Guides

Buying, selling and maintaining a used boat: practical guides, sourced when the law is involved, reviewed before publication.

These guides describe the situation in France (French law, French administration). Rules may differ in your country.

• Buying a used boat: the checklist before you sign

  A used boat is judged on what you can see, on what you can test, and above all on what can be proven about its maintenance. Here are the points to check, item by item, and the questions to ask the seller.

  Updated on 4 September 2026

• Selling your used boat: preparing the file that reassures the buyer

  Papers, maintenance history, preparing the boat, price, listing, viewings, bill of sale: what a seller prepares to sell at the right price, without disputes — and why a proven history sells better.

  Updated on 4 September 2026

• The Hullteam sale file: what it contains, how the buyer checks it

  Verified or documented badge, summary of proofs, sealed log, documents, fingerprint timestamped by a third party: what the file proves, what it does not prove, and how to check it without an account.

  Updated on 4 September 2026

• A boat’s maintenance history: which proofs really count

  Declared, documented, confirmed by the professional: the three levels of proof of maintenance, what proves nothing, and the method for rebuilding a history from a box of invoices.

  Updated on 4 September 2026

• Hidden defects on a used boat: what French law says, how to protect yourself

  Articles 1641 to 1649 of the French Civil Code applied to the sale of a boat between private individuals: conditions, two-year time limit, “sold as seen” clause, remedies — and what really protects the seller as well as the buyer.

  Updated on 4 September 2026

• Transferring ownership of a boat in France: bill of sale, registration certificate, leasing, procedures

  The bill of sale, the registration certificate, the online procedure and its one-month deadline, co-owners, leasing, the annual tax: the seller’s and the buyer’s procedures, in order.

  Updated on 4 September 2026

• How much does it cost to maintain a boat: orders of magnitude by size and type

  The annual maintenance budget of a used sailboat, catamaran or motorboat, by length band: the items that come round every year, those that fall due every three or ten years, and what makes the bill vary — berth and insurance excluded.

  Updated on 5 September 2026

• Winterising and recommissioning a boat: the list of jobs

  What to do in autumn to protect a boat — engine, water circuits, batteries, sails, interior — and what to check in spring before going back to sea, ashore or afloat. Two printable checklists.

  Updated on 5 September 2026

• Haul-out and antifouling: how often, how it goes, what to check

  How often to haul out, what a haul-out involves, how to choose the antifouling, what to check while the hull is bare (anodes, through-hulls, osmosis, propeller, rudder), and how to read a quote.

  Updated on 5 September 2026

• Maintaining an inboard marine engine: due dates by hours and by year

  Oil change, filters, impeller, belt, anodes, coolant, gearbox or saildrive, exhaust elbow: the calendar of a marine diesel, what you do yourself, the signs that should alert you, and what to check on the engine of a used boat.

  Updated on 5 September 2026

• Buying a used catamaran: the specific points to check

  What sets buying a used cruising catamaran apart: structure and hull-to-bridgedeck joints, two engines and two saildrives, rigging with no backstay, ex-charter boats, lifting and berthing. The questions to ask and what to check on the sea trial.

  Updated on 5 September 2026

• Marine survey of a pleasure boat: when, how, and what the report contains

  When to have a boat surveyed (purchase, sale, insurance, incident), how to choose an independent surveyor, how the survey goes, what the report contains, what it does not guarantee, and how to use it to negotiate and then maintain the boat.

  Updated on 5 September 2026

• A boat’s hull number (HIN / CIN): reading it, checking it, photographing it

  Where to find the hull identification number, how to read its 14 characters (country, builder, serial, month and year of manufacture, model year), why it must match the papers, what an illegible number means, and how to photograph it for the sale file.

  Updated on 5 September 2026