Buying a First Sailing Boat in Australia: Costs & Checks

Most first-boat regrets share one cause: the boat was chosen before the club was.

The club determines what is practical. Storage type and availability, launching method, ramp and tide, parking, mast-raising space and which classes have active local fleets all constrain what you should own. Every one of them is easy to check beforehand and expensive to discover afterwards.

Choose a sailing club before buying a boat#

1. Decide how you want to sail — race, cruise, learn, or simply get on the water.
2. Choose the club you can realistically reach most weeks of a season.
3. Sail there for a season, on club boats or as crew.
4. Buy the boat the local fleet sails, from within that fleet.

Steps three and four are frequently reversed, and that is where the money goes.

Buying a boat for an active class fleet#

An active local fleet supplies competition, tuning knowledge, spare parts, someone to ask when something breaks, and a buyer when you move on. A technically superior class with two local examples supplies none of that, and it is very hard to sell.

Judge the class where you will sail it. Ask how many boats start a normal club race in that class, whether the class has a scheduled series this season, and whether new boats have arrived in the last two or three years. Direction matters as much as size.

Boat dimensions, storage and launching checks#

Take the numbers to the club before you take the boat.

• Length, beam and weight against rack, bay or berth dimensions
• Draft against the ramp, the berth and the tide you would use
• Mast height against any overhead obstruction between the rigging area and the water
• Trailer length against parking bays and turning space
• All-up weight against what you can move alone, because eventually you will be alone

Then confirm a space is actually available, not just that the facility exists. Waiting lists at well-located clubs run for years.

Used sailing boat inspection checklist#

Hull. Repairs, soft spots, crazing around the mast step, centreboard case and chainplates. Ask what any repair was for.

Foils. Centreboard, daggerboard and rudder for impact damage, and the fittings that hold them.

Rig. Standing rigging age, terminals, spreaders, halyards. Rigging has a replacement cycle and it is not cheap.

Sails. The largest hidden cost. A cheap boat with worn sails is not cheap. Ask how many seasons they have done and whether they have been raced.

Trailer. Bearings, brakes, lights, tyres, registration. A trailer that needs work is a real bill.

For one-designs. Whether the boat still measures and when it was last checked. A boat that no longer measures is fine for club racing and ineligible for a championship.

Buying a used boat from a local fleet#

Most good boats change hands within a fleet before they are ever advertised. Tell people at the club you are looking, ask the fleet captain, and ask what a competitive example is worth locally.

The fleet will also tell you what to avoid, which is information you cannot get from a listing.

Annual sailing boat ownership costs#

For most boats, the purchase price is the smallest recurring number. Budget separately for storage, sails on a replacement cycle, running rigging and covers, insurance, class association membership, race entry, and for keelboats antifouling, haul-out and servicing.

A modest dinghy's annual costs are small. An offshore yacht's can exceed the purchase price within a few years.

Boat size and sailor experience#

Every class has an effective crew weight and size range. Sailing well outside it means being slow in particular conditions no matter how well you sail, and that becomes demoralising over a season.

The fleet at your club will tell you frankly if you ask, and most will let you try a boat. Do that before buying.

When crewing or club boats suit you better#

If your obstacle is cost, storage or time, crewing solves all three and costs almost nothing. Plenty of people sail for decades without owning anything, and it remains the cheapest way to sail regularly in Australia.

There is no obligation to own a boat, and no stage of sailing at which you are expected to.