Used sailboat buying checklist: rigging, chainplates, keel, sails and engine

Used sailboats can be some of the best values on the market: a 30-foot cruiser from a big production builder can cost less than a used pickup truck. But a sailboat adds a second set of systems a powerboat buyer never thinks about, and the rig, the sails and the keel can each cost a big share of an old boat's price. On a sailboat, the expensive surprises are usually above your head or under your feet.

Everything in our used boat inspection checklist applies too: hull, deck core, engine, tanks. This guide covers the extra checks.

1. Standing rigging

The standing rigging is the wire (or rod) that holds the mast up: the shrouds to the sides and the forestay and backstay. Stainless wire doesn't wear out the way rope does. It fails by fatigue and corrosion, usually at the fittings, often without much warning.

Many riggers treat ten to fifteen years as the point where stainless wire rigging on a cruising boat should be replaced, sooner in the tropics or on a boat sailed hard. Find out when it was last done. If nobody knows, assume it's due and price it into your offer.

From the deck, look for:

• Hairline cracks in the swaged terminals at the bottom of each shroud (use a magnifying glass); any crack means replace
• Rust weeping where wire enters a fitting
• Broken strands ("meat hooks"); run a rag along the wire where you can
• Bent or corroded turnbuckles and missing cotter pins
• A mast that isn't straight when you sight up it from below

Most hull surveyors don't go aloft, and they'll say so in the report. Hire a rigger to inspect the rig on any boat you're serious about.

Not every rig is the same

Many Hunter sailboats, for example, use a B&R rig with sharply swept-back spreaders and no backstay. Reviewers have called it strong and good for short-handed sailing, but trickier for novices to tune, and the spreaders can press into the mainsail downwind.¹² Different, not bad. A rigger who knows the system is worth having.

2. Chainplates and the mast step

Chainplates carry the whole load of the rig into the hull, and they pass through the deck. Sealant ages, water leaks in, the deck core gets wet, and the stainless steel can corrode where it's hidden inside the deck or a bulkhead. A chainplate can look perfect above deck and be badly corroded below it.

Look for stains, rust and water marks inside where the chainplates come through, a soft deck around them, and wet or delaminated bulkheads where they're bolted. Ask when they were last pulled, inspected or re-bedded.

A deck-stepped mast sits on the cabin top with a compression post underneath. Look for a sagging or cracked cabin top around the mast base, a door below that sticks, and rot or corrosion at the bottom of the post. On the Catalina 30, for example, owners and buyer's guides point to compression problems at the mast step and rot in the wooden step at the base of the compression post.³ On keel-stepped masts, look for corrosion at the foot where bilge water sits.

3. Sails

Sunlight is a sail's worst enemy. Unroll or unbag the sails on a calm day and look for brittle cloth, faded panels, broken stitching and failed sun covers. Old sails stretch and get baggy, which makes the boat heel more and point worse. Look for a sailmaker's label with a date. On many older boats the sails are simply done: not a reason to walk away, but real money that should come off the price.

4. The keel and the "smile"

• Fin keels bolted to the hull are the most common on modern production boats.
• Full keels track straight and protect the rudder but are harder to maneuver in reverse.
• Encapsulated keels have no keel bolts, but water can get in if the shell is damaged, and iron ballast inside can rust and swell.
• Swing keels and centerboards need their pivot pins, cables and winches checked.

On bolted keels, look at the joint between keel and hull when the boat is hauled. A thin crack along the front of the joint, often called a "smile," is common and is sometimes just fairing compound cracking. But it can also mean a hard grounding, stretched bolts or damaged structure inside. Inside the boat, look at the keel bolts (rust, weeping, missing backing plates) and the floors and grid they bolt into.

Signs of a hard grounding: damage or fresh repairs at the front bottom of the keel, cracks in the interior grid near the keel bolts, a smile that opens when the travel lift picks the boat up, and repairs to the hull just behind the keel. Ask the surveyor to look for it specifically.

5. Rudder and steering

With the boat hauled, grab the bottom of the rudder and try to move it side to side and fore and aft. A little play is normal on some designs; a lot means worn bearings. Look for cracks, blisters and water weeping from the rudder, which means water inside, and in cold climates water inside a rudder can freeze and split it. Below, check the steering cables, quadrant and sheaves, or the tiller fittings.

6. The engine

Most sailboat engines are small diesels squeezed into tight spaces, so routine jobs get skipped. On the Catalina 30, for example, the tight engine compartment means raw-water cooling and exhaust elbows are often poorly maintained, and the elbow is prone to corrosion.³ Some older sailboats still have the gasoline Atomic 4, with its own carburetor, ethanol and cooling corrosion issues.

Ask when the exhaust elbow, raw-water impeller and heat exchanger were last serviced, and look at the elbow for crusty corrosion. If you can't reach the dipstick and filters easily at the dock, picture doing it in a seaway.

7. Deck hardware

Winches should spin freely and click crisply. Look for cracked or leaking deck fittings, tracks and stanchion bases. Roller furling should roll smoothly both ways. Check halyards and sheets for chafe.

8. The sea trial under sail

1. Motor out and do the engine checks from our sea trial checklist.
2. Raise the sails and look for wrinkles, stretch and tears.
3. Sail upwind. Does she point reasonably? A lot of weather helm (constantly turning into the wind) is tiring and may be the sails or rig tune.
4. Tack and jibe a few times. Does the leeward shroud go slack and floppy? Does the mast pump or bend oddly?
5. Listen for creaks and groans from the chainplates, mast step and keel area under load.
6. Check below while heeled for water at the chainplates, hull-to-deck joint or ports.
7. Furl and lower the sails, and see how easy it is for the crew you'll actually have.

Going offshore?

Sailboats are rated under ISO 12217-2 using measures like the STIX number and the angle of vanishing stability (AVS), the heel angle past which a boat won't come back upright on her own. For the ocean-going Category A, the standard requires an AVS of at least 100 degrees, more for lighter boats.⁴ Many coastal cruisers don't meet that. That doesn't make them bad boats; it makes them coastal boats.

Common questions

How often should sailboat rigging be replaced?

Many riggers treat ten to fifteen years as the point to replace stainless wire rigging on a cruising boat, sooner in the tropics or with hard use. If the age is unknown, price a re-rig into your offer and have a rigger inspect it.

Does a marine surveyor check the mast and rigging?

Usually only from the deck. Most hull surveyors don't go aloft and say so in their report. Hire a rigger for a rig inspection.

Is a keel "smile" a problem?

Sometimes it's only cracked fairing compound. Sometimes it's a sign of a hard grounding. Have the surveyor check the joint, the keel bolts and the interior structure before you decide.