Yacht buying guides
A yacht purchase has roughly nine points where money is genuinely at risk, and most first-time buyers only recognise three of them. These guides walk the process in the order it actually happens.
Buying a yacht is a sequence, not a decision. Brief, budget, broker, listing diligence, offer, survey, sea trial, renegotiation, closing, registration, insurance, delivery. Skip a step and it reappears later as a cost. The guides here follow that order, and each one names the specific point where buyers lose money at that stage.
The most expensive misunderstanding in the whole process is the survey. It is not a formality before closing; it is the moment the real price is set. A competent surveyor working for you, hired by you, produces findings that are the basis for renegotiation, and buyers who accept the seller’s surveyor routinely leave five figures on the table.
Everything here is written from the buyer’s side. GlobalYachtGuide is not a broker and does not list yachts, which is why these guides say things a listing site would not.
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36 guides
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Start here
The whole process end to end, and the checklists to work through first.
How to Buy a Yacht: 12 Steps from Brief to Delivery
How to buy a yacht step by step: brief, budget, buyer’s broker, survey, sea trial, renegotiation and closing, with the red flag to watch at each stage.
Most Reliable Boat Brands: What Owners Actually Report
Why ranked brand lists are mostly unreliable, what reliability means on a boat, and how to judge build quality on a specific hull rather than on a badge.
New vs Used Yacht: Complete Buyer's Comparison Guide
New yacht depreciation hits 25% in year one. Used yachts carry hidden maintenance. Here's the actual math, with a 3-year cost model and decision framework.
Survey and sea trial
Where the real price gets set. Read all four before you make an offer.
Pre-Purchase Boat Survey: Scope, Timing and Findings
When to book a pre-purchase boat survey, who pays, what the haul-out covers, how the sea trial ties in, and how findings change the deal.
Used Boat Inspection Checklist: What to Look For
A working checklist for inspecting a used boat before you pay: hull, deck, stringers, engine and paperwork, in the order a surveyor walks them.
Yacht Sea Trial Checklist: What to Test Before You Sign
The exact sea trial sequence professional surveyors use, phase by phase, system by system. WOT RPM benchmarks, red-flag exhaust colours, and what kills deals.
Offer, escrow and closing
Deposit protection, title and lien search, and the closing sequence itself.
Yacht Deposit and Escrow: Protect Your 10% Before Survey
Yacht deposit and escrow explained: 10% standard, MYBA/IYBA refund rules, Florida trust accounts, wire fraud verification, and when your deposit is at risk.
Yacht Broker Commission: Rates, Splits, and What You Actually Pay
The 10% yacht broker commission explained: who pays, how it splits, when to negotiate a sliding scale, and why buyer's brokers are free to you.
Yacht Delivery Voyage Guide: Passage Planning and Costs 2026
What it costs to move a boat: road transport, yacht carrier shipping and delivery under her own keel, with the timing each one needs.
Buying by yacht type
Type-specific diligence for the categories with the biggest hidden differences.
Catamaran Buying Guide 2026: Beam, Survey and Brands
How to buy a catamaran: beam and marina costs, bridge clearance, charter vs private use, Lagoon vs Leopard vs Fountaine Pajot, and two-hull survey focus.
Bluewater Sailboat Buying Guide: Hull, Rig and Range
What makes a sailboat offshore capable: hull and keel, rig choice, tankage and range, what the survey looks for, and what an offshore refit really involves.
Expedition Yacht Buying Guide 2026: Range, Ice Class, Survey
How to buy an expedition yacht: range specs, ice class, builder shortlists, survey scope, MOA terms, and closing steps for polar and long-range buyers.
Buying at a boat show
Which show answers which question, and what show week does to surveyors, yards and prices.
Boat Shows 2026: Dates, Cities and What Each Is For
A buyer's calendar of the major boat shows: which are in-water, which are brokerage, which run sea trials, and what show pricing is actually worth.
Miami Boat Show: A Buyer's Plan, Not a Visitor's
What the Miami International Boat Show is actually good for if you intend to buy: what you can board, what show pricing means, and what to arrange first.
Palm Beach Boat Show: A Buyer's Guide to the Docks
What the Palm Beach International Boat Show is for, why the brokerage concentration matters, what you can judge in the water, and how to use show week properly.
Fort Lauderdale Boat Show: What to Ask on the Dock
FLIBS from the buyer's side: why it is the brokerage show, what show week does to surveyors and yards, and why the best offers land after it closes.
Annapolis Boat Shows: Sail and Power Buyer Guide
Why Annapolis splits into two shows, what the in-water format lets a sailboat buyer inspect, and how Chesapeake conditions shape the boats on display.
Newport Boat Show: End of the New England Season
The Newport International Boat Show from a buyer's side: which Newport, what shows there in September, and what end-of-season timing does to pricing.
Tampa Boat Show: Buying for a Shallow, Wide Bay
Why Tampa Bay's depth decides the boat, what a year-round season does to the budget, the hurricane questions, and how to use a September show properly.
San Diego Boat Show: Buying on the Pacific Coast
Why Pacific swell demands a different hull, how the San Diego slip market constrains size, and the Mexico paperwork nobody mentions until later.
Seattle Boat Show: The Pacific Northwest Buyer's Week
Why Seattle's indoor and in-water split matters, what the Pacific Northwest market puts on display, and how to use the January date against the cruising season.
Chicago Boat Show: Buying for the Great Lakes in January
What the Chicago show is for, why a Lake Michigan boat is not a lake boat, what an indoor January show can and cannot settle, and how to use the date.
Detroit Boat Show: Buying in a Great Lakes State
What Michigan's winter show is for, why a trade-association show reads differently, what suits Great Lakes water, and how a five-month season shapes the budget.
Minneapolis Boat Show: Buying for Minnesota's Lakes
Why the Minneapolis show skews to pontoons and fishing boats, what a short season does to the ownership budget, and how to use a January indoor show properly.
New York Boat Show: Buying in the Most Expensive Market
Why the New York metro slip market decides the boat before the boat does, what the Sound and the ocean each demand, and how to use a January indoor show.
Atlanta Boat Show: Buying in a Drive-to-the-Water Market
Why an inland metro show is really a trailer-boat show, how Lanier and the coast pull buyers in opposite directions, and what to settle before you sign.
Houston Boat Show: Buying on the Upper Texas Coast
What the Houston show is for, why Galveston Bay changes the hull you need, and the hurricane and insurance questions to settle before you sign anything.
Cannes Yachting Festival: Europe's Production Boat Week
Why Cannes is where European builders launch, how the two ports split production from superyacht, and why sea trials actually happen here.
Monaco Yacht Show: What It Is and How Buyers Use It
Monaco is a superyacht brokerage and charter week run on appointments, not a retail show. What is on the quay, how access works, and what it is genuinely for.
Buying by region
Where the market, the tax and the closing mechanics change by location.
Buying a Boat in the UK: VAT, Registration and Survey
The UK buying sequence end to end: what a survey costs, SSR against Part 1 registration, how to check VAT status before you exchange, and what brokers charge.
Buy a Yacht in the Mediterranean: 2026 Process Guide
How to buy a yacht in the Mediterranean: Antibes, Monaco, Palma, and Viareggio process, EU VAT, surveys, MOA, flag, and closing steps.
After you own it
Crew, management, refit and laying the yacht up for the season.
Yacht Crew for Private Yachts: 40-80ft Staffing Guide
Hire crew for a private 40-80ft yacht, captain, mate, stew, day workers vs permanent team. Not superyacht salary tables; practical staffing models.
Yacht Refit Guide: Scope, Budget and Yard Selection 2026
Plan a yacht refit from 40ft upward, scope control, yard quotes, timeline risk, and when refit beats buying new. Distinct from megayacht-only programmes.
Boat Maintenance Schedule: Weekly, Seasonal, Annual
What to check every trip, every month, every season and every year, what each interval costs, and what a surveyor finds when an interval gets skipped.
Also in this section
Further guides in this collection.
Boat Trailer Guide: Weight, Towing and Ramp Basics
How to size a boat trailer, what the loaded rig actually weighs against what your vehicle can tow, and how to load, launch and reverse without a crowd.
Boat Trailer Maintenance: Tires, Bearings and Brakes
Why boat trailer tires age out before they wear out, how often bearings need repacking, what saltwater does on the drive home, and what fails first.
Continue your research
Common questions
Write a one-page brief, set a budget that includes 15% for first-year costs, get financing pre-approved, appoint a buyer’s broker, shortlist and view, make a conditional offer with a deposit into escrow, run your own survey and sea trial, renegotiate on findings, then close, register and insure before taking delivery. Each of those stages has its own guide here.
A buyer’s broker usually costs you nothing directly, because the commission is paid by the seller and split. What you get is access to the cooperative listing network, sea-trial and survey coordination, and someone whose experience of survey renegotiation you do not have. The important thing is that the broker represents you, not the seller.
Ten percent of the purchase price is the standard deposit under both MYBA and IYBA agreements, held in escrow rather than by the seller or the brokerage operating account. It is normally refundable if you reject the vessel on survey within the agreed window, which is why the acceptance deadline in the contract matters.
The buyer, always, and that is the point. A survey costs roughly $20 to $30 per foot plus haul-out, so $2,000 to $4,000 on a 60ft yacht. Never use a surveyor recommended by the listing broker or seller: the entire value of the report is that the person writing it works for you.
No. GlobalYachtGuide is an independent editorial resource and does not list yachts or take listing commissions. Enquiries may be referred to licensed marine partners, and where that happens it is stated. That independence is why these guides cover broker commission and survey conflicts of interest directly.
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