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

A buyer of a used boat is afraid of one thing: paying for a problem they cannot see. Everything you prepare before putting the boat up for sale serves to remove that fear. A clean boat with its papers in order and a proven maintenance history gets more viewings, is negotiated down less, and sells faster than an identical boat whose seller simply says “she’s spotless”.

1. Gather the papers

This is the first thing a serious buyer asks for, often before even coming to see the boat. Put together in a folder (and in scanned form):

• The registration document: the French registration certificate (certificat d’enregistrement), which since January 2022 has replaced the former registration card (carte de circulation) and the French ship’s registration deed (acte de francisation) — many sellers still hold the old documents, and they are accepted for the formalities. It must be in your name; if the boat is under a lease with an option to buy (LOA, a French form of leasing), the holder is the finance company and the sale goes through it.
• The CE certificate of conformity and the written declaration of conformity (boats built after 1998), with the design category (A, B, C, D). The owner’s manual if you still have it.
• The hull identification number (HIN / CIN), legible on the hull and identical to the one on the papers. A sharp photo of the engraved number is part of the file.
• The current insurance certificate, and the claims history statement if the buyer asks for it (no claims).
• The purchase invoices for the boat and the major equipment (engine, electronics, sails, rigging), which date and prove the replacements.
• The berth or winter storage contract, useful if the buyer wishes to take over the berth.

2. Rebuild the maintenance history

This is what makes the difference between two boats of the same age. Most sellers have a box of boatyard invoices, a few receipts for parts and some photos on their phone — and nothing organised. A buyer will not dig through the box: they want a dated list, with the proof behind each line.

What matters, in order of importance for the buyer:

• Engine services with the hours at each job, the date of the last reading, and replacements of the impeller, filters, belts and anodes.
• Haul-outs and antifouling, with the date and the boatyard.
• The standing rigging (sailing boats): date the wires and rigging screws were replaced, or date of the last inspection.
• Batteries, electronics, sails: year and invoice.
• Repairs: a well-documented repair reassures more than a hidden repair that the surveyor will find anyway.

A job you declare is worth less than a job documented by an invoice or a dated photo, which is worth less than a job confirmed by the professional who did it. The guide which proofs count explains these three levels in detail. A Hullteam log calculates them for you: you upload your invoices, each line gets its level of proof, and the boatyard receives a link to confirm what it did.

3. Prepare the boat

A buyer makes up their mind in thirty seconds, before opening a single locker. What counts most, for little cost:

• A thorough clean, inside and out, dry and odour-free bilges, lockers emptied of whatever is not being sold with the boat.
• A clean engine compartment: a visible oil leak brings the price down by more than it costs to repair.
• Small faults repaired (a bulb, a stiff winch, a leaking portlight): left as they are, each one becomes a bargaining point.
• A recent haul-out if the boat has been in the water for a long time: the buyer will see the hull at the survey, so it may as well be clean.
• The engine hours read on the day the boat goes on sale, and the last service done if it is due.

4. Set the price

There is no official price guide for used boats. The price is set by looking at the listings for comparable boats (same model, same generation, same engine, same area) and taking into account what sets yours apart: condition, equipment, and above all what you can prove. A seller who can show the invoice for the engine and the rigging justifies a high price; without proof, the buyer will reason as if everything needs redoing.

A survey carried out before the sale, on your initiative, costs a few hundred euros and shifts the balance of power: the buyer receives an independent report instead of discovering the defects themselves.

5. The listing

• Plenty of photos, in clear weather, with the boat clean: the outside from several angles, the cockpit, saloon, cabins, engine compartment, electrical panel, and the hull if you have a photo from the last haul-out.
• A factual text: model, year, engine and hours, equipment with its year, recent work with its date. Superlatives reassure no one.
• Whatever you know about a defect, say it. A private seller who hides a known defect is exposed to the French legal guarantee against hidden defects — the guide hidden defects explains what the law says and how both sides can protect themselves.
• A link to the history. With Hullteam, your sale file has a public address that you paste into the listing: the buyer views the log, the levels of proof and the documents you have chosen to show, without creating an account.

6. Viewings and the sea trial

Let the buyer look everywhere, lift the floorboards and start the engine from cold. Plan a sea trial for serious buyers, after a first agreement on the price. If the buyer comes with a surveyor, that is a good sign: they are ready to buy. Have the papers and the history to hand during the viewing, not “at home”.

7. The sale and the formalities

The sale is made by a bill of sale signed by both parties, which identifies the vessel (name, registration, hull number, engine) and the two people. The French ministry responsible for the sea publishes a model bill of sale. The change of ownership is then declared online: the seller starts the procedure on the French government portal demarches-plaisance.gouv.fr with the buyer’s identity and the scanned bill of sale, receives a transfer code that they pass on to the buyer, and the buyer completes the procedure. The formalities must be completed within a month of the sale; until the buyer has finished, the seller remains the owner in the eyes of the administration and liable for the annual tax (mer.gouv.fr — buying, selling and registering a pleasure craft).

The formalities in detail, the special cases (co-ownership, LOA, boat registered under the French flag) and the documents to hand over are in the guide transfer of ownership. On payment: avoid cash above the legal limits, prefer a bank transfer received before you hand over the keys and the title, and beware of banker’s drafts that have not been checked with the issuing bank.

8. Selling yourself, or entrusting the sale

Selling yourself costs only the time spent: listings, replies, viewings, negotiation. A broker does this work for you, for a commission set in a mandate — in France, generally around 8 to 10% of the price, often with a minimum. With Hullteam, you have both options: sell yourself with your verified file, or entrust the sale to Hullteam or to a partner brokerage from the “Sell” tab of your log. In every case, read the mandate: its length, any exclusivity and the amount of the commission.

9. What the Hullteam sale file brings

The Hullteam log is free: you upload your invoices, they are read and turned into dated jobs, and each line is sealed and timestamped by an independent third party. On the day of the sale, you generate a sale file: a public page frozen at a date, with the summary of proofs, the log, the chosen documents and a fingerprint that the buyer can verify for themselves. On transfer, the buyer receives the complete log and carries on the history — which, when they sell in turn, will earn them the same trust.

Seller’s checklist

• Registration document in my name (or LOA situation cleared with the finance company)
• CE certificate, manual, photo of the hull number
• Maintenance history organised, each line with its proof
• Boat cleaned, small faults repaired, engine serviced, hours read
• Price set on comparables, survey in hand if possible
• Factual listing with photos and a link to the history
• Bill of sale prepared on the official model, online procedure planned within the month