Top 5 things to consider when buying a new boat

It's easy to make a mistake when you're buying your first boat. Inexperience and a lack of clarity about what you want to do with it can make a mess of any new boat ownership experience.

That's where a few small guidelines on what can help make buying your first boat can make a world of difference.

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Here are some top tips to help you decide which new boat is best for you.

Before you start looking around for a boat, it’s a good idea to make a list of what you want to get out of it.

For example, a tinnie is a good boat if all you want to do is head out for a day of fishing with a mate, but if you have a young family, a cuddy or half-cabin where the young ones can safely shelter might make more sense.

The same goes for when you buy a bigger boat; do you really need all that accommodation and standing headroom when all you really do is spend time at the marina, venture out for the occasional overnight trip, or just cruise to the CBD to tie up and go to the footy?

One of the most common problems is buying a boat that’s too small. Think about future needs so that you right-size straight from the get-go rather than suffer the good old buyer’s regret.

There’s also no point in pouring money into a boat to make it just the way you want it only to sell it for a loss later on.

Just like cars, boats come with a range of engine choices. It’s smart to think about what you’ll be doing with the boat to work out if the engine will be suitable for what you will ask of it.

The most common mistake is to buy the least-powerful engine available, and then wonder why it struggles to tow a sea biscuit around on a family outing.

When you’re looking at a boat, ask about the different engines available.

The cheapest version of the boat that gets you interested in the first place will come with the smallest engine available in the range, which in all likelihood will be good enough for light runabout duties.

But cram more people onboard or ask it to do more than the basic remit and it might struggle.

In most instances, you’ll be looking at the recommended, rather than minimal, engine for the boat. This should be sufficient to have enough poke to be able to do everything you ask of it if you plan to use the boat for a broad mix of activities.

Oftentimes, too, the recommended engine will use less fuel than the minimum rated one, as it doesn’t need to work as hard under normal operating conditions, particularly if you have a few people on board.

The boat will also come with a maximum engine rating, but be a bit wary of splashing out on this unless you need the extra performance. This can be anything from regularly towing a water skier to crossing rough bars, or even just cutting down travel times via a higher top speed.

In the hands of a novice, though, all that extra performance could be a bit much if you don’t know how or when to use it.

Bigger outboard engines also weigh more, as can the larger-capacity fuel tanks needed to feed them, so adding higher horsepower to the boat can also eat into how much people and their gear you can safely have on board, especially if conditions are a bit rough.

One of the most difficult parts of buying a boat is not knowing how to equip it with accessories. That’s where a dealer may be your best friend.

Boats are usually sold bare-boned, meaning you buy the boat, outboard engine that powers it, and the trailer it sits on, or for larger custom boats, something that will be delivered on the water months later.

For anyone dipping a toe into buying a boat for the first time, you don’t really know what accessories you’ll need to fit it with.

That’s where dealers come into the picture. They will know what are the most common options for a boat, and if they’re smart, they’ll have an off-the-shelf accessory pack that will equip the boat with the most common accessories.

This can be everything from a safety kit including life jackets, a fishfinder and GPS-based chartplotter, marine radio, bait boards and live bait tanks, ski poles and more.

The package is likely to include installation as well, so your boat will come ready to hit the water.

There’s no point in going out and buying a big boat and then realising it’s too big for you to tow.

Cars are equipped with tow ratings – for example, most common trade utes come with a 3500kg limit, while more ordinary passenger cars can rate from between 900kg to 2700kg – but you don’t want to push the limits.

Check to see that a fully loaded boat will still be safe to tow once all your gear, bags of ice and fuel is onboard. Overload the vehicle’s tow rating, and there’s a risk you will twist the chassis.

Be careful, too, that your trailer is properly rated for the load it is carrying. A clear sign that things aren’t right is if the trailer’s bearings are constantly collapsing, and need to be replaced.

If you need to modify a vehicle’s suspension to increase a vehicle’s tow rating, it may be cheaper and easier in the long run to buy a right-hand-drive converted ute such as a Chevrolet Silverado or a RAM.

You see it all the time on boat forums; people are considering buying a particular boat and will test the boat against the internet-based hive.

The easiest way to do it is to join a boating Facebook forum and ask for people’s feedback on the make and model of the boat you’re buying.

Yes, there will be a lot of trash talk, but in between, there will be genuine snippets of information from former and current owners that will spell out what they like or don’t like, about a particular boat.

They may also drop other clues, such as how they’ve set up the boat to suit their needs, that will be handy once it comes to deciding how you’d like your boat fitted out.

If you’re too timid to ask questions on social media, just browse an online fishing or boat-owning forum searching for the make and model of boat you’re interested in, and see what people have to say.

Online forums are more highly moderated than social media, so the signal to noise ratio can serve up answers that are a lot more honest, fruitful and informative.