks, surveyor networks, and (for charter yachts) commercial-coding regimes. The flag affects the survey and safety standards the vessel must meet, the mortgage law that applies, and how the yacht may be chartered. This is squarely a job for a marine attorney and a yacht-registration specialist.
A yacht kept or used in the EU generally needs to have its VAT status resolved: it is either VAT-paid (duty has been paid and the boat can circulate freely in EU waters) or it is not, in which case it may be limited to temporary admission or owe VAT on import. VAT-paid status is a real, transferable part of a yacht's value in Europe — always ask for the paperwork proving it, and factor a "VAT not paid" boat accordingly. Rules shifted after the UK left the EU, so post-Brexit a boat's history (where it was when, and where the owner is established) matters. Get specialist advice before buying any yacht across an EU border.
Never wire the full price directly to a seller you met online, and never hand over a boat before the money clears. A marine escrow / title service is the safe middle. Here is how a clean closing runs:
Escrow protects both sides: the buyer knows the money won't move until the title is clean, and the seller knows the funds are real and committed. It typically costs a small flat fee or a fraction of a percent — a rounding error next to a broker's 8–10%.
Line up insurance before closing so cover is bound the instant you own the boat — and because the quote itself tells you things. Insurers almost always require a current survey (often within the last 1–5 years) before they will write a policy, and they price on the boat's age, value, construction, your boating experience and the navigation area. Key terms to understand:
Marine loans exist for almost every size of boat, from a runabout to a superyacht, and they look a lot like a mortgage. A few realities to plan around:
Compare marine lenders in the HulloShips Atlas finance database before you commit — rates, down-payment and surveyor requirements vary widely by lender and boat type.
Boats don't have a published blue book the way cars do, so price comes from comparables: the same builder and model, similar year, length, engine hours and condition, adjusted for region and equipment. Two boats of the same model can be tens of thousands apart on the strength of fresh sails, repowered engines, recent electronics or a survey-clean hull. Overpricing is the number-one reason a boat sits unsold.
The boat is rarely where you are. Plan how it gets to you before you close — delivery cost and risk are real parts of the deal:
Find yards, haul-out facilities and home-port marinas along the route in the Atlas marinas database.
Selling direct on HulloShips means you keep the 8–10% a broker would charge — on a $400,000 sportfisher that's $32,000–$40,000 in your pocket. To sell well and quickly, do the broker's job a little better than they would:
For any meaningful purchase, yes. A qualified, accredited surveyor inspects the hull out of the water, the rig and systems, and runs a sea trial. The report protects you, is required by almost every insurer, and is required by lenders before they'll finance the boat. Skipping it to save a few hundred dollars on a six-figure boat is the most expensive mistake buyers make.
Yes — there's no law requiring a yacht broker. A bill of sale transfers ownership; you commission the survey, verify title or documentation, and move money through a marine escrow service. Selling direct lets the owner keep the 8–10% a broker would charge, which is exactly what HulloShips is built for.
USCG documentation is a federal title for vessels of 5 net tons or more (roughly 26 ft+), giving a clean federal ownership record and a path for a Preferred Ship's Mortgage. State registration (numbers and a state title) covers smaller boats and is handled by your state. Many owners do both — federal documentation for the title, state registration for tax/use.
They matter, but maintenance matters more. A serviced diesel can run 5,000+ hours; a neglected one fails early. Gasoline engines typically last 1,500–2,000 hours. Treat hours as one data point alongside service records and oil-analysis results — and remember a boat that sat idle for years can be in worse shape than a well-used one.
It's the in-the-water part of the survey: the boat goes out under power (and sail) so the surveyor and buyer can run the engine to full temperature and RPM, load the systems and rig, and put her through manoeuvres. The buyer (who pays for the survey) and the surveyor attend; the seller or a captain typically operates the boat.
If you keep or use a yacht in the EU, its VAT status matters. A VAT-paid boat can circulate freely in EU waters; an unpaid one may face VAT on import or be limited to temporary admission. VAT-paid status is a real, transferable part of a European yacht's value — always ask for the proof. For US-only boating it generally doesn't apply.
Through a marine escrow / title service. The deposit (≈10%) and then the balance sit with a neutral agent; any existing mortgage is paid off and released; the bill of sale and title transfer are completed; insurance is bound; and only then are funds released to the seller and the boat delivered. Never wire the full price straight to a seller before title is verified.
Click List your vessel, add your photos, price and the vessel details (length, year, builder, hull, engine hours, flag), choose a plan — starting free — and submit. We run a quick quality review and publish, usually the same day. Then buyers contact you direct, no broker in the middle.
Browse owner-direct vessels, value any boat with HulloValue, or list your own and keep the commission.