A tender purchase that closes without a clean survey, a properly bound insurance policy, and a documented sea trial is a purchase with three obvious failure modes baked into it. The purchase is large, the boats are complex, and they live in salt water. Each of the three pieces (survey, sea trial, insurance) exists for a reason; skipping any of them tends to surface eighteen months later as either an uninsured loss or a warranty argument with no documentation behind it.
This guide walks through the standard sequence we use on a tender acquisition, what good looks like at each step, and what the recurring traps are.
How the three pieces fit together
The order matters. A typical sequence on a EUR 800k limousine tender, new or near-new, runs as follows.
- Heads of terms agreed, deposit paid (typically 10 per cent), conditional on survey and sea trial.
- Surveyor instructed, typically within a week of deposit. Independent of the seller and the buyer.
- Survey completed, typically a single day for a tender under 12m, two days for larger or more complex platforms.
- Sea trial scheduled, often the day after survey if conditions allow.
- Survey report issued, with a defect list categorised by urgency and cost.
- Negotiation on remediation (price reduction, repair before completion, escrow against future repair).
- Insurance bound to take effect on completion, with cover dates aligned to the change of ownership.
- Completion, with all documents and warranties transferred.
The surveyor and the insurer both need the same underlying information, so do not run them in isolation. The survey report is one of the documents the insurer will want to see before binding.
Insurance: what cover actually does
Tender insurance typically combines hull and machinery cover with third-party liability. The detail is where the policies differ.
Hull and machinery
This is the boat itself: replacement or repair if it is damaged or lost. Three points to negotiate before binding.
- Agreed value vs market value. Agreed-value policies pay out the agreed sum on a total loss, no haggling. Market-value policies pay what the boat is worth on the day, after depreciation. For tenders, where private-market depreciation curves are less stable than for cars, agreed value is almost always worth the small premium it adds.
- Deductible. Typically 1 to 2.5 per cent of insured value for a tender. Higher deductibles reduce premium materially; absorb the deductible only if you can self-insure for that amount comfortably.
- Cruising area. Mediterranean, Caribbean, worldwide. The premium scales accordingly. Be honest with the broker; cover for an "Eastern Med" plan that quietly extends to the Red Sea is the kind of thing that voids claims.
Third-party liability
This is the cover that matters when something goes wrong with a passenger or another vessel. Common limits run from EUR 5 million on smaller tenders to EUR 50 million on larger or commercially used platforms. The mothership policy usually carries the higher limit, and the tender can sit under it as a named asset.
Pantaenius, one of the larger insurers in this market, makes the point that liability cover under the mothership's P&I policy applies only when the tender is used in connection with the mothership. Use it independently (delivery trip, refit movement, owner's day out without the yacht present) and the cover gap opens. A separate tender policy, or an explicit extension, closes that gap.
The mothership-policy question
Most tenders are insured as scheduled assets under the yacht's own policy. This is administratively simpler and cheaper than a standalone policy, and it works well for tenders that genuinely live on the yacht. It works badly for:
- Tenders that operate independently for parts of the year.
- Tenders being delivered to a new mothership.
- Tenders held in a separate ownership structure.
- Tenders being prepared for sale.
In any of those cases, a standalone policy (or a clearly worded extension) is what you want.
Named operators and navigation-limit warranties
Two policy conditions void more tender claims than any mechanical failure. A named-operator or qualified-operator clause means a loss under a driver who did not hold the required qualification is at high risk of being declined; keep the driver register current and tie it to the crew training and licensing record. A navigation-limit warranty means a loss that occurs while the boat is outside the stated cruising area can release the insurer entirely, not merely reduce the payout; an "Eastern Med" plan that quietly extends to the Red Sea is the textbook example. Both are wording, not formality: read them before binding and endorse the policy to match how the tender will actually be used.
The forms that come up
- Loss of hire is rarely written for tenders specifically; it sits at the mothership level if anywhere.
- War, strikes, and political risk is increasingly relevant for boats operating in the Eastern Med and Red Sea. Check the policy wording; many standard yacht policies exclude it absent specific endorsement.
- Crew personal accident typically sits with the yacht's own crew policy, but verify that tender drivers are named.
- Pollution liability is a standard inclusion but the limit varies; check it against the jurisdiction the boat operates in.
For a sense of the financial scale this fits into, see cost of a superyacht tender and tender finance and leasing.
Survey: what good looks like
A tender survey done properly takes a full day and produces a written report of 30 to 60 pages with photographs. A two-hour walk-through with a one-page note is not a survey.
Surveyor selection
Use an independent marine surveyor accredited by IIMS (International Institute of Marine Surveying) or YDSA (Yacht Designers and Surveyors Association). Ask for two references on tender-class jobs they have done in the last 24 months. Avoid surveyors recommended by the seller; the conflict of interest is structural, not personal.
Daily rates run EUR 1,200 to EUR 2,500 for tender work. Higher for specialist drivetrain inspections (jet drives, hybrid systems).
What the survey covers
A standard pre-purchase survey on a tender includes:
- Hull and structure. Visual and percussion inspection of the hull, deck, and superstructure. Moisture readings at high-risk points (transom, chines, fuel-tank surrounds, davit pad-eye bonds). Inspection of bonded structural inserts, particularly lifting eyes.
- Drivetrain. Engine visual, oil-sample analysis, compression test where access allows, gearbox or jet inspection. The surveyor will not strip the engine; that is a separate engine survey.
- Systems. Electrical, fuel, fresh water, bilge, navigation electronics. Power-up and function-test each system.
- Steering and controls. Hydraulic line condition, ram cycles, control-cable continuity.
- Safety equipment. Liferaft, EPIRB, flares, fire-suppression, life jackets. Within current certification dates.
- Compliance. Builder's plate, CE marking, post-import documentation, RCD compliance file, gas certificate where applicable.
A separate engine survey by an authorised dealer for the engine in question (Volvo, Mercury, MAN, Yanmar) is a sensible add-on for any tender over five years old. Cost EUR 800 to EUR 2,500 per engine.
The report
The output is a categorised defect list. The standard categories are:
- Category 1: defects affecting safety, seaworthiness, or insurability. These get repaired before completion or the deal is renegotiated.
- Category 2: defects requiring attention within 12 months. These get costed and form the basis of any price reduction.
- Category 3: cosmetic and minor items. Recorded for the buyer's awareness; rarely a deal point.
A survey report that lists 40 items in Category 1 is telling you something about the boat. A report with two or three Category 1 items and a thoughtful set in Category 2 is what a normal mid-life tender looks like.
Sea trial: what to actually test
The sea trial is the only part of the process where the buyer sees the boat work. Do not waste it on a 20-minute jaunt.
Pre-trial
Verify fuel state, condition, and accuracy of the gauges. Note ambient conditions: wind, sea state, water temperature, atmospheric pressure. These matter for any later performance disputes.
What to run through
- Cold start. First key-on of the day, with the surveyor present. Listen to the start, watch the gauges, smell the exhaust.
- Low-speed manoeuvring. Bow thruster, joystick, throttle response. Berthing exercises if the surveyor can arrange them.
- Acceleration to plane. Time-to-plane, hull behaviour through the transition, listening for any shaft-line or jet anomalies.
- Cruise. Sustained run at builder-claimed cruise rpm and speed. Verify against the spec sheet. Hold for at least 20 minutes; brief bursts will not flag developing engine issues.
- Top end. Brief run at WOT (wide open throttle). Note rpm reached, speed, and any vibration.
- Hard manoeuvres. Tight turns at cruise, throttle chops, transition between forward and astern. The boat should behave the way the brochure says it does.
- Systems under load. Air conditioning, audio, lighting, fridges, with the engines running. Verify nothing trips.
- Hot shutdown and restart. Engines off after a sustained run, then immediate restart. Hot-start problems show up here.
Documenting it
Photographs and short video clips through the trial. Speed-time-fuel data points logged in a spreadsheet. Surveyor's contemporaneous notes.
The performance promise
If the contract specifies particular performance figures (top speed, time-to-plane, fuel burn at cruise), the sea trial is the contractual moment to verify them. If the boat does not meet the spec, the position to take is "fix it or refund the deposit", not "let's see what happens after delivery". After delivery you have very little leverage.
Putting it together: the documentation pack
By completion the buyer should have, in writing:
- Survey report, signed and dated.
- Engine survey reports.
- Sea trial log with witnessed performance figures.
- Insurance policy with cover note effective from completion.
- VAT-paid evidence and customs documentation. See importing a tender into the EU and UK.
- Bill of sale and registration transfer.
- Builder's manuals, warranty documents, service history.
- Maintenance log.
- Davit certification and lifting-point inspection records, where relevant. See davit systems and launch/recovery.
This pack is also the foundation of the boat's own documentation for the next owner; treat it as an asset, not a formality.
Common mistakes
- Skipping the sea trial because the boat is brand new. A new boat at handover is the most important sea trial of all. Builder warranty claims rest on documented baseline performance.
- Using the seller's surveyor. Always independent.
- Binding insurance the day before completion. Quote and bind early. The premium does not change, and last-minute binding leaves no time to negotiate the cover detail.
- Accepting a verbal sea trial summary. Insist on the log and the spreadsheet.
- Treating the survey report as confidential. Share it with the insurer. They want to see it; their underwriter is happier with a documented boat.