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Amel Super Maramu buyer’s guide: what to inspect before committing to a survey The Amel Super Maramu has a way of making sensible people feel slightly less sensible. Not because it is a bad boat, quite the opposite. It is one of those yachts that radiates intent. The deck layout makes sense. The systems feel purposeful. The whole thing looks as if somebody designed it for going to sea rather than for being photographed against a marina sunset. That is exactly why buyers lower

Lagoon 400 and 400 S2 buyer’s guide: what to inspect before paying for a survey The Lagoon 400 is one of those boats that makes life look easy. Big saloon, big cockpit, plenty of light, plenty of beam, and just enough modern-catamaran polish to make buyers start mentally moving aboard before they have even asked the second sensible question. That is part of its appeal. It is also part of the trap. This guide answers the question: what should you check on a Lagoon 400 or 400 S

Pacific Seacraft Pilothouse 40 buyer’s guide, what to inspect before you buy These survey-prep guides are built for serious buyers who want to evaluate a boat properly before spending money on travel, haul-out, or a full survey. They help buyers ask better questions, spot likely trouble areas earlier, and avoid wasting time on the wrong yacht. We offer both universal guides for broader boat types and model-specific guides that go deeper into one exact design. The guides are s

Hylas 44 buyer’s guide, what to inspect, common problems, and what serious buyers should know This guide answers the question: What should a buyer understand and inspect before buying a Hylas 44? Some boats stay desirable because of nostalgia. The Hylas 44 is not really one of them. It stays desirable because the underlying idea still makes sense. You get a German Frers design, Queen Long construction, a solid fiberglass hull, a skeg-hung rudder, external lead ballast, and a

Lagoon 42 buyer inspection guide, what to inspect, common issues, photo checklist, sea trial checklist, negotiation leverage This article answers the question: What should a buyer understand, verify, and inspect when evaluating a used Lagoon 42 before spending money on travel, survey, or deposit? The Lagoon 42 has earned its reputation the honest way. Not by being the fastest cat in the anchorage, but by being the boat a lot of people can actually live with. It is bright, spa

Biscay 36 Buyer’s Guide: Survey Checklist + GGR Lessons If the Golden Globe Race teaches anything that’s useful to normal sailors, it’s this: offshore reality doesn’t care what you meant to fix later. The GGR strips sailing back to fundamentals. No modern nav suite to distract you, no easy outsourcing of decision-making, no comforting belief that help is a phone call away. It’s seamanship and systems, nothing else. That matters when you’re buying a Biscay 36, because this des

How to Build an Engineless 30 to 34 ft Tropics Liveaboard That Is Offshore Safe, Low-Power, and Hard to Sink The modern shoestring liveaboard is no longer hidden. Homesteading, nature, and offshore cruising have become mainstream, and the minimalist, engineless approach fits the moment: fewer systems, fewer failure points, and a boat that can be understood, maintained, and repaired without a marina dependency. Interest in engineless, self-reliant sailing spikes every time the

What you get, and why it beats generic free checklists Most free sailboat maintenance checklists on the internet have the same problem. They are either too generic to trust, or too messy to use. They usually look like one long wall of text, with no cadence, no log structure, and no practical way to track what you actually did. That means they don’t reduce your mental load, they add to it. This is exactly why we built our Bluewater Sailboat Maintenance System at TrueNorth Yac

This guide answers the question: What should a buyer understand and inspect when considering a Saltram Saga 36 for serious cruising or offshore sailing? The Saltram Saga 36 is one of those boats that makes sailors look twice. Not because it’s flashy, but because it looks like it was drawn with offshore miles in mind, and people who know the type usually recognize it. If you are drawn to manageable size, predictable handling, and a boat that prioritizes control over interior v

If you’re looking at Southeast Asia for retirement, the real question is not “boat lifestyle vs condo lifestyle.” It’s this: Do you want a fixed base with predictable upkeep, or a mobile base that trades rent for responsibility? Both can work. Both can go wrong. The difference is what kind of problems you prefer to solve. There is also a psychological advantage that matters more today than it did a decade ago: the ability to leave. A condo is tied to one place, one set of loc

Yacht insurance has changed quietly. For many buyers and owners, the hardest part is no longer finding the right boat, or even booking a survey. The hardest part is getting the file approved. ​Insurance-Ready Boat File - TrueNorth Yacht Advisors Because insurance decisions are often made at a desk, by an underwriter reviewing documentation. If your documentation is incomplete, unclear, or inconsistent, the outcome is usually the same: follow-up requests, delays, exclusions, o

A “yacht turnaround survey” is a fast inspection used to decide whether a boat is worth pursuing, not a document designed to satisfy every insurer, lender, or flag authority. In plain terms, it is a reality check performed on a tight timeline. Buyers use turnaround surveys when they are trying to avoid wasting time and travel on a boat that looks good in photos but has obvious deal-breakers once you step onboard. In plain terms, it is a reality check performed on a tight time

Seller pre-survey preparation checklist for smoother inspections, cleaner survey reports, and easier yacht insurance approval This text answers the question: What should a seller do before the marine survey so the report supports insurance approval and a clean closing? Why this matters more now than it did a few years ago A lot of sellers still treat the survey as a formality. In the 2025–2026 market, it is often the insurance gatekeeper. The buyer is not only buying your boa

How marine survey reports can reduce insurance friction without changing findings Marine surveyors have always written for multiple audiences at once: the buyer, the lender, the insurer. In 2025–2026, the balance shifted. Surveyors are still inspecting boats, but the report is now being treated more like a risk file, and the wording has become the interface between the vessel and the underwriter’s decision. This is not about softening findings or masking problems. It is about

Boat Survey Red Flag Language – What Triggers Insurance Problems Most buyers read a survey looking for one thing: reassurance. Underwriters (the insurer’s risk decision-makers, the people who decide whether to offer coverage and on what terms) read the same document looking for something else entirely: risk. This difference matters more now than it did even a few years ago. In today’s insurance market, coverage decisions are rarely made on the overall “feel” of a boat. They

Yacht Turnaround Survey – What It Is, What It Isn’t, and What Buyers Should Request Treat “yacht turnaround survey” less like a formal service, and more like a practical buyer question: what can we confirm quickly, and what still needs a proper survey later? At some point in most searches, a listing appears that feels time sensitive. The price looks right. The boat is in the right place. Someone else is “very interested.” Suddenly, the calendar matters more than it should. Th

Best Bluewater Sailboats – What to Look for Before Buying Used This text answers the question: What actually makes a sailboat suitable for bluewater cruising when you are buying used? There is a moment most long-term cruisers remember clearly. It usually happens late in the evening, after hours of listings, glossy photos, and confident descriptions. You lean back and realize that every second boat claims to be “bluewater capable,” “ocean proven,” or “ready to cross oceans tom

Why documentation now decides whether your yacht gets insured For many buyers, the hardest part of purchasing a yacht no longer happens at the negotiation table or during the survey. It happens afterward. You find the right boat. You agree on price. You book surveys and travel. And then the insurance answer comes back: “We need more documentation.” Not opinions. Not assurances. Proof! Insurance has changed quietly Underwriters now rely far more on verifiable, dated evidence t

Lagoon 450 buying checklist for insurance, survey prep, and avoiding expensive structural surprises TrueNorth Yacht Advisors The Lagoon 450’s real superpower The Lagoon 450 sits in a very specific sweet spot for bluewater living: enough volume to be genuinely comfortable, enough payload headroom for real cruising gear (within reason), and systems that are usually serviceable in normal boatyard reality, not just in a showroom fantasy. It is also a boat that gets bought for the

TrueNorth Yacht Advisors A quiet shift has happened in yacht insurance. Many buyers have not noticed it until they try to insure a boat and suddenly hear: more questions, more exclusions, higher deductibles, or a flat decline. This can feel personal. Most of the time it is not. It is a process change inside the insurance chain. The part of the insurance company you never meet When you shop for insurance, you usually talk to a broker or an agent. That person is your contact, a