The final decision to buy a boat or not is made after all of the factors

Joe is correct about the selling broker being responsiable for sea

When I purchased the Carver I made an offer sight unseen--subject to a

I have followed this proceedure many times and it has worked for me.

Joe, One can look at it both ways. One does not necessarily accept the boat at sea trials--but it is a part of the process. If the boat clearly does not meet your demands or major problems are obviously apparent, then you have not gone to the expense of the survey and haul out. The final decision to buy a boat or not is made after all of the factors and I have never heard of a broker refusing to return a deposit if a person rejects a boat. The opportunity to reject a boat remains until you sign on the dotted line that you accept. After survey it is usual to renegotiate the price. Just taking a boat to survey does not obligate you to purchase the boat. Joe is correct about the selling broker being responsiable for sea trials--and he may have either the owner, owner's agent or a captain run the boat. A sea trial does not necessarily imply a surveyor aboard or a mechanic aboard--although some brokers would rather that all be accomplished at once. When I purchased the Carver I made an offer sight unseen--subject to a dive on the boat (I had paid to have a diver clean the bottom), then a sea trial without survey or mechanic, then a survey and finally a mechanical survey, than included another sea run (but at that time I was not aboard). This is one way of doing business. Along the way I paid for the diver, the survey, a haul out and the mechanical survey, plus a captain to run the boat for the mechanical survey. I then made a revised offer, with all of the defects found on surveys and an estimate to repair such defects. The price was renegotiated. I have followed this proceedure many times and it has worked for me. If the engines had blown up on your boat--would have the broker paid for the rebuilds?--I don't think that he would have. I base that on a boat I had looked at several years ago, where there had been two sea trials---one time an engine overheated and was dammaged, the second time the transmission went out. The sellor (and estate) paid for the repairs. I did not persue the deal any further because of the high engine hours and recent failures. If dammage is done by poor handling, I suspect that whom ever was driving the boat would share in the responsibility--but that is why some brokers insistant on a licsenced and bonded skipper to take the boat out for sea trials. Regards, Bob Austin