Dan Best wrote:
Also, no one has pointed out the obvious, so I'll go ahead and do so.
The purpose of a sea trial is to get the boat on the water, exercise all
it's systems and verify what works and doesn't work. Get the sails up
so you can see how they set, try the boat on all points of sail in an
attempt to detect problems in it's handling, etc. In my limited
experience buying boats, this is not a relaxed "day on the bay", but
rather a quick businesslike checkout of the boat and it's systems.

Yes, exactly... except it can take most of a day, with a
boat that has more than just a few simple systems on board.


.... You
should be treating it as an opportunity to discover things that are
wrong with the boat that can be used to either beat the owner down on
the price or to cause you to walk (run?) away from the deal.

Also to check how all the systems were installed; for
example do the vented loops actually break a siphon (best
done at dockside), and if there is a raw water feed to the
pacjing gland, does it actually flow? How hot does the gland
get when run at full power (for that matter, what about the
engine & tranny)? Do any of the electronics affect the
compass? This can be very important for boats with an
autopilot! Any quirks in the running rigging? How about all
the sails? Better hoist & set every single one of them.
Reefing gear?

This is one reason to bring along a captain, so that the
seller (if he comes along) can show the buyer how everything
works, without either having the distraction of trying to
drive the boat at the same time.

DSK