On your side of the table

What buying well involves

A yacht purchase is a chain of decisions, and the expensive mistakes are usually made early, invisibly, in the links that look like formalities. Choosing a size before understanding running costs. Falling for a layout before checking how it charters, crews or resells. Accepting a "VAT paid" line without the paper behind it. Comparing asking prices as if they were transaction prices. Booking a survey with whoever is available rather than whoever is right for that hull and those engines.

Our role is to keep every link deliberate. The pages below describe the sequence in detail, but the principle is constant: evidence before enthusiasm, verification before commitment, and a running total of what the boat will really cost — to buy, to own, and one day to sell. That last number is the one the industry mentions least and your accountant will mention most.

The acquisition, step by step

The operational brief.

We begin with how you will actually use the boat: cruising grounds and passage lengths, who is aboard on a normal weekend and in August, whether you will run a crew, appetite for running costs, charter intentions, and the horizon before you expect to sell. The brief turns "a nice 25-metre" into a specification that can be searched for — and it is the standard against which every candidate is later judged.

Market search — public and off-market.

We sweep the visible market across portals and brokers' central agencies, then work the layer beneath it: yachts quietly for sale, and owners who might sell if approached correctly. You receive a shortlist, not a flood — each candidate with our reasoning attached.

Comparing types and candidates.

Flybridge or coupé, planing or displacement, three cabins or four, newer-smaller or older-larger: we put the genuine trade-offs on the table with numbers where numbers exist — fuel at cruising speed, crew implications, berth length bands — so the comparison is between realities, not brochures.

Price and market-position analysis.

For each serious candidate we analyse the asking price against comparable current listings and, so far as they can be established, recent sales; the boat's time on market and reduction history; and the strength of the seller's position. You will know what the boat is worth and what it can likely be bought for — two different numbers — before you offer.

The ownership-cost picture.

Before you commit, we build the honest annual picture for the sizes and types under consideration: berthing, insurance, crew, scheduled maintenance, fuel, and the refit reserve a boat of that age demands. Ownership costs are the difference between a yacht you enjoy and a yacht you resent; they belong in the decision, not after it.

Berthing and cruising implications.

A yacht exists somewhere, every night. We examine the berth question early — availability and cost in your intended home port, the beam and draft limits that quietly exclude certain harbours — and how the boat fits the cruising you actually plan, not the cruising the brochure imagines.

Specification and maintenance review.

We read the build specification against the boat as she stands, identify what has been added, removed or replaced, and go through the service history line by line: engine and generator hours against the calendar, what was done, what was deferred, and what falls due next — the refit exposure the asking price may or may not reflect.

VAT and documentation.

VAT status, title, registry, class and CE papers, liens and any charter history are identified and the evidence requested early, with your tax and legal advisers engaged where the questions require them. "VAT paid" is a claim; the invoice chain is the fact. We make sure the distinction is respected before your money moves.

Survey and specialist coordination.

We help you appoint the right independent surveyor for that hull and machinery — and, where warranted, separate engine or systems specialists — then manage the process: haul-out, attendance, and a findings review in plain language, separating the cosmetic from the structural from the negotiable.

Sea trial.

The trial is a test, not a celebration. Performance against the specification, engine behaviour under load, vibration, steering, stabilisation, systems in real operation — attended with the surveyor, and documented, so that what the boat demonstrated is on record.

Negotiation.

With the evidence assembled — market position, survey findings, documentation state — we negotiate from facts: price, or price adjustments after survey, or remedial works, or a combination. A negotiation grounded in documents is calmer and materially more effective than one grounded in opinions. That preparation is precisely why we do everything above first.

Contract and closing.

We coordinate the contractual sequence alongside your lawyer: agreement terms reflecting what was actually negotiated, deposit handling, conditions tied to survey and title, VAT treatment, registration, insurance in place from the moment of transfer, and the mechanics of completion, through to funds and title moving safely.

Delivery and first ownership.

The file does not close at closing. We assist with the practical start of ownership: handover and inventory, records transferred, crew or management introductions where needed, berth arrangements, and the honest post-purchase list — what to do in the first month, and what can wait. The goal is a first season spent on the water, not in administration.

The advice you won't hear elsewhere

Twice on this page we have said that we may advise you not to buy, and it bears repeating as a promise rather than a remark. If the survey tells a bad story, we will read it to you straight. If the price cannot be defended with evidence, we will not defend it to you. If the boat is right but the moment is wrong, we will say "wait" — and if your programme points to a different size, type or market than the one you arrived with, we will show you why. Our value is measured over your whole ownership, not over one transaction. Advice bent toward a closing is not advice; it is sales with better manners.

Begin with the brief

One conversation is enough to start: what you want the boat for, roughly what you want to spend, and when you would like to be on the water. We will respond with an honest view of what the market can deliver against that brief — and how we would run the search. Write to francesco@acquamarinayachts.com or use the form below.